Worship on the Sunday celebrating Jesus’ Baptism
10:00 am January 11, 2026
Minister: The Rev. Brad Childs Music Director: Binu Kapadia
Vocalist: Linda Farrah-Basford Welcoming Elder: Heather Tansem
Readers: Gina Kottke Children’s time: Brad
We gather to worship God
Music prelude
Greeting
L: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
P: and also with you
Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship
Call to worship:
L: We are called to serve in the name of Jesus, God’s beloved Son,
P: God calls us by name because we are beloved.
L: God calls us to be a light to the nations.
P: We wait for God’s teaching and to learn justice.
L: We are witnesses to God’s goodness and grace who claims and loves us.
P: God’s name be praised!
Opening praise: Bless the Lord, oh my soul
Prayers of approach and confession
Eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, on this day we remember the baptism of your beloved Son in the Jordan River, where heaven opened, the Spirit descended like a dove, and your voice declared, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
We approach you with joy and awe, thankful that in Jesus you stepped into our world, identifying with us in our humanity, and inviting us into your divine life.
We praise you for the gift of baptism, by which you claim us as your own beloved children, wash away our sin, and fill us with your Holy Spirit.
Yet, gracious God, we confess that we often forget who we are.
We wander from your ways, gnoring the voice that calls us beloved.
We fail to live as those marked by your Spirit – choosing selfishness over service, division over reconciliation, and fear over faith.
Forgive us, we pray.
Renew in us the grace of our baptism, that we may rise to new life in Christ and walk in the light of your love.
Hear our silent confessions… *(pause for silence)*
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Response: Glory, glory hallelujah
Assurance of God’s pardon
Friends, hear the good news from Scripture.
In Acts we hear that “everyone who believes in [Jesus] receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” And in the waters of baptism, God declares over us what was declared over Jesus: You are my beloved child; with you I am well pleased.
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who fulfilled all righteousness for us, your sins are forgiven. Rise, beloved children of God, and live in the freedom of this pardon.
Musical offering (Linda): What king would through murky streams
We listen for the voice of God
Song: Jesus we are gathered (514)
Children’s time
The Lord’s Prayer (535)
Song: Spirit of the living God (400)
Scripture: Acts 10:34-43 & Matthew 3:13-17
Response: Emmanuel, Emmanuel
Message: To fulfill all righteousness
Questions for Reflection: Jesus was baptized? Why? What do you think the reason was? Was Jesus seeking forgiveness of sins? Well, no. But why?
It’s a serene and vibrant landscape where the gentle flow of water meets the whispers of the crowd. Here, along the banks, the air is filled with the earthy scent of fresh vegetation, punctuated by hints of wild herbs that flourish in the sun-drenched wilderness. Sage, Dill, Fennel, Garlic and Thyme grow wild. The sound of splashing water mingles with the fervent voices of those gathering to witness this significant event, drawn by the powerful preaching of an eccentric John the Baptist. It is a scene alive with the palpable anticipation of transformation, marking the beginning of a journey that will forever alter the course of human history. It happens here on the stony banks next to a three-foot deep river.
Here is Jesus: Perfect, sinless, the very Son of God; walking down to the muddy banks of the Jordan to be baptized by a prophet who preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins. It’s important to note, however, that there is a difference between being baptized by John and John’s disciples and between Jesus and Jesus’ disciples.
John the Baptist’s baptism was a ritual of repentance, emphasizing the need for individuals to turn away from their sins and prepare for the coming of the Messiah. His baptism symbolized purification and a commitment to a new life in anticipation of God’s kingdom. In contrast, baptism in the name of Jesus, as practiced by his followers after his resurrection, signifies a fuller understanding of salvation through Jesus Christ, including the belief in his death and resurrection. This baptism represents not only repentance and purification but also a believer’s identification with Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. So, while both baptisms involve themes of repentance and renewal, the baptism in Jesus’ name encompasses a deeper theological dimension related to the New Covenant and the transformative power of faith in Christ.
John’s baptism was a public washing, a mikveh as it was called, and John certainly didn’t invent it. Baptism (or baptizo, meaning “to plunge,” a word usually reserved for the washing of clothes as a person plunged them into the river for cleaning) was a ritual immersion that first-century Jews understood as a symbol of purification, turning from sin, and preparation for God’s coming kingdom.
To grasp the shock of this scene, we need to remember what baptism meant in that world. The mikveh was rooted in the Old Testament, used especially to consecrate new priests, cleanse from impurity before the major holidays, and mark a major change in status. By Jesus’ day, it had become more widespread. Groups like the Essenes at Qumran practiced frequent ritual washings as they separated themselves from a corrupt world and awaited the Messiah. Even Gentile converts to Judaism often underwent baptism, along with circumcision, as a public sign of entering the covenant people.
John’s baptism took this symbol further. It was a baptism of repentance, a call to confess sin, turn around, and prepare for the One who was coming. That’s why they called out, “Repent” (a military term for about-face or turn around) and “be baptized” to show it. It carried the cultural implication that the person being baptized was admitting their sinfulness and need for cleansing. It’s like making a public confession and apology. So when the sinless Jesus steps forward, John is stunned. “I need to be baptized by you,” he says, “and do you come to me?” (v. 14). And John is absolutely right. Why is John baptizing Jesus? Actually, why is Jesus being baptized at all? He’s not confessing his sins, repenting, or turning his life around. He’s not washing away his wrongs or joining a religious movement. It makes no sense unless we see the deeper purpose. And good news, Jesus tells us exactly why he is being baptized. Unfortunately, his answer doesn’t fully clarify things for us.
