Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
January 11, 2026
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
Baptism Of Our Lord
Promise Made Promise Kept
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him; but John tried to dissuade him saying, “I need to be baptized by you! And you come to me?” In reply Jesus said to him, “Now it is finished for this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted it. And immediately upon baptism he arose from the water and Behold! The heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, resting upon him! And Behold! A voice from/ek heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.(Mt 3:13-17 DKV)
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Today’s gospel is the fulfillment of today’s Old Testament reading. It is the paid-in-full, the completion and achievement of the promises our God makes through his prophet Isaiah today!
Every detail of the Lord’s Person and Work are made clear by Isaiah 750 years before these things ever happened; but happen they would! Because any Word from our God is as good as delivered. Any Word from God is as good as done.
When you buy from Amazon the promise is made; and in a day or so, sometimes even in a few hours, you get an email that says: “Delivered.” The package is outside your door, the promise fulfilled, done deal, transaction complete.
Similarly our God and Father both speaks promises to us, his fallen creation; we who are in “bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves,” and he delivers them all in the fullness of time by the Lord’s baptism, which is the first step of a journey and ends at the cross; where He is baptized in blood.
We learn this in spades in today’s gospel by the few words that Jesus says to John when He came to be baptized. It doesn’t come through in English translation, but in the original Greek, John vigorously protested to dissuade the Lord’s request with these words “I need to be baptized by you! And you come to me?”
Now let us pause here for a moment to say that your baptism is everything! It is the “gift of God,” referenced in Romans 6:23. Notice that when the pastor absolves sins he raises one hand in blessing and with the other holds on to the baptismal font, which is empowered by the cross. Because our baptism is New Birth, from above, from God who is Himself in the water as surely as Jesus stepped into the Jordan river.
Baptism is our adoption into the Kingdom of God now and in the world without end. It opens the heaven to us, and puts us in touch with the Blessed Holy Trinity like it did for John the Baptizer in today’s gospel – where John, son of Zechariah the priest, served as priest to the thrice-holy God.
Imagine!
Yes, John tried to dissuade the Lord from what he considered a miscarriage of Ministry because as John said earlier, “The one who comes after me is before me, and I am not fit to untie the laces of his sandals.” And again: He must increase, says John of Jesus, I must decrease. But the Lord solved the problem with these words, “Let it be so for now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
But there is more to the story!
The words, “let us be so for now” don’t properly communicate what is written by St. Matthew in the original Greek. In two little words, “afes arti” Jesus says to John the Baptist: “now it is finished.” And what he meant by these two little words is that John the Baptizer’s ministry has reached its pinnacle and its conclusoin. There is no more for John to do. He was hereby retired by the Lord himself.
Because, you see, John was brought into the world with heavenly fanfare for one purpose, to baptize. And of all the baptisms he performed the one we hear of today is chief of all – the baptism of our Lord.
This day, this time, this place, this meeting was prearranged before the foundation of the world in the unsearchable and inscrutable mind of God. When “the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5) was formally publicly ordained before the world he came to save. Here we see the fulfillment of other prophecies as well. “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” (Psalm 2:7) And again, “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedech.” (Ps 110:4)
At this moment all the affirmations made in Isaiah 42 came to their fullness. And so Jesus now puts John into retirement, as it were, with the words, “afes arti”. Now it is finished. Or said another way. Now the circle is closed, the circuit is complete your work is done: you must decrease and I must increase.
We know that Jesus and John had met once before when each was in his mother’s womb. When the Blessed Virgin Mary who had freshly conceived by the Holy Spirit came, to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was six months pregnant with our John – St. Luke notes that at the sound of Mary’s greeting to Elizabeth John “leapt for joy” in her womb. That is to say a six month old foetus in the womb recognized a newly conceived child in the womb perhaps less than one week old; the Savior of the world, whom he would one day baptize.
A convocation unlike any other!
Thirty years later they meet again at the Jordan – both adults; and here they close the circle. Here they fulfill their divinely appointed purpose together. And thereafter John leaves the stage.
From this point on our Lord showed the world openly that he himself is the chosen servant of our God, in whom our God delights! In whom he is “well-pleased.” All confirmed by the voice whose source from outside the cosmos thunders, “This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.”
He is the one upon whom the Holy Spirit descended and remained. The Spirit of Truth and Power which our Lord distributes to us in baptism. And in even mightier measure as needed. The case is just as our Lord Himself says: “How much more will the Father give the Spirit to those who ask.” And so ask! And he will provide you with power unknown, with vision, determination, endurance, consolation and direction in all your affairs.
Our Lord is, moreover, the one who brings about “justice for the nations,” which means Salvation for the world by the cross! Because his Heavenly Father “upheld him” and “strengthened his hand” this “Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5) walked “the trail of tears” for us, in our place from beginning to end.
There is much more we could say about the Word Made Flesh who was divinely baptized for us. Whose baptism fulfills every circumcision that came before, and validates every baptism thereafter. This Feast is huge for Christians. And so let us:
“Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.” Psalm 29:2