January 23, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.” (Matthew 3.13)

“When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized as well. And as He was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are My Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.’” (Luke 3.21-22)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

As I reflected on the Epiphany experience where the Magi came to Bethlehem from distant countries, I spoke of the thematic threads of the Spirit and the Law sewn throughout the biblical witness of the Old Testament. In many instances, similar stories beginning with the Creation story found in Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, were told bearing the hallmarks of either thread. There were many others made known in the writing of the history, wisdom and prophecy concerning the nation of Israel and the people of God. We considered them as we compared and contrasted the gospel birth narratives of Matthew and Luke. As this tapestry was being woven on the loom of life, God as the Master weaver and creator passed the shuttle back and forth drawing these two threads to expose the most wonderful image of all. That image takes on a greater fullness and clarity as the two threads virtually become as one. We know that ONE to be Jesus the Christ, God’s only begotten Son.

In today’s scriptures offered for this reflection, we begin to see the image up close and personal. What we see is those scriptures for today is how another thread is deftly pulled through as only the Master can do. Who is that thread? It is “US,” you and me. Here in the stories of Jesus’ baptism, we are transported to the place where “Immanuel,” God with us, is spoken of in realized terms. Jesus wasn’t baptized in an isolated sense. Jesus was baptized in the midst of John the Baptizer’s ministry of preparing the people for “the way of the Lord.” Jesus began to demonstrate the meaning and purpose which John declared in the wilderness challenging the conventional wisdom of the day. No longer would people need to look forward and wonder when the Messiah would come. The Messiah was here in the midst of them. He was living, sleeping, eating, working and serving both God and humanity in spirit and in truth. He was defined by the singular purpose of God’s redeeming love dwelling on earth in the world to save all people from the ultimate reality of sin which was, is and will forever be…eternal death, a forever dying. This did not mean that the people were freed from the penalty and could continue to sin without fear of reprisal or negative consequence. What Jesus did was reveal the true course of righteousness. Jesus modeled for the world what it meant to practice the true religion of God. Jesus did not condemn “religion.” Jesus condemned the “religion of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.” He called them “sons of a viper” referring to the sin-filled serpent named Satan, the fallen and cast out Lucifer. Such false religion served only the purposes of the leadership who made of themselves “like God” as if they were indeed God. That was the hope of Satan for Adam and Eve in the Garden. However, because of their innocence and a lack of experience for anything but God, they felt shame and guilt. They hid themselves with the hope of staving off the wrath of God who had said, “If you eat of the fruit of this tree, you will surely die.” Not only was He living with them, He was living for them.

John Fawcett, circa 1780, wrote a hymn which I grew up with and sang often in worship; especially as a benediction to the services. The lyrics are as follow:

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne,
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
Our comforts, and our cares.

We share our mutual woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

For me, there is that sense of all the threads being pulled together as three in one. It is a different way of looking at the Holy Trinity. The one we are familiar with is “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Yet for these reflections upon the gospel of Jesus as the Christ, I would draw your attention to “The True Law and Command of Life (love) which is Christ; the Holy Spirit (the comforter and communicator of the Truth in action) and God’s people (who are invited to be transformed by the renewal of the heart and mind into becoming the people of God.)” The marriage imagery of the two becoming as one (husband and wife in the spirit and in flesh) is translated into the spiritual two becoming as one (Christ, the bride’s groom, and the Church, the groom’s bride.) Where is the third? It is the presence of God by His Holy Spirit which binds the two together in “faith, hope and love” (another view of a vital trinity which cannot be done without.) Jesus exemplifies these images throughout His ministry through the declaration of “all righteousness.” Thus, He will tell John “I must be baptized to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3.15) It is the true beginning of the journey toward our opportunity to be redeemed, reconciled and restored. In that sense, we become “born again…in spirit and in truth.”

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.