The Baptism of Our Lord Archives - St. Peter's Lutheran Church

Sermon preached by Pastor Roth

Old Testament

Isaiah 42:1–9

¹Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
²He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
³a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
⁴He will not grow faint or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.
⁵Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
⁶“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
⁷to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
⁸I am the Lord; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
⁹Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.”

Psalm

Psalm 29

¹Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
²Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

³The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
⁴The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

⁵The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
⁶He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷The voice of the Lord
flashes forth flames of fire.
⁸The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹⁰The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
¹¹May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless his people with peace!

Epistle

Romans 6:1–11

¹What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ²By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Gospel

Matthew 3:13–17

¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Introit

Psalm 2:7–11, 12c; antiphon: Isaiah 42:1a

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights.
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessèd are all who take refuge in him.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights.

Collect of the Day

Father in heaven, at the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River You proclaimed Him Your beloved Son and anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. Make all who are baptized in His name faithful in their calling as Your children and inheritors with Him of everlasting life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Sermon by Rev. Roth

Introit Psalm 2:7–11, 12c; antiphon: Isaiah 42:1a
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights.
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessèd are all who take refuge in him.

Collect of the day
Father in heaven, at the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River You proclaimed Him Your beloved Son and anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. Make all who are baptized in His name faithful in their calling as Your children and inheritors with Him of everlasting life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

First Reading/Old Testament Isaiah 43:1–7
¹But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
³For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
⁴Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.
⁵Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you.
⁶I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
⁷everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”

Psalm 29
¹Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
²Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

³The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
⁴The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

⁵The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
⁶He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷The voice of the Lord
flashes forth flames of fire.
⁸The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹⁰The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
¹¹May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless his people with peace!

Second Reading/Epistle Romans 6:1–11
¹What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ²By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Holy Gospel Reading Luke 3:15–22
¹⁵As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, ¹⁶John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. ¹⁹But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, ²⁰added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

²¹Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Category: The Baptism of Our Lord