The Baptism Of Jesus

MATTHEW 3:13-17    (Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7)

There are three versions of John’s baptism of Jesus – Mark, Matthew, and Luke. The oldest of these is Mark. It is also the shortest. The differences in the three gospels indicate that as time went on, some Christian communities were embarrassed by the fact that Jesus submitted to baptism by John the Baptizer. This is all the more so when we consider what seems to have been some kind of conflict or at least rivalry between disciples of John and disciples of Jesus. Both groups would have claimed their hero as Messiah. In Mark’s gospel, written about 70 A.D., this does not yet appear to be a problem. Mark states very boldly that Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan.

When we come to the Gospel of Matthew, fifteen to twenty years later, we see that a problem has developed. In Matthew’s version John tries to dissuade Jesus from submitting to baptism. This is Matthew’s theology at work. There is only one way that Matthew’s theology can allow this submission on the part of Jesus – if Jesus commands it, and that is what he does. More on this below. Luke’s version is even stranger. In the introduction to his gospel Luke noted that others had attempted to write what he was going to write, but that he would do it systematically (correctly). What Luke does seems more of a cover-up than a correction. Thus he writes that John was put into prison. Only after John’s imprisonment does Jesus come to the Jordan and is baptized. Since Luke wrote John out of the way, he never has to say who baptized Jesus. In the still later Gospel of John, Jesus is not baptized at all, but John has in common with the other three gospels, the descent of the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus at the Jordan.

Back to Matthew: John the Baptizer is described as saying to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you, but do you come to me?” This is part of the theology of all four gospels, that John insistently relegates himself to the role of servant or slave to the One whose arrival he proclaimed. Jesus replies to the Baptizer, “Let it be so for now, for thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness.”  Matthew writes, “Then he (John) consented.” What is the meaning of Jesus’ mysterious command to the Baptizer?

First answer: The righteous person is one who obeys all God’s commands. Since John’s mission was approved by God, there was a divine command to submit to John’s baptism. As Jesus submitted himself to the divine command of male circumcision, so he submitted himself to the divine command of John’s baptism. The statement of fulfilling all righteousness is preceded by “now.” Righteousness according to the Old Covenant was still in effect. Jesus, the most righteous of all in his obedience to his Father, submitted to this duty also. The baptism for “now,” was soon to be surpassed by what John had already proclaimed, “He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Second answer: This answer can explain why the One who was completely without sin and had no need of repentance, yet submitted to a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The Father’s will included Jesus’ humiliating death on a cross. The righteous Jesus, obedient to his Father in all things, obeys in that also. Even though he begged the Father, in three gospels but not in John, to escape the cross, his prayer was not granted. The most righteous of all concluded, “Not mine but Thy will be done.” In submitting to the humiliation of John’s baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, Jesus began taking upon himself the sins of the world, a process he completed in the humiliation of his death on the cross. That there is a connection between his baptism by John and his death on the cross is clear from a statement attributed to Jesus in Luke 12:50, “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and how I am in anguish until that is accomplished.”

There are three more elements in this baptismal story: the opening of the sky; the Spirit of God descending in the form of a dove and resting on Jesus; the voice from the sky, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” First , the opening of the sky: a poss-ible Old Testament source is Isaiah 64:1. The prophet pleads with the Lord God, “O that you would open the heavens and come down….” His prayer is a plea for divine intervent-ion, which now takes place as Jesus inaugurates his ministry. Secondly, the descent of the Spirit of God at the waters of the Jordan can be a reference to Genesis 1:2, where the Spirit of God hovers over the waters giving them movement, life. As the Spirit hovered over the first creation, so the Spirit hovers over the new creation which is baptism.

There have been many attempts to explain the descent in the form of a dove, but none are satisfactory. More important is the Old Testament background in Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me….” Finally, the voice from the sky: the meaning is predictive of Jesus’ destiny as a sacrifice in obedience to his Father. The voice echoes the words of God to Abraham in Gen. 22:2, “Take your son, your only son, your beloved, and offer him as a sacrifice….”  “In whom I am well pleased” is a direct quote from Isaiah 42:1, one of four poems that describe the mission, the vicarious  suffering and death,  and the glorification of God’s “Chosen One.”