Sermon -- 1st Sunday after Epiphany (January 11, 2026)

JESUS WAS ANOINTED TO DO GOOD.

ACTS 10:34-38

In the name + of Jesus.

    The consecration of the Lord’s Supper begins with the words, “Our Lord Jesus Christ…”  We know that his name is not “Lord.”  Lord is a title.  By it, we confess that Jesus is the second person of the Trinity.  He is God in the flesh.  All authority in heaven and on earth belong to him, and he lives and reigns for the good of his Church.  But people often get the impression that Jesus’ last name is “Christ.”  You and I are accustomed to last names, so we expect the same from the ancient world.  But the Jews did not have last names.  Just as “Lord” is a title, so is “Christ.”  It is the same word as “Messiah”—Christ being from the Greek; Messiah being from the Hebrew.  The name given to our Savior is Jesus, and if more information was needed, he would be known as Jesus of Nazareth.

     When St. Peter spoke about Jesus of Nazareth, he made a distinction between the name Jesus and the title Christ.  He said, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Acts 10:38).  This sounds rather bizarre to us.  We think of Jesus only as the Messiah, that is, as the Lord’s anointed.  One reason is that when Jesus was born, the angel told the shepherds, “Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you.  He is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).  But Peter says there was a time when Jesus was not anointed.  He said that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 10:38). 

     Prior to his baptism, Jesus performed no miracles.  He grew up in the home of Joseph and Mary in Nazareth.  There was nothing extraordinary to note about him, at least nothing that the Bible notes.  With one exception, the only details we have about Jesus from his infancy until he was thirty is this: “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people” (Luke 2:52). 

     At age thirty, Jesus came to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.  “After Jesus was baptized, he immediately went up out of the water.  Suddenly, the heavens were opened for him!  (John) saw the Spirit of God, descending like a dove and landing on him” (Matthew 3:17).  Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit at his baptism.  Anointing is like an inauguration or an ordination.  It is how someone was installed into his particular office.  Aaron, Moses’ brother, was anointed to be the high priest of Israel.  Prior to his anointing, he did not hold that office or carry out its functions.  At his baptism, Jesus took up the office of the Christ.  He began to perform miraculous signs.  He publicly preached and taught the people about the kingdom of God.  And, as St. Peter described it, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.  He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil” (Acts 10:38).  Jesus was anointed to do good.

     I suppose anyone could argue that you do not need to be anointed with the Holy Spirit to do good.  Most people know how to behave and to be decent.  At the same time, no one is perfect.  Some embrace sin.  They are “full of envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and malice.  They are gossipers, slanderers, God-haters, insolent mockers, arrogant boasters, and loudmouths” (Romans 1:29-30).  They revel in it, and they find people who join them in it and who encourage it.  As God’s people, you don’t embrace sins.  You want to flee from them.  Nevertheless, your sinful nature gets the better of you.  We all do things we need to apologize for.  We all say things we wish we could take back.  Jesus, on the other hand, was pure in heart, kind in words, and merciful in deeds.  Jesus was morally and ethically perfect.

     The prophet Isaiah described Jesus’ goodness.  Isaiah wrote, “A bent reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not snuff out” (Isaiah 42:3).  In other words, Jesus did not treat anyone like he or she was a lost cause.  Jesus’ enemies noted that Jesus ate with prostitutes and sinners; and they were right.  No little girl aspires to be a prostitute.  There must have been extreme desperation which would have led a woman to believe that this was her best option.  Jesus did not excuse their fornication, but he did have compassion on them.  A bruised reed would not be found useful by anyone, but Jesus considered it worth binding up instead of snapping off.  So, he sought to bind up those who were broken by life rather than snap them off and cast them away.

     While some people are desperate enough to turn to illegal activity, many face desperation differently.  People are so desperate to fit in that they will abandon their morals to belong.  They will do wicked things to be liked.  A young girl might give herself up to her boyfriend, thinking it is better to be used by him than to lose him.  Maybe you’ve been in a conversation where people slander a woman.  They share stories to alienate others from her.  If you defend her, you might find yourself the next target.  You might think it is better to alienate her than to be alienated with her.  Peer pressure is enough for people to cave in and get drunk, shoplift, gossip, play with a Ouija board, or drive recklessly.  All for the sake of fitting in, we will give into wickedness.  Repent.

