“The Sweet Swap”
Original sermon given on The Baptism of Our Lord, Sunday, January 11, 2026 written and delivered by Pastor Jeff Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
Watch the sermon live.
“The Sweet Swap”
Matthew 3.13-17
In the name of the Living God and the Christ who has appeared to us. Amen.
One of the first questions people ask me when they find out that I have an identical twin brother is, “Did you ever switch on people, making them think Jim was Jeff and Jeff was Jim?” In fact, both of us to this day consider this one of the fun advantages of twin-ship: you can try and swap places: teachers, tests, driver’s licenses… girlfriends. (I said try and swap. Doesn’t always work!) The highest challenge was, of course, to try and fool mom. This is very difficult… but not impossible.
There is a theological word for all this… it’s called the “felicitous exchange,” or in plain English, the “sweet swap.” One story in particular, from my childhood, when we actually did fool mom, was rather by accident. Jim was doing something naughty. (Of course, it was always him!) But my wonderful mom grabbed the nearest little boy, me!¸and started spanking me! I cried out, “I’m not Jim, I’m Jeff!” She quickly gave me a “I’m so sorry” hug and then grabbed Jim and started spanking him. To this day, I maintain that there was not much left when she got to him. I took a spanking for him.
Now, I tell this story in order to introduce us to the most amazing exchange that has ever occurred: Jesus taking our place, walking our steps, living our life, dying our death. As we observe the baptism of our Lord today, we observe the first scene in Christ’s public ministry, where he steps into our lives and takes our place.
He is baptized by John in the river Jordan because this was what every good Jew was to do. God’s people at this time had several kinds of ritual washings. These were acts of preparation, repentance, and life-purging before important God events in their lives. For example, before the people received the Law, the Old Covenant on Mt. Sinai, they consecrated themselves by washing their clothes and themselves. John the Baptist here calls them out into the wilderness once again and has them prepare and repent and purge before another great God event — the coming of Messiah and the New Covenant.
But why Jesus? He was not sinful, so did not need to repent. He was perfect, so had nothing to purge from his life. He was the embodiment of the New Covenant, so how could he prepare for it? Even John, who knows who he is, can’t get his head around this.
The answer takes us back to the felicitous exchange, the sweet swap. For our salvation to be complete, Jesus had to take our part in every step along the way. Here at the Jordan, he is “fulfilling all righteousness” by perfectly submitting to the law of God, perfectly obeying the call of John, and perfectly living the life of faithful Israel. If John’s baptism or preparation and purification was a good, right, and salutary thing to do, Jesus must do it.
At the baptism of Jesus, we see the beginning steps in which Christ takes our part in every way. As he is washed in the Jordan, he walks onto the stage and replaces us for the duration. He is baptized into the repentance of sins that were ours; he takes our life from us and lives it perfectly in every way. Then he takes our steps to the punishment that was ours at Calvary, and he even dies our death and suffers our pain. All that is ours becomes his — all our sin and pain and suffering and loneliness and brokenness and incompleteness — all become his. And all that is his becomes ours — his righteousness, his life, his conquering of death for us.
In contemporary theological circles it’s rather out of fashion to talk about the gospel in this way, this “felicitous exchange.” And for sure, there are many other biblical images helpful in describing the gospel. Christ is our victor, defeating sin, death and hell for us. Christ is our liberator, breaking the bonds of our slavery. Christ joins himself to us, like in a marriage. Christ guides us on a dark road, himself being the light; or gathers us like a shepherd; or feeds us with eternal manna; or quenches our thirsty souls with living water. But he also gives himself in exchange for us, taking our place. John the Baptist tells us to “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” St. Paul says it so well in Galatians: “…I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2.20).
And we all have some idea of what this means — to take a bullet for someone (or a spanking); to love so hard you’d sacrifice yourself, if necessary; to walk that walk with someone, but even for them, if necessary; to carry someone else’s load. And at worst, these moments fill us with resentment, “That was so unfair… shouldn’t have been me!” But at best, they are willing, joyful exchanges of love: “I know it wasn’t fair, but I did it, took it, bore it, walked it, for you.”
At the baptism of Jesus, when that ordinary, even dirty Jordan water flows over him, I want you imagine all that’s wrong with humanity -- all that’s wrong with you and me -- flows over him and unto him; every good deed not done; every moment of cowardice, compromise, weakness; every bitterness of heart that flows out in resentment, but back in as depression; every worst moment, which, if the whole world knew it, you’d crawl away and hide in shame. But when he’s in the water, he’s in our water. When it’s poured over him, it’s all of us over him. But up he comes, and off he goes, onto the mission, onto the cross, for us.
Today then, is a day to give thanks to God who at Christ’s baptism anointed him to live as we should have lived and die as we should have died. To give thanks to God who today again gives us forgiveness and life and salvation in the holy name of the Trinity. To give thanks to God who, because of the sweet swap, now calls each of us beloved sons and daughters, enfolding us in the arms of his grace.
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.
