Sermon - The Baptism of Our Lord

The Baptism of Our Lord
Listen to Pastor Rosebrock's Sermon on Luke 3:15-22, given on January 13, 2019.

​In the painting by Tintoretto to the right, Christ is humbly kneeling at the edge of the water while the heavens are opened with the Holy Spirit descending as a dove. This way of depicting Christ’s Baptism, though not common, actually captures well the significance of what happened that day. John’s Baptism for the repentance of sins was not something that Jesus needed. He is without sin! And yet, in His Baptism, Jesus humbled Himself for us. He got right down in the midst of the waters of a repentance that he did not need, a place reserved for sinners. There He counted himself among us! In Jesus’ Baptism, Jesus associated with sinners in order to take sin and defeat it. Jesus has joined himself to us in order to redeem us. 

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Image: Tintoretto (1518-1594). The Baptism of Christ(1585). Capitoline Museums, Rome, Italy / Wikimedia Commons.