START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 3:13-17
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OBSERVE:
The active ministry of Jesus is inaugurated with his baptism by John. It is important to be clear about what the baptism of Jesus was not.
This was not a baptism of repentance, which is what John was preaching by the Jordan River. Jesus, we are told in Matthew’s Gospel, has been conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20). And we are told elsewhere in the New Testament that Jesus was sinless. Only one who is sinless is able to fulfill the promise of the Angel to Joseph, that Jesus:
shall save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
Nor is this the moment in which Jesus becomes the Son of God. The descent of the Spirit of God and the voice from heaven that declares Jesus is God’s beloved Son is the certification of Jesus’ status as the divine Son of God. But Jesus is the Son of God from the very beginning:
They shall call his name Immanuel;
which is, being interpreted, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
John recognizes the supremacy of Jesus immediately:
John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”
However, Jesus has another agenda:
But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
This doesn’t mean that Jesus needs to be cleansed by this baptism. What it does mean is that Jesus fulfills all the criteria of the righteous life — we know from Luke’s Gospel that Jesus was circumcised according to the Law of Moses (Luke 2:21); and we know that Jesus observed all of the required rituals of the Jews, such as the feasts of Passover, Tabernacles, and the Dedication of the Temple. And Jesus makes it clear in the Sermon on the Mount that he is the consummation and end of the Law:
Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17).
And the actual baptism of Jesus is obviously unique:
Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him. Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
This is a kind of coronation. All three persons of the Trinity are present: The Spirit descends like a dove to signify that God is indeed with Jesus (remember: he is called Immanuel, which means God with us). And the Father certifies his unique relationship with Jesus — Jesus is his beloved Son.
Note that the Father declares that he is well pleased in his Son. Jesus has done nothing in his ministry yet! He hasn’t healed a single person, he hasn’t fed the multitude, he hasn’t been crucified and raised to life. No, the Father is well pleased because of his unique relationship with his Son that has existed from before the beginning of time.
APPLY:
Clearly, the baptism of Jesus is not like our baptism. Jesus is righteous. We are not. Jesus is the Son of God. We are not.
And yet, Jesus submits to baptism in order to demonstrate that he identifies with us. Though he is God and though he is the Second Person of the Trinity, he has become human. His baptism demonstrates that he is one of us.
In that sense, it is a prelude to the cross, where Jesus experiences the worst aspects of the human experience — sin and death. This is Paul’s interpretation:
For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
This is how the baptism of Jesus impacts our lives — it tells us that he has entered into our experience — completely — in order to take our unrighteousness on himself and give us his righteousness.
We are baptized because we are unrighteous and desperately need the grace of God. Jesus is also baptized because of our unrighteousness. We are adopted as children of God only because Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father. His baptism signifies what Jesus has done for us; our baptism also signifies what Jesus has done for us, not what we have done for ourselves.
RESPOND:
Baptism is one of the most controversial issues in the Christian church. How ironic, that this sacrament (some would say ordinance), intended to be the mark of our Christian identity, should divide us. Some believe that baptism is a ritual of initiation into the Christian family, from the very beginning of our lives. Others believe that baptism is a witness to one’s faith when we are able to make that decision for ourselves.
For some, the volume of water is the issue. Should it be sprinkled, poured, or should the baptized be completely immersed?
One thing I do know — baptism is really not what we have done for ourselves. Baptism is a sign to us and to all about what God has done for us. Baptism is one of the signs telling us that we are accepted by grace.
In his baptism, Jesus has demonstrated that he has performed all that is required for our righteousness. And our righteousness is his gift to us, appropriated by faith.
Lord, you have submitted to baptism in order to identify with our humanity. You have come down to our level that you might lift us up to yours. Thank you! Amen.
PHOTO:
“Matthew 3-14” by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.
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