Sermon: “Our Truest Identity” Isaiah 42:1-9, Matthew 3:13-17, January 11, 2026

Title:  “Our Truest Identity”

Scripture: Isaiah 42:1-9, Matthew 3:13-17

Preacher: Rev. Ryan Slifka

Today we’re marking the Baptism of Jesus in the Christian calendar. Seems like mere days ago he was just baby in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. And suddenly here he is, in his early thirties getting dunked in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. They grow up so fast, don’t they?

All kidding aside, his baptismal day is a big day for Jesus. At first, though, the big day doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

Jesus lines up with the rest of the crowd waiting to be baptized by John. But when it’s his turn, John turns him down. Why? Well, John thinks it’d be crazy to baptize Jesus. Remember, John’s been gathering disciples by the river for a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. Be forgiven, wash away your old self and finally be the person who God wants you—demands you be. A commitment to a whole new life. But Jesus is supposed to be the Messiah, God in the flesh. If you’re God in the flesh it means you have no sin. Meaning Jesus has nothing to repent of, he has not need to change his mind or his life. So John’s like “you sure you’re not the one who’s supposed to be baptizing me?”

But, you know Jesus. He can be very convincing. He tells John to go ahead so together they can “fulfill all righteousness.” Meaning that it’s all part of Jesus’ programme to do the whole will of God, as any other human being would be expected to do.[i] You see, Jesus isn’t just God. He’s also fully human. There’s no part of our human life God didn’t become a part of in Jesus. And after hearing this, John agrees to go ahead.

Though the big day didn’t look like it was gonna happen, now it’s full steam ahead. Because it’s a good idea, a “proper” thing to do. To “fulfil all righteousness.”

And you know, everyone’s baptismal is a big day. But with Jesus it’s as big as it gets. All on account of what happens when he comes up for air.

Because after John dunks him, he emerges from the Jordan. And we’re told that the heavens, the sky itself splits right open. It’s not just like a parting of the clouds, but it’s like the membrane between heaven and earth has been torn apart like curtains drawn to let in the sunrise. Then, we’re told, the Holy Spirit—the same power of God that hovered over the waters at creation—it dives down through the split sky. It’s lit up like a star, and it lands right. On. Jesus.

And if that isn’t dramatic enough for you, there’s also a voice. One booming from where the dove came from, the open curtain in the cosmos. “This is my Son,” it says. “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We don’t know if it’s a high soprano or deep bass. But I imagine it’s got a little gravitas at least.

I said this was a big day for Jesus. I mean, obviously, the sky, the dove, the voice, those are some unusual and incredible things. But it’s the meaning of all the divine things that makes it such a big deal.

You’ll remember last Sunday we celebrated the Epiphany of the Lord, where the wise men followed the star to bring their gifts to Jesus. That was called the Epiphany, meaning “manifestation,” because Jesus’ divine identity was being revealed to the world for the first time. Jesus Baptism is also an “epiphany,” an epiphany a moment where God is made manifest, where God reveals God’s self to us. In fact, most Eastern Christians actually celebrate Jesus’ baptism as marking the epiphany, not the wise men. Their wise men come at Christmas.

Jesus’ baptism’s an epiphany, too, because when the heavens open and the Spirit descends, and the voice says Jesus is God’s Son and God is pleased with him, God is showing everyone around, including John, that Jesus is the long waited for Messiah. This is direct confirmation, we might say in English “from the horse’s mouth.” Or maybe better: right from heaven’s mouth that Jesus is who John suspects he is. And who Jesus eventually reveals himself to be.

The one who, like the Prophet Isaiah said, would be filled with the Spirit of the living God, and do God’s will. The one who would save his people from their sins, would usher in God’s kingdom on earth. And one day would bring about a whole new creation.

This day, is a big day, because it reveals that that Jesus is the one. This is a big day for Jesus because it reveals to the crowds and the worlds his true identity, one he will live out for the rest of his ministry, in his feeding, healing, teaching, his dying on the cross and rising. “This is my beloved Son,” says the Creator of heaven and earth. It’s a big day for Jesus because here God says, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.”

This day is a big day for Jesus. But it’s also a big day for us.

Why?