     Day after day, we encounter sinful people.  It would be easy to say, “They made a mess of their lives.  I must cut them off.  They’re not worth the grief or the patience.”  If you do this, you will have to cut yourself off from the whole world.  Everyone is broken.  And yet, Jesus would not break off a bruised reed.  Jesus would not snuff out those whose faith was down to smoldering embers.  Jesus did not regard anyone as a lost cause.  Jesus was anointed to do good to all people.

     At Jesus’ baptism, “the Spirit of God (descended) like a dove and (landed) on him” (Matthew 3:16).  Here, Jesus was marked as the Christ.  He took up the work as God’s anointed.  That meant he united himself to us in his baptism.  Jesus did not need to be baptized for any sins of his own.  Rather, he took up ours. 

     For Jesus, baptism had the opposite effect that it has upon us.  Jesus’ baptism made him filthy.  He soaked up all our sin and guilt, marking him as the guilty one.  Nevertheless, the Father still declared, “This is my Son, whom I love.  I am well pleased with him” (Matthew 3:17).  The Father was well-pleased with his Son when he covered himself in our sin because that is what he sent his Son to do. 

     Jesus was anointed as the Christ to make a sin offering for all people.  As our great high priest, Jesus makes this sacrifice for us.  And he IS the sacrifice.  He is the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Bearing our guilt, Jesus went to the cross.  There, he was cast away by the Father in heaven.  Jesus was forsaken and cursed and cut off; for this is what sins deserve.  Jesus was a snuffed out wick.  His life was extinguished; for the wages of sin is death.  Jesus endured this for your good because the Father is not content for any of his creatures to be lost.  None are a lost cause to him. 

     Jesus was anointed to do good.  Just as Jesus united himself to us in his baptism, so he has united you to himself through yours.  Jesus’ baptism has taken up all your sin so that your baptism washes you clean of all your sin.  Jesus took up all your guilt in your baptism so that he could clothe you in his righteousness in your baptism.  Jesus was anointed as the one who would be the sin offering for you in his baptism so that his blood would purify you of all unrighteousness in your baptism.  Jesus was anointed to do good.

     Therefore, you do not need to be desperate for other people to like you or to include you in their inner circle.  If your friends would cast you off because you do not fall in line with warped opinions and wicked behavior, how good of friends are they really?  But Jesus’ love for you is steadfast, and his commitment to you is sure.  Even when you come back to God’s house with sins to confess—And who doesn’t have sins to confess?—he will not snuff you out like a smoldering wick.  Rather, he continues to pour out his forgiveness upon you.  He will fan your faith into flame so that you can serve him joyfully.  He speaks tenderly to those who are bruised.  He binds up the broken-hearted.  He supplies hope to the desperate.

     The Lord Jesus Christ has brought you into the family of God.  Rather than snapping you off like a broken reed, Jesus has grafted you in.  He bestows his blessings upon you.  He sees to it that his blood courses through you so that you desire and do what is God-pleasing.  He sends his Holy Spirit to dwell in you to make you God’s temple.  Therefore, your identity is not tied to how other people think of you or talk about you or treat you.  Your identity is found in your baptism.  You have been made a child of the Most High God.  He has opened heaven to you, and he declares, “This is my beloved child, whom I love.  With you I am well pleased.”

     “You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached.  God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.  He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, because God was with him” (Acts 10:37-38).  The devil will still try to oppress you.  He will tempt you to abandon the Lord to find your happiness from someone else.  He will dig up the past to rub your nose in it.  But the devil lies to you, because Jesus absolves you of what you’ve been and reminds you of who you are—a redeemed and beloved saint in his kingdom. 

     If you ever find yourself wondering if you can be forgiven by God or if you are desperate to know that God really loves you, then remember this statement: “I am baptized.”  For, that is where God has marked you as his own.  That is where God has washed away your sins.  That is where you have been clothed with Christ.  That is where Jesus has done good to you.  For he is good, and his mercy endures forever.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.