“No Empty Ritual” (Isaiah 42:2-7)

Series: Identity Revealed

by Pastor Nate Walther

Baptism of Christ, January 11^th, 2026

            Are there any EMPTY RITUALS in your life?  Perhaps it’s those cheesy team-building exercises at work that you have to put up with.  Maybe it’s an outdated family tradition where nobody knows why you do what you do, it’s just what you’ve always done!  Or it might be performative social gestures – putting up yard signs, participating in protests, or putting those fancy frames about particular causes around your Facebook profile picture…  It’s not that these are all bad things, but do they really accomplish anything? Likewise, given our focus today, it seems fair to ask whether JESUS’ BAPTISM qualifies as such.  Seriously, why did Jesus need to get baptized?  He had no sins to wash away, and he was already God’s child from eternity!  Was Jesus’ Baptism merely an “empty ritual”? 

Today in his Word God shows us how it’s not.  Our sermon text contains the first of what we call Isaiah’s four Servant Songs, which connects to the truth throughout Scripture that the Lord often worked through servants to accomplish his purposes.  That included men like Saul & David, who were anointed with oil then filled with the Holy Spirit for the important task of leading God’s people.  Earlier in the book of Isaiah, God also calls the entire nation of Israel his servant, and he even calls a foreign king like Cyrus of Persia his servant, since Cyrus would return God’s people to the Promised Land after their exile in Babylon.  That last one’s especially interesting: Isaiah literally mentions Cyrus by name in this book – even calling him God’s “Anointed One”, which literally translated is “Christ” – but Isaiah lived a full 200 years before anyone else knew that name.

Unfortunately, the problem with all these servants is that they were men who had sin.  Israel constantly rebelled against God.  Despite a strong start, Saul completely turned his back on the Lord in the end.  Even David, “a man after God’s own heart”, as the Bible so eloquently puts it?  God didn’t call him that when David was committing adultery with Uriah’s wife.  Finally there’s Cyrus, the man who returned Israel to the Promised Land.  Like Saul, we’re not even sure if he died a believer!  How could any of these men finally be God’s servant, and get the job done as his “anointed one.”  It’s why God needed someone else to be his servant, someone better…

That’s what God talks about in Isaiah’s first “Servant Song”.  Listen again to the words of the first verse of our sermon text, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I am placing my Spirit on him. He will announce a just verdict for the nations.”

There’s a lot packed into these words.  First of all, we can see the entire Triune God in this verse.  God the Father is speaking.  He mentions God the Holy Spirit.  And what about God the Son?  Again, “Here is my Servant, whom I uphold.”  At first glance, that may not sound like the Son.  When God says he will “uphold” him, what help did Jesus require as the Son of God himself?  But notice how the Father also describes him as “my chosen one in whom I delight.”  There’s only one person about whom God could truly say that, and we heard it in our Gospel reading from Matthew 3.  At Jesus’ baptism the Father said, “with HIM I am well pleased”, God really did “delight” in Jesus!”  Then, God goes on to say “I am placing my Spirit on him.”  That may also seem a little strange to us, because did Jesus really need that kind help like sinful those sinful kings from the past?  Yet, about this same servant God says, “He will announce a just verdict for the nations.” It’s a picture of a judge announcing God’s verdict over all people in the heavenly courtroom.  Other than the God the Father himself, only Jesus is described with such authority in Scripture.

The rest of our sermon text reinforces the truth that Jesus is God’s true servant.  Verses 3 & 4 describe how the servant himself has the authority to “bring forth” and “establish” justice from God!  Verses 4 & 6 describe how he has authority “over all the earth”, as only God does. Verses 6 & 7 then describe how such justice will result in good things for all people despite their sin – that means this servant is able to overcome it!… In the end, we have to look a full 700 years into the future after Isaiah’s prophecy to find the proper fulfillment of these words, but that’s what we finally find in Jesus, who offers something so necessary in a world of empty rituals… especially when our own faith is full of them also.    

Seriously, how often do we treat baptism or our confirmation vows as such? Maybe you never think these words, but do we essentially live by the mantra, “I don’t always have to live as the child God says I am in baptism or listen to what God says as my Heavenly Father. It’s alright if I renege on those confirmation vows about being faithful to God’s Word and all that.”  Or when does church attendance become such? We go through the ritual not so much because we see the purpose in it, it’s just what we do.  And slowly – as our faith becomes more performative, as our relationship with God becomes less meaningful – we fall short as God’s servants.  It’s the sad reality of sin at work in our hearts.

            It’s why Jesus needed to come and do better than I did, which he did perfectly.  Think of it, the only one who didn’t need any help from angels, nor assistance at all as God himself… He willingly placed himself below angels for a time, as we just heard at Christmas; he willingly became subject to God’s law also, as he took on of human flesh.  Then, to overcome all sin as our substitute, he didn’t just blow away temptation, death, and the devil with his own power as the Son of God.  Instead he used what God has equally put at our disposal as sons of men: the Gospel, found in Word & Sacrament, where the Holy Spirit effectually delivers all of God’s power.

            Baptism was NO EMPTY RITUAL for Jesus.  It was him doing what God wanted us to do by relying on the power of God the Holy Spirit & having in a perfect relationship that always listened to God the Father. That’s why, when the Spirit descended on Jesus in Baptism, he followed that Spirit.   For example, in the words right after our Gospel reading, Matthew tells us that it was the Holy Spirit who led Jesus into the desert to be tempted. Jesus didn’t choose that on his own, but he did choose to rely on God to get him through that episode (we’ll hear more about that in the first week of Lent).  It’s a pattern Jesus follows throughout his life: constantly praying to the Father for guidance & direction as it led him straight to the cross, but not because Jesus lacked anything or needed that punishment. It was because we lacked everything and needed someone to suffer that punishment for us.

            So also, dear Christian, your baptism is NO EMPTY RITUAL.  In this same anointing God has poured out his power on you through his Spirit.  If that’s what Jesus relied upon in our place to overcome all the forces of sin, death, and the devil, it can work for you and for me too.  That means whatever commandments God has placed before me, and whatever tasks he’s assigned to you in your life – even if we think we are not able to do it! – we are able to do it.  The same goes for you kids out there who have been baptized – and you parents don’t you doubt it! – you can do what God says.  Simply trust God like Christ did, then do what God says like Christ did… and wherever you & I still fall short, know that Christ didn’t.  That’s where BAPTISM offers us one more gift that Jesus never needed from his Father & the Holy Spirit: washing for these sins, assurance that we are still God’s children.  That’s exactly what Jesus earned for us starting with his baptism and his work as God’s perfect servant. Someone finally got the job done right.

            In a world filled with EMPTY RITUALS – with superstitions ranging from what socks you’re going to wear on gameday to when you’re going to bathe, all in a futile effort to ensure your favorite team wins – that’s not what we find in baptism.  Jesus never would have gotten baptized otherwise, he never wasted his time on meaningless motions & outward show.  So also, Christian, you are baptized… and thank God for it!  Amen.