Jesus answers with words that unlock the entire scene: “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness” (v. 15).
Oh, great! But what does “fulfill all righteousness” mean? Well, first off, it means Jesus is not coming to be cleansed. He is coming to complete God’s righteous plan. He is stepping into the Jordan not because He has sin, but because He is choosing to identify fully with us, the sinners.
Here is the core: Jesus’ baptism is an act of humble solidarity with humanity. Though He had no sin to repent of (as Hebrews 4:15 and 2 Corinthians 5:21 declare), He entered the water as if He did. He stands in our place. He assumes the role of the guilty party. The baptism of Jesus is like a miniature crucifixion-type event. In that moment, Jesus is saying, “I will be numbered with the transgressors. I will bear what they bear. I will carry their sins forward to the cross.”
This foreshadows everything that is to come. Every Christmas, we read verses from the prophets that, quite frankly, need some explanation, which is rarely given. It became a tradition to do Old Testament readings on Christmas very early on, but they are lost on most people.
550 or so years before Jesus was born, Isaiah 53 had prophesied that the Servant of the Lord would be “numbered with the transgressors” and “bear the sin of many.” At His baptism, Jesus begins that journey. He accepts his lot in life, he chooses to follow a particular path. He begins his mission. He is baptized into our sin so that we might one day be baptized into His righteousness.
And look what happens next: the heavens are torn open. The Spirit descends like a dove, gentle and pure, resting on Him. Then the Father’s voice booms from heaven: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (vv. 16-17).
This is the divine endorsement. This is a rarity in the bible. The trinity is never spoken of in the bible, and there is no trinity. That’s an explanation we discovered later. There are very few pictures of the Trinity in the Bible. But here we have one. In the baptism of Jesus, the Trinity is present: the Son in the water, the Spirit as a dove, the Father speaking love and pleasure. This moment marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. It is the anointing prophesied in Isaiah 61:1. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” And it confirms to John, and to the watching world, who Jesus truly is.
And yet, over the last 2000 years, almost every theologian on earth has had questions and theories about the baptism of Jesus. Why do you think Jesus was baptized? Here’s a list of the major views:
- To identify with us sinners, stepping into our place of repentance.
- To fulfill all righteousness; perfectly obeying the Father’s will and believing that baptism is a part of that mission.
- To endorse John’s ministry and thus also to very publicly agree with John in declaring Jesus as the Messiah.
- To launch His mission, empowered by the Spirit in a new way now available to everyone, where the Spirit rest with people forever (unlike in the Old Testament when the Spirit came “for a time” and then left again.
- To model humility and obedience for every follower.
To be clear, I believe all of the above to be accurate. Jesus didn’t need the water for cleansing. He was the cleansing. But out of love, He entered it for us. His baptism points straight to the cross: the innocent One baptized into our guilt so we could be clothed in His righteousness.
Let me close with a simple story that captures something of what this means for us. There was once a great pianist giving a concert in a large hall. When he finished, the entire audience rose in a thunderous standing ovation, everyone except one elderly gentleman in the front row, who remained seated, silent, arms folded. As the pianist walked off stage, tears streamed down his face. His manager asked, “What’s wrong? Everyone loved it!” The pianist replied, “You don’t understand. That man in the front row. He didn’t stand. He didn’t clap. “So what! Laughed the manager, who cares what he thinks!” “Well” said the pianist I do. He’s the composer. He wrote the music. He’s the only one who knows what it’s truly supposed to sound like. He’s the only one who matters.”
In the same way, many of us spend our lives chasing the applause of the crowd, the approval of others, the likes, and the praise. But there is only One whose voice we truly need to hear. At the Jordan, the Father declared over His Son: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” And because Jesus stepped into the water for us, died for us, and rose for us, when we trust in Him, that same pleasure is spoken over us. “Well done,” the Father says, not because we’ve earned it, but because Christ has fulfilled all righteousness for us.
Today, may we hear that voice above every other. May we follow the humble path of our Saviour: identifying with Him, obeying Him, and living for the applause of heaven alone. He was born for us. He lived for us. He died for us. And he was baptized like us. In baptism, we join Him. We do what is right. We, too, fulfill all righteousness, to be more like him!
Go in peace, beloved children of God. Amen.
Song: Lord, whose love (722)
We respond to serve God
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Prayers of thanksgiving and intercession
God of the waters, God of new beginnings, we give you thanks for the revelation of your love in the baptism of Jesus your Son.
Thank you for opening the heavens to us, for sending your Spirit upon us, and for speaking words of delight over your people.
We thank you for the gift of baptism – for the water that cleanses, the Spirit that renews, and the community that welcomes and sustains us.
Thank you for calling us your beloved children and sending us to live as witnesses to your grace.
On this day, as we remember Jesus’ baptism, we pray for all who are baptized:
Strengthen those newly baptized, renew those who have grown weary, and awaken those who have forgotten their calling.
We pray for the church throughout the world – that we may show no partiality, as you show none, but welcome all people with the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
We pray for our world:
For nations torn by conflict, for communities divided by prejudice, for those oppressed by injustice or poverty.
Pour out your Spirit afresh, that your healing and reconciling power may flow like rivers of living water.
We pray for those who suffer – the sick, the grieving, the lonely, the anxious.
Anoint them with your comfort and hope.
And we pray for ourselves:
Help us to fulfill all righteousness in our daily lives – to serve humbly, love generously, and bear witness to your kingdom.
Song: Oh sing to our God (453)
Sending out with God’s blessing
Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immoveable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that, in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.
I Corinthians 15: 58 (RSV)
Response: Gloria in excelsis Deo
Music postlude
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Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).
The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2025) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.
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