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| The Baptism of Christ. A sketch by Rembrandt |
After our Sunday
service ended, a message came to my wife’s phone. “Why was Jesus baptised?”
A church member who was
not at the service wanted to know. The teaser for the sermon, released a few
days earlier, had made her curious.
This was in the teaser:
“The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus chose to be baptised. Have you ever
wondered why? Jesus was without sin and so did not need a baptism of
repentance. He already was the Son of God and so did not need the voice from
the heavens. So, why be baptised [by John]?”
[Here “baptised by
John” means “ritually washed by John in the river Jordan.”]
Like his relative
Jesus, John Baptist was also miracle-born. John’s father was Zechariah. While he
was on duty at the Temple, the angel Gabriel spoke to Zechariah. The angel said
the prayers of Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth – we are not told what they
prayed for – had been answered. The angel said aged and childless Elizabeth would
finally bear a son; that Zechariah should name the boy John; and that John
would prepare the way for someone greater.
The Bible tells us that Mary, while she
was carrying Jesus in her womb, visited Elizabeth. However the Bible records
only one occasion when Jesus met John. This was when Jesus asked John to baptise
him. The Bible doesn’t say that John recognized Jesus as his relative. The
Bible does says that it was through the baptism that John recognized whom he
had been sent to announce.
Zechariah was told
that John would prepare the way for someone greater. John did.
John told people they
should prepare to meet ‘someone greater’ by living lives which please God. John
told them to repent (‘turn’). John told them to stop acting as if being accepted
by God is race-based. John said being accepted by God is life-based.
John told people to
repent, to turn from doing what they wanted and instead do what God wants. John
told people to publicly declare their ‘turning’ by undergoing baptism.
According to John, anyone
who agreed to be baptised by him or his aides admitted this belief: all persons
have an innate tendency to please themselves rather than God.
So, when Jesus asked
to be baptised by John, Jesus was publicly saying he agreed with John.
What was John’s
response to Jesus’ request for baptism?
All four Evangelists (Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John) record the baptism of Jesus. Matthew and John provide some
additional insights.
Matthew records John’s
reluctance and Jesus’ insistence: “John would have prevented him, saying, I
need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me? But Jesus answered him, “Let
it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” Then
he consented.” (Matthew 3:14)
John says the baptism
triggered recognition: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and
it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptise
with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this
is he who baptises with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne
witness that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:32b-33)
All four Evangelists
record the Spirit descending upon Jesus. Matthew, Mark and Luke say a voice from
heaven [God] acknowledged Jesus as God’s son, and commended him:
Matthew 3:17 “. . . a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved
Son, with whom I am well pleased.””
Mark 1:11 “And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved
Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Luke 3:22 “and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form,
like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I
am well pleased.”
Jesus was baptised by
John because (1) baptism was the means by which John could recognize Jesus; (2)
baptism was how Jesus expressed his oneness with those to whom he was sent;
(3) baptism was the occasion which marked the beginning of Jesus’ public
ministry.
“With you I am well
pleased” means “On you my favour rests.” Jesus would go on to perform many
miracles and ultimately die on the cross as the only man who was without sin –
and thereby make peace between God and those who turn from being self-pleasers
to being God-pleasers.
God’s ways are not
our ways.
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