Text: Mark 3:1-11 & Parallel Texts
You may recall from last week that I mentioned how the Feast of the Epiphany began as a celebration of the Lord’s baptism but later gained other areas of focus. For us in the West, the Visitation of the Magi long overshadowed the Baptism of the Lord in our liturgical practices, to the point that the Western Liturgical Calendar lacked an observance of the Baptism from around the 11th century until the 20th century. When the revisers of the American version of Book of Common Prayer were drafting what was to become our own 1928 edition, they decided to change this by shifting all the Gospel readings between the 1st Sunday after the Epiphany and Septuagesima back a week and inserted the Baptism into the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany. When liturgists throughout the denominations were again revising the Lectionaries in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, they instead made the Sunday within the Octave of the Epiphany the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. So, most folks using the modern liturgies celebrated the Baptism last Sunday, but we who use the American 1928 Book of Common Prayer remember it in our readings today.
The Baptism of the Lord is one of the most important events in the Gospels, but it is also one of the more confusing events, theologically. As to its importance, the Lord’s Baptism is one of the few events recorded in all four Gospels. The Lord’s birth is only recorded in two. His genealogy is only recorded in two. Even the institution of the Lord’s Supper is only recorded in three of the Gospels! Outside of Holy Week and Easter, only the Lord’s Baptism and the Feeding of the 5,000 show up in all four Gospels.
However, folks often ask why Jesus had to be baptized? What is the significance of Jesus’ baptism? Even John the Baptist was confused on this issue. In St. Matthew’s account of the Baptism, we read:
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
But John forbid him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him (Mt 3:13-15).
Looking at the Lord’s answer to John as well as the accounts of the four Gospels, we see several reasons for the Lord’s baptism, as highlighted by the Church Fathers and the Reformers.
First, in this language of “to fulfil all righteousness,” we have legal implications. That is, there is something about the Lord’s Baptism that fulfills the Law of God. Now, we certainly see all sorts of ceremonial washings, all sorts of “baptisms” if you will, in the Law of Moses. Ritual washing was a major component of Jewish ritual purification. In fact, the rabbinic custom of ritual hand washing throughout the day was the biggest contributory to the Jews’ low infection rates during the various medieval plagues! However, you don’t find anything directly commanded in the Law of Moses that resembles the kind of ritual washing that John is doing. You don’t find that kind of Baptism for repentance. In his book, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, rabbinic-student-turned-Anglican-priest, Alfred Eddersheim, suggests a parallel between John’s baptism and the ritual washing that the people of Israel went through prior to receiving the Tablets of the Law on Mount Sinai. Others have suggested that John is using the kind of ritual washing that Gentiles who convert to Judaism go through as a symbol of calling his fellow Israelites to repentance. But at the end of the day, both of these are just educated speculation. From the perspective of Torah and Jewish tradition, John is doing something new.
On the other hand, we do see Baptism commanded in the New Covenant. Indeed, baptism becomes the sign of entrance into the New Covenant. This is most explicit at the end of Matthew’s Gospel when Jesus says,
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Mt 28:19-20).
In Acts we see the Church carrying out this command of the Lord again and again. In the Epistles, we see the Apostles explaining the spiritual truths behind the sacrament of baptism. In John 3 and 4 we even see the Apostles baptizing folks as part of Jesus’ earthly ministry!
And since we need to be baptized, Jesus was baptized first. As one anonymous 5th century commentary on Matthew says:
How did Christ fulfill the righteousness of baptism? Without doubt according to the demands of human nature: people need to be baptized, for according to carnal nature they are all sinners. Even as he fulfilled the righteousness of baptism, he fulfilled also the righteousness of being born and growing, of eating and drinking, of sleeping and relaxing. He also fulfilled the righteousness of experiencing temptation, fear, flight and sadness, as well as suffering, death and resurrection: that is, according to the requirement of the human nature he took upon himself, he fulfilled all these acts of righteousness.[1]
Though Jesus was baptized to fully identify with us as people who need to be baptized, unlike us, he did not need baptism. We are baptized for repentance and the remission of sins. Jesus had no sins to repent of or to be forgiven for. We are baptized in order to be adopted as God’s sons and daughters. Jesus was always God’s beloved and only-begotten Son in whom he is well pleased. Yet, just as Jesus took our sins upon himself in his death upon the cross, just as Jesus took the Law upon himself in his circumcision, so too did he take our baptism upon himself.
