Sunday Sermons
Pastor Timothy Hoyer
Transition Pastor
Pastor Timothy Hoyer
Baptism of Our Lord
January 11, 2026
“This is my Son; with him I am well pleased.”
Sisters and brothers in Christ,
The elderly man stood in front of the meat section at the Anderson Grocery Store. He reached out but pulled his hand back. He counted on his fingers as he tried to figure something out. He counted again. Then he reached to get some hamburger but stopped again. He looked frustrated.
Another man, wearing an employee’s shirt that said he worked there, watched him and saw how the elderly man was having a hard time. He came over and asked, “Can I help you?”
The elderly man said, “No, I’m okay.” He really didn’t want to be bothered. His business was his own business.
The employee said quietly, “You’re trying to figure out if you can buy some hamburger, am I right? It’s okay. I know things are hard. And prices are up.”
The elderly man sighed. But he was relieved to be able to talk to someone. He said, “I really want to make some spaghetti. I can make it last for almost a week. It just costs more than I thought it would.”
The employee reached for some hamburger, picked up a five pound package, and said, “Here, take this. It’s on the house.” He put a sticker over the price.
The elderly man was surprised. He asked, “Can you do that?”
The employee said, “This is Anderson’s Grocery Store, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I am Mr. Anderson. I own the store.”
Now, if you were the elderly man, would you believe that was the store owner? Or would you want to see some more identification?
It’s all a matter of trust.
Mr. Anderson, if that really is Mr. Anderson, had made the elderly man a promise. “It’s on the house.” Can we trust that promise? Can we trust Mr. Anderson, if that is who he says he is?
We can no longer tell someone our name as the way to identify ourselves. If we walked up to a bank teller and gave her our name, she would not accept that. She would not withdraw money from our account just because we gave her our name. She would ask, “May I see your ID, please?” If another teller knows us, they can say they know us and we’re okay. But to just give someone our name is not enough to tell them who we are.
We can no longer trust people. Too many times, people have lied about who they are. Too many times we hear stories of people being scammed by people on the phone. So we have to use passwords and pin numbers and a code in text message sent to our phone. Sometimes a company even can verify who we are, not by our name, but by the sound of our voice.
We make jokes about not being able to trust people. How can you tell when a politician is lying? If his lips are moving. We have the situation of our country taking the president of Venezuela and charging him with crimes. We hear this reason and that reason and this explanation and that explanation; and we hear support and we hear condemnation. We don’t know what to believe or who to trust.
The ultimate unintended consequence of not being able to trust anyone is that are our hearts are so twisted into not trusting anyone that we do not trust God. We feel we cannot trust anyone.
However, when we face death, we do not doubt that we are being judged. We do not doubt our life is being measured. In fact, we do the judging ourselves. Our own conscience reminds us of the things we have done—the things we are proud of and the things we are afraid to admit we really did. And like the elderly man in the grocery store, we don’t want to be bothered. We don’t want others to know. We don’t want God to know because we don’t trust God.
But someone comes up to us and says, “I want to help you.”
We don’t want someone intruding in our life. We don’t want someone interfering with our business.
That person insists, “Let me help. Let me make things right. Let me take away the shame put on those who don’t have enough. Let me take away those twisted hearts that have no regard for the well-being of others. Let me take away your death.”
We look at the person and ask, “Can you do that?” We don’t trust him yet. “Who are you?” That person answered, “I am Jesus of Nazareth.”
“Well, Jesus of Nazareth, who are you to make me those promises? Why should I believe you?”
That is when Jesus was baptized. As he went out of the water, at that moment heaven was opened, and the Spirit of God descended like a dove and landed on Jesus. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
How is that for an ID verification?!
We look at Jesus, stare at him, and ask, “So, who are you, Son of God?”
How do we prove who we are? A name identifies us, but it does not tell others who we are. Who is Jesus? What is he like? Is he judgmental? Is he kind or mean? Did God tell him to come here to make things right, that is, to fulfill all righteousness?
Can Jesus take away our deaths? Can Jesus take our twisted hearts and give us new ones that can love one another? Can Jesus take away our way of belittling those who have a hard time in life?
He does more than show us a name tag. He takes our belittling, he takes our twisted hearts, and he takes death to a cross. There he is belittled. There he is disregarded. There he dies. But look! God raises him from the dead and thereby says to the whole world, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Even though Jesus lost to death, even though he was condemned, God is pleased with Jesus. God raising Jesus from death is God’s promise that Jesus is his Son, whom he sent to give us eternal life, to fill our hearts with love for one another, and to lift up all who are demeaned and insulted and are hated because of their race. It is God who says to us, “You are my child; with you I am well pleased.”
Can Jesus do that? Can we trust him?
He has suffered for us. He has been shamed for us. He has died for us. That is who Jesus is. So, when he offers us mercy, like a store owner offering a package of hamburger to a customer, we trust him that his mercy is ours. When he offers us forgiveness, we accept his gift. When he offers us hearts of love so we take care of one another, we receive his grace.
One way Jesus gives us his grace is by baptizing us. By baptizing us, he joins us to himself. Baptism gives us new hearts filled with faith in Jesus, filled with Jesus’ grace, filled with his Holy Spirit. By baptism he makes us co-owners of his grocery store of mercy. We may not be wearing a shirt with the logo of the store on it, and we may not have a name tag. But we are walking about in our store. Wherever we go, we are walking in Jesus’ grocery store. And everyone we see is a customer. Most will be taking things they need off the shelves and putting them in their cart and then going to the checkout to pay for them. But behind what they are doing are all the events of their lives. They all hear the news about Venezuela, the news about an agent shooting a woman in a car. They all make mistakes. They all feel approval or disapproval, but it’s all the same judgment. Some hide their grief. Some reach for something and hesitate. They live where Jesus’ mercy is needed. It just so happens that we have his mercy. And in all that is happening in their lives, we can help a stranger. When we see someone we know, deep down they need Jesus’ mercy. So, we take some mercy off the shelf and give it to them, saying that “It’s on the house.” Or we take off some love, or some peace, or some comfort, or encouragement. We say to them, “I am pleased with you. I am glad we are together here.”
And when they ask us if we can really do that, when they ask if they can trust us, we tell them, “Jesus died and rose from death to make that happen. Trust him.”
That is what the baptism of Jesus is all about. Amen.