Well, as one commentator puts it, Jesus’ baptism is the “prototype” for all the other baptisms to come after it.[ii] For everyone who has been washed in water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Meaning me. My wife, my children. Meaning most of us here, either as children or as adults. And those who are participating for their future baptisms in The Way, our adult faith formation process preparing for baptism. I mean, I can’t think of any other traditions that I have been a part of that go back two-thousand years. But it starts here with Jesus. His baptism is the prototype of our own.

Now, following Jesus, our baptism has several meanings.

It’s the moment where we’re welcomed into the church, the body of Christ. Which is what churches like the United Church, or Anglican, or Roman Catholic Churches tend to talk about. Officially becoming part of the family of God.

Or it’s a commitment to “fulfil all righteousness,” to be obedient to God in following Jesus. Which is usually what more evangelical churches tend to talk about. Using the language of a personal commitment to Christ.

Baptism is about becoming part of the community of disciple on earth, yes. It is also about our commitment to follow Jesus’ commands, yes (or a commitment made on our behand by our parents). But there’s something you might notice is absent from these two viewpoints, though. That something is a someone, actually. God.

One thing we often miss was very important to the early church fathers and mothers all the way through the Protestant Reformation. It’s what we’d traditionally call mystical “union with Christ.” “For all of you,” in the words of the Apostle Paul. “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Baptism means union with Christ.

What does that mean, union with Christ? It means that in baptism we aren’t just joining the community of Christ. We’re not just following Jesus example, doing what he did, or doing what he says to do. Though both are good things. But that in baptism, God gives himself to us. God gives himself to you. Jesus is a part of us, Jesus is a part of you. We’re a part of him, you’re a part of him. In baptism Jesus makes what belongs to him ours. Yours and mine. All of it.

And you know what one of the most important things he gives us is? An identity.

We modern people are hugely into identity. My 8 year old daughter literally came home with a booklet from school titled “my identity.” You list your family, your country of origin, etc. etc. etc. No place for religion or spirituality—but hey, this is the public school system we’re talking about. It’s basically “here are all the things who make me who I am.”

Now, for us, though, there is one item that goes on the cover of our little booklet. And it’s derivative of today’s scripture. When the heavens open, dove dives, remember what the booking voice from heaven says: “this is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Remember, this is the big reveal for Jesus. It reveals what? His identity as the divine Son. And remember, too, how I said that union with Christ means that everything that belongs to Jesus belongs to us now, too? Well, it means that this identity, his identity, is ours, too. We are sons and daughters, children of the living God.

And this is the identity that goes on the front of our little booklet. The most important.

It means first and foremost you and I are children of the living God. It’s the most important thing about you, about me, about anyone.

And not only are you and I children of the living God, you and I are beloved. On account of Jesus, his death on the cross, and his resurrection. We are ones with whom God is well pleased.

Here’s what makes the difference, though. It’s not by anything we are. We are not first defined by any markers that are important to us from race to gender to sexuality, or even family. Nor are we defined by or merit—not by what our achievements, not by our wealth, not by our status, not by our correct politics, not even by our good works! Nor are we defined by the bad things we’ve done or good things we’ve failed to do.

“Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” says the Apostle Paul. And if “we’ve been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

We are first and foremost defined by who we belong to, who we’re united to. Jesus Christ. Who lived, died, was raised and reigns. For the healing of all.

It's a gift that means that we can stop all our self-justifications. It means we can cease our endless striving to win meaning and purpose, and that we can quit being eaten up by guilt and defining ourselves by our shame. Because who we truly are is in Christ.  Baptism is a sign, a seal, of your union with Christ. And it means who you are, before anything else, is a son, a daughter, a beloved child of the king of Creation. Given love, forgiveness, a reason for being, and a purpose to fulfil. And the best thing is that unlike all the others, this is an identity that we don’t have to earn, one we could never earn. But one that is a gift. One that nobody can ever take away.

So today, dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ. May each of us celebrate with joy. After all it is a big day. Not only is it the day that Jesus was baptized, revealing his identity to the world. But it’s also a big day for us. One where we celebrate the gift of our own baptisms—even if our baptism is a future event. Because baptism is the gift of our truest identity. That on account of Jesus, his baptism in the Jordan river, his death and resurrection, each of us has been made children of God. He looks at each of us… he looks at you and me and says “this is my beloved son… this is my beloved daughter… with whom I am well pleased.”

May each of us be given another gift: the grace to believe that this is true. And to let it change us.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the One in wh

[i] Frederick Dale Bruener, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 103.

[ii] Ibid., 109.