Jesus’ Baptism—Luke 3:1-22

It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea; Herod Antipas was ruler over Galilee; his brother Philip was ruler over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler over Abilene. Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness. Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. Isaiah had spoken of John when he said, “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him! The valleys will be filled, and the mountains and hills made level. The curves will be straightened, and the rough places made smooth. And then all people will see the salvation sent from God.’” When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.” The crowds asked, “What should we do?” John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.” Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?” He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.” “What should we do?” asked some soldiers. John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.” Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah. John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” John used many such warnings as he announced the Good News to the people. John also publicly criticized Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, for marrying Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for many other wrongs he had done. So Herod put John in prison, adding this sin to his many others. One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

As we go through Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism there’s a heavy focus on the idea of repentance. John’s warnings are not to be taken lightly. But when we zoom out to this whole section of Scripture (something I’m glad the Narrative Lectionary does) I’m struck by the communal nature of even that act of repentance.

It’s not individuals who come to John, but the crowds. Isaiah prophecies that “all people will see the salvation sent by God.” And when John addresses particular sins he’s still pointing to their communal effects. Don’t just downsize to one shirt, but make sure that your downsizing helps the poor. Don’t just watch how much food you’re consuming, but make sure to share what you have with the hungry, and avoid things like extortion and false claims which obviously harm your neighbor. This is a call to repentance that is centered on the people as a whole, rather than the individual person.

So I wonder if there’s a sermon to be preached about the communal nature of baptism that moves beyond repentance and into celebration as well. We confess our sins together, and we confess the communal nature of those sins. But when those sins are forgiven, we are then invited into a communal celebration as well, we are invited into the great joy of God that we see at the end of our text! So if we celebrate baptisms solely as the salvation of individuals, something that allows us to feel better when the time for funerals arrives, then we miss the wideness of God’s mercy and the scope of the good news in Christ’s baptism.

Before I ended up down in Florida, I pastored a small church in rural Illinois that had around 30 in attendance on a given Sunday. But near the end of my time there we added 5 new families that each had at least a couple young kids. And I remember preaching a terrible sermon about Baptism one winter Sunday. It was too academic, with not enough emotional connection, and I was miserable about it when I got home that afternoon. But the next week something funny happened.

A little boy from one of those families decided he wanted to be baptized. So we gladly held a Baptism a few Sundays later and we cancelled Children’s Church that morning to his friends could all celebrate with him. And the next week we had a little girl that wanted to be baptized, so we had to cancel Children’s Church again. And then we had an entire family that wanted to be baptized with 3 little ones in tow. And then another little one a couple weeks later! And while our Children’s Church schedule ended up in tatters, we suddenly had more baptisms in a 6 week span than we had the 6 years prior. Because those little kids recognized something us adults too often miss. That baptism wasn’t meant to be an individual event, but a communal celebration.

So as you look to preach this Sunday, maybe consider this wider view of Baptism, and see where it leads. As always, feel free to use anything here without attribution (and if you want to use the story itself just say it’s a story from your friend Alex).