Yet in his Baptism, Jesus changes baptism. This is the second reason why Jesus was baptized. Before the Lord’s Baptism, John prophecies this very thing:
[John] preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, that latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
Now, like John’s baptism, Christian baptism is indeed in water. But Christian baptism also is with the Holy Ghost. The change from John’s baptism to Christian baptism happened at the Baptism of the Lord. As noted by so many of the Church Fathers, Jesus sanctifies the waters of baptism by his own baptism. St. Gregory Nazianzen puts it this way: “As man he was baptized, but he absolved sins as God. He needed no purifying rites himself—his purpose was to hallow water.”[2]
God then uses baptism to hallow or sanctify us. He uses baptism to make us holy, to set us apart as belonging to him. Just as Jesus was baptized to identify with us, so now does our baptism unite us to his death and resurrection, making us co-heirs with him of his kingdom. Our Baptismal liturgy puts it this way:
We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this Child with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own Child, and to incorporate him into thy holy Church. And humbly we beseech thee to grant, that he, being dead unto sin, may live unto righteousness, and being buried with Christ in his death, may also be partake of his resurrection; so that finally, with the residue of thy holy Church, he may be an inheritor of thine everlasting kingdom; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
While the second half of that prayer begins with the phrase, “And humbly we beseech thee…” the intent is not to paint the promises of our baptism as some unsure thing. While they are conditional upon our perseverance in the faith, they are indeed promises. In fact, Article XXVII of our Articles of Religion speaks of baptism as a “sign of Regeneration or New-Birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly” are made recipients of the promises. And Article XXV calls the Sacraments of Baptism and Communion “certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, and God’s good will towards us.” That is, Baptism is a witness to who you are as a member of God’s family. When you doubt your assurance, remember your baptism.
The Lord’s Baptism was also a witness to who he is. This is the third reason for his baptism. In the Fourth Gospel, John the Baptist cries out, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John then goes on to explain how God said to him, “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.”
In the other three Gospels, we have this descent of the Holy Spirit described when Jesus is rising out of the water, along with the Father’s voice proclaiming, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This is one of the most explicit depictions of the Holy Trinity in the Scriptures. All three Persons are present at Jesus’ Baptism, bearing witness to the Lord’s ministry, mission, and Divinity. Indeed, the Lord’s Baptism is proof that the three Persons of the Trinity are indeed distinct, even as they share the same Divinity.
But this clear manifestation of all three Persons of the Holy Trinity is more than a doctrinal proof-text: it is a demonstration of God’s goodness towards us. As Luther wrote:
No longer is there a barrier between God and us, since God himself descends at the Jordan. The Father lets his voice be heard, the Son sanctifies baptism with his body, and the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove…
Is there any unfriendliness here at all? The Son of God, who is without sin and guilt, stands in the Jordan and lets himself be baptized, doing more than he in any way was obliged to do. The Holy Spirit comes in the gentle form of a dove upon Jesus, right before the eyes of John. The Father speaks with us in a most kindly manner, making known to us that he does not send a prophet, an apostle, or an angel, but his own dear Son in whom he is well pleased… “If you desire that I be a gracious Father, you may rest assured. Only hold fast to my Son, with whom I cannot be at enmity, and you will be beloved of me also because of him.[3]
The Lord’s baptism is a witness to who he is and to God’s pleasure in him, just as our own baptisms witness to who we are in Christ, and to God’s pleasure over us in Christ.
Finally, the Lord’s Baptism initiates his earthly ministry. Similar to how Old Testament kings, priests, and even some prophets were anointed with oil to begin their ministries, so was the Lord Jesus anointed with the Holy Spirit at his baptism to begin his ministry. In the passage immediately following our Gospel text, the Lord goes into the Wilderness to do battle with Satan. And then he returns to minister to the people.
Similarly, our ministry as Christians, as members of the general priesthood of all believers, begins with our baptisms. In the ancient church, a custom retained by some traditions to this day, baptism is accompanied with the anointing with oil to symbolize this same anointing with the Holy Spirit. As Western Christians, we undergo further anointing when we are Confirmed. For those who were baptized as children, this Confirmation represents taking upon ourselves the responsibilities of mature Christians. For those who were baptized at “riper years,” this Confirmation represents partnering with the whole Church through the Bishop’s laying on of hands.
Just as the Lord then went into the wilderness to fight Satan, we, too, are be called to fight against the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. As our baptismal liturgy says, we are called to “not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner, against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto [our] life’s end.” And just as our Lord then ministered to the least of these, bringing to them the Kingdom of God, so are we called to love our neighbors as ourselves in whatever vocation we are called to.
In 2 Kings there is a story that I always found amusing. Naaman, the Syrian general goes to the Prophet Elisha to be healed of his leprosy. Being the top general in the most powerful nation of the world, Naaman comes to Elisha’s house with great ceremony and pomp, bearing letters from his king and Israel’s king. But Elisha doesn’t even agree to see him; he just sends a messenger to tell Naaman to go dip himself in the river Jordan. Naaman is understandably upset, and initially refused to do so out of pride. Though he wants to be healed, he doesn’t want to humble himself to do something as simple as bathing in the river Jordan to get it. At this point in the story, we could say that Naaman needed to be baptized but was too proud to realize it. Our Lord’s baptism is just the opposite. Jesus doesn’t need to be baptized, but he humbles himself to do so anyway, for our sakes. He sanctifies the waters so that we could be sanctified in the waters of baptism. Those waters bore witness to who he is, just as our baptisms bear witness to who we are in him. His baptism initiated his ministry, just as ours do the same for us. He humbled himself in the waters of baptism, so that we could be exalted with him.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
[1] ACCS NT Ia, 52.
[2] ACCS NT II, 11.
[3] RCS NT I, 40.
