Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 Baptism of Jesus Pastor Ron Koehler Grace—Tucson, AZ January 12, 2025
I don’t know if this has happened to you—or if you might be going through it right now—but If you’ve had a period of uncertainty or confusion about who you are as a person or what your purpose in life is, you may have experienced what’s called an Identity Crisis. Most people actually experience some form of it at least once during their life. Our confusion and doubt are usually triggered by important life changes. So, this can happen when we are in that tricky spot of not being a little kid, but also not quite an adult. And just in case teenagers think that it’s only them who feel this way, they should know that adults sometimes have a midlife crisis. Soldiers transitioning back into civilian life can go through an identity crisis. Health problems can trigger this. So can getting close to retirement. All sorts of things can cause us to be confused about who we are and what we’re doing with our life. This can even happen when it comes to our faith. Am I really a Christian? Does God really love me? What does God want me to do? Maybe we can call it a spiritual identity crisis. This, too, is common enough. God has some things to say to us about this in the parts of our worship service today, but also as we think now about Jesus’ baptism. There was a little different kind of identity crisis going on at the Jordan River. People were trying to identify who John was and wondering if he was the Christ. This was a question of massive concern to the people! As they were wondering about this, Jesus was baptized, and his identity was revealed. What we get from all this is the definitive answer about who Jesus is. And as we hear that, we also get the definitive answer about who we are too and the comfort that comes with it. Jesus’ Baptism Revealed His Identity as the Promised Messiah He was Announced, Anointed, and Approved John Announced Him It’s hard to put ourselves in the place of the people who made their way along the dusty road out to the Jordan River to hear the preacher everyone was talking about. It’s hard to imagine listening to him explain to you the need to repent before God and then stepping down from the bank of the river and having him pour water over your head so that you would be forgiven. His preaching was powerful and this “baptism” was something no one had seen before. Was this preacher the Promised One? Was he the one anointed by God to be the Messiah? It sure seemed like he might be! We’ve had to wait for big things—from a 13th birthday when we become a teenager to getting married to packing up your stuff at work and walking out the door for the last time. But the people at the Jordan River have us beat. It had been 400 years since God had sent them a prophet to tell them about a coming Savior, but God’s faithful people were waiting and watching. And they recognized something special about John—godly and impressive. So, they wondered.