The Baptism of the Lord – HD [Proper 1], rcl yr a, 2023
ISAIAH 42:1-9; PSALM 29; ACTS 10:34-43; MATTHEW 3:13-17
it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness
What, exactly, does Jesus have to repent?
I know what I need to repent for; or at least, I know some of what I need to repent for. I’m sure others within the sphere of my life could offer additional things for which I should repent. But things of which I may or I may not be aware. But the point is: there is certainly things for which I need to seek forgiveness, as do you; none of us is perfect, not one.
But what would Jesus have to repent?
The witness of the earliest church, as we would find in Hebrews, describes Jesus as “in every respect … tested as we are, yet without sin”; Paul writes to the church in Corinth as well, saying that Jesus “knows no sin”; 1st John says too that there is no sin in Jesus.
And yet, when Jesus approaches John at the Jordan, and when John takes exception that Jesus should seek out his baptism, Jesus says no, baptise me. “[F]or it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.”
John’s baptism is, to be sure, a baptism of repentance. “I baptize you with water for repentance,” says John the Baptizer, just a few verses earlier in Matthew’s Gospel; Mark’s Gospel says the same thing, as does Luke’s Gospel; each of them reporting that Jesus was, indeed, baptized by John the Baptizer into a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, sins of which Jesus has not committed. “[F]or it is proper … in this way to fulfil all righteousness.”
For the theologians, this is a relatively straightforward matter, seeing here but the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, the ministry of his life and death, a life and death offered for others. In the way that Jesus offers himself wholly for the sake of others, Jesus is not a man for himself, but the man who carries the burden of all humanity with him, in order that humanity would be transformed in him; as Karl Barth puts it, when writing on Jesus’s baptism: Jesus is “the man responsible for all.” Jesus represents all of humanity in his ministry; Jesus does not act for himself, but acts always for others.
And this is as true in his baptism as it is in his incarnation, God born into this world for the sake of us all; this is as true in his baptism as it is in his crucifixion, a death offered for our sake. In this sense, Jesus isn’t baptised for the sake of his own salvation, or for his own reconciliation; in Jesus’s baptism of repentance, he doesn’t repent for himself. Jesus repents for all of us. Jesus repents vicariously; Jesus repents for others. And he does so when he is baptized by John in the Jordan, into John’s baptism for the repentance of sins, and “to fulfil all righteousness.”
One thing I most certainly don’t want you to take away today is the notion that because Jesus has already repented for the sins of the world, that you no longer have to. Quite the opposite, actually. Instead, just as Jesus opens up to us a way of death in him, and a way of life in him, so too does Jesus open for us a way of repentance in him. Just as it is true that in Christ, by virtue of our baptism, we die and rise with him, and as such can live no longer for ourselves but for the sake of others, so too can we, because Jesus has already repented for others, and because we are now alive in Christ, so too can we repent for ourselves and for others.
In 1934 Bonhoeffer preached a sermon on repentance. In that sermon he tells a story about Gandhi when Gandhi was a schoolteacher. In that sermon Bonhoeffer says that “within [Gandhi’s] school community an injustice was done, which shook [Gandhi] to the core. However, [Gandhi] took this …as a call to repentance. So he went and spent long days in repentance, with fasting and all kinds of self-denial. What did this mean? It meant first of all that in the guilt of his pupils he saw his own guilt, his lack of love, patience, and truthfulness. … it meant the recognition that faith and love and hope could be found only in repentance.”
We will forgive Bonhoeffer, for now, for assuming Gandhi’s Christianity. But what he says is important. First, he says that Gandhi did not commit the injustice; despite that, in the injustice he saw his own guilt; and then that in his own repentance, for his own guilt and sin, he could repent for the sins of others.
As we come face to face with the sin of another, our recourse is less to the judgment of others, and more to honesty about our own sin; and as we are honest about our own sin, our own lack of love, or of patience, or of truthfulness, we can begin, sometimes, repent for the sins of others. And not under our own power, but under the power of the Jesus in whom we find ourselves, and as we live no longer for ourselves but for Christ and in Christ, and for others.
This seems, to me, an extraordinarily important notion in communities that have experienced the effects of the sins of others. This is true in the smallest of church communities, where we often have long histories, and while we enjoy the legacy of the work of God we see in the saints that have gone before us, churches can also suffer under the hidden sins of the past. This is true in the largest of our communions, where we have even longer histories, and where we enjoy an even greater way the legacy of the work of God we see in the saints that have gone before us. And where there can be great suffering under the sins of the past.
Hurt happens, and sometimes we are quite limited in the way we can address it. But repentance for others, in the power of Jesus, can be one way of doing so: through prayer, through supplication, and in taking responsibility for healing as best we can, and in Christ’s power—and sometimes by a few for the sake of the many.
Recognition of our own sin is critical here—because our awareness of our own sin, and equally the awareness that we are forgiven in Christ, is what gives us the sort of compassion that allows us to look upon the sins of others and refrain from judgment. And as we refrain from judgment, we can begin to bear the truth in faith and hope and love, even to bear the sins of others in truth and in that faith and hope and love, and even to repent for them in faith and hope and love, and in hope to take responsibility for the effects of that sin in faith and hope and love.
But we do so in Christ, in his power, and in the knowledge, and reality, of what he offers us: forgiveness, and reconciliation, between us and God, and between one another, now in part, and in the age to come, in his fulness, and the fulfillment of his righteousness.
The Revd Dr Preston Parsons
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.
As our parish musician, he provides both support and leadership so that a variety of parish programs can find musical expression and attract participation. When our handbell choir is in season, he is one of our ringers. At parish dinners, he provides popular piano music for the guests to dine by. For both worship services and concerts, he will rehearse and accompany vocal and instrumental soloists from our congregation on piano, organ, or even accordion.
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.