Isaiah 42: 1–9 / Psalm 29 / Acts 10: 34–42 / Matthew 3: 13–17
This is the written version of the
homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown,
Pennsylvania on Sunday, January 11, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.
“FOLLOW ME”
(Homily text: Matthew 3: 13–17)
Most of my career in the U. S. Army was
spent as a member of the U. S. Army Chorus, which is a part of the U. S. Army
Band, based in Washington, D.C. Part of our work involved singing Army songs
for various military gatherings (usually banquets which were dedicated to a
particular part of the Army).
My memory is full of the tunes and the
lyrics of many of these songs. One of them, which we sang for gatherings of
Infantry soldiers, is highly appropriate for today’s remembrance, the Baptism
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The opening of this song goes like this:
“You can hear it in the heat of the jungle,
You can hear it across the sea,
It calls to every freedom-loving man,
The cry of the U. S. Infantry:
“Follow Me”!”
As we think about our Lord’s Baptism in
the River Jordan, as He met John the Baptist, we might wonder why our Lord consented
to be baptized, and felt it was necessary to do so, telling John that “we must
fulfill all righteousness”.
In time, the Church would come to
understand that our Lord lived a sinless life. (Recall that John’s baptism was
a baptism for the forgiveness of sins.). Yet, even as our Lord’s earthly
ministry is about to begin, John senses Jesus’ uniqueness and the
inappropriateness of Jesus’ need for baptism. Notice the back-and-forth between
John and Jesus…John tells Jesus that he needed to be baptized by Jesus, not the
other way around. [1]
So, then, why does Jesus undergo
baptism?
Perhaps one reason might be because
Jesus came to show us, by example, what we, ourselves, are supposed to be
doing. He leads by example. Or, in the words of the Infantry song cited above,
our Lord’s command to us is “Follow Me”.
Our Lord’s earthly life reflects this
leadership-by-example. He is the One who says to His followers that He came,
not to be served, but to serve.[2] He is the One who comes, caring for the outcasts, the notorious sinners of the
day, the poor, the lonely, the despondent.
Those things that He did during His
time in this world are the things that you and I, as His disciples and
followers, are to be doing, as well. Put another way, the Lord’s command to us
is to “Follow Me”, do the things I do.
In essence, this is sacramental living
and believing, for a Sacrament is defined as “an outward and visible sign of an
inner and invisible grace”. It is easy to talk about living a life of faith. It
is much more effective to be living a life of faith in the things that others
can see and witness. It is in this way that the Christian faith is caught by
others. (The faith being a matter, not so much, of being taught, as
being caught.)
AMEN.
[1] Matthew, alone among the Gospel writers,
records this conversation between John and Jesus.
[2] See Luke 22:27.
