SERMON TITLE: “WHEN THE BELOVED STEPS INTO THE WATER”
Matthew 3:13–17 • Baptism of the Lord Sunday
“Wade in the Water” as Our Hermeneutic of Liberation
INTRODUCTION
Beloved, on Baptism of the Lord Sunday, the church turns its eyes toward a river in the wilderness, where Jesus — Son of God, Word made flesh — steps down into the muddy waters of the Jordan.
He doesn’t hover above it.
He doesn’t avoid it.
He doesn’t walk around it.
He goes through the water.
And in this holy act, Jesus declares that God is with us in the very places the world tries to drown us. That’s why the ancestors sang:
“Wade in the water,
Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water,
God’s gonna trouble the water.”
The song becomes our commentary on the Gospel text.
The water becomes our classroom of liberation.
And the voice from heaven becomes our assurance of belovedness.
Today we preach from this theme:
“When the Beloved Steps Into the Water.”
POINT 1 — JESUS MEETS US IN THE DEPTHS
Matthew 3:13–15 tells us Jesus “came from Galilee” unto John at the Jordan to be baptized. John resisted: “I need to be baptized by you!” But Jesus answers:
“Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”
Jesus is saying:
“I will not redeem what I will not enter.”
“I will not save what I am too holy to touch.”
“I will not call you beloved from a distance.”
When Jesus steps into the water:
• He steps into human struggle
• He steps into our vulnerability
• He steps into our history
• He steps into our wounds
And for African-descended people, we know the power of this image.
We know what it means to have a history tied to water — sometimes cradle, sometimes coffin.
The spiritual reminds us:
“See that band all dressed in white,
God’s gonna trouble the water.”
White robes in Scripture symbolize righteousness — and here Jesus steps into the water to fulfill righteousness, to declare that God meets us in the depths before lifting us to the heights.
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POINT 2 — JESUS ENTERS THE WATER AND TRANSFORMS DEATH INTO LIFE
Beloved, for our people water has always been a paradox:
• The rivers of Africa were life
• The waters of the Middle Passage were death
• The streams of the Underground Railroad were escape
• The baptismal waters of the Black church were rebirth
So when Jesus steps into the Jordan, He is doing more than being baptized.
He is reclaiming water from fear and turning it into freedom.
The song says:
“Wade in the water,
God’s gonna trouble the water.”
To “trouble” the water is to stir it, shake it, transform it.
In Scripture, troubled water brings healing (John 5).
In the spiritual, troubled water brings escape.
In Matthew 3, troubled water becomes revelation.
When Jesus rises from the river:
• The heavens open
• The Spirit descends
• The voice of God speaks
“This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Water that once symbolized chaos now becomes the birthplace of divine identity.
And in the Black experience, that is our testimony too.
We passed through waters meant to break us — but God used them to make us.
POINT 3 — BAPTISM DECLARES OUR NEW IDENTITY:
Baptism is not just washing — it is naming.
Baptism is not just ritual — it is revelation.
In Matthew 3:17, God calls Jesus “Beloved” before He preaches a sermon, performs a miracle, or dies for humanity.
That means you do not earn belovedness — you inherit it from God.
And in the Black tradition, baptism is more than a moment.
It is a statement of defiance:
• You called us slave — but God calls us beloved.
• You called us property — but God calls us chosen.
• You tried to drown us — but God brought us up in the river.
That is why the ancestors kept singing:
“If you don’t believe I been redeemed,
God’s gonna trouble the water.”
Redemption in our tradition is not theoretical.
It is visible.
It is physical.
It is embodied in the water.
Baptism tells us that no matter what the world has done to our bodies, God has the final word over our souls.
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION — “THE FATHER WHO TAUGHT THE WATER TO OBEY”
Let me close with a story that echoes through the lineage of one of the great names in modern swimming.
Before Anthony Nesty became an Olympic champion…
Before he became the first Black man to stand at the helm of Team USA Swimming…
Before he coached others into the deep…
There was a father.
A father who grew up in a community where water held both fear and memory.
A father taught by elders who said, “Water can take you, but it can also teach you.”
A father who had seen too many rivers swallow Black bodies and too many oceans hold the bones of our ancestors.
So when his small son stood at the edge of the water—wide-eyed, hesitant—the father understood the weight of that moment. He had heard the warnings all his life:
“Black folks don’t swim.”
“Water ain’t safe for us.”
“Stay away; it takes more than it gives.”
But this father believed something different.
He believed water could be reclaimed.
He believed trauma could be transformed.
He believed the child could learn what the ancestors had been denied the chance to master.
So one day, he took his son by the hand and said:
“Come, boy. The water won’t rule you today.”
He walked him down to the shoreline.
Stepped into the surf with him.
Lifted him in strong arms and positioned him gently over the waves.
And with all the tenderness a father could muster, he whispered:
“Now breathe… and trust.”
And there—held up by his father’s hands, guided by his father’s courage—the boy learned that water could carry him instead of claim him.
He learned that fear could be unlearned.
He learned that he was safe, held, buoyed, named.
That moment—quiet, unseen, tender—became the foundation that would one day carry him to an Olympic podium… and later into the history books as the first Black head coach of Team USA Swimming.
Beloved, that’s baptism.
That’s Matthew 3.
That’s Jesus in the Jordan.
That’s “Wade in the Water.”
God holds you.
God carries you.
God names you.
God claims you.
And long before the world tries to define you, God declares from the heavens:
“This is my child, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”
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CONCLUSION
So today, on Baptism of the Lord Sunday, remember:
• Jesus steps into the water with us
• Jesus transforms the water beneath us
• Jesus names us beloved above the water
And when the waters rise — as they often do — hear the ancestors singing:
“Wade in the water, children…
God’s gonna trouble the water.”
And the church says— Amen
