Acts 2:38
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 6: 3 – 4
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
1 Corinthians 12:13
For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
1 Peter 3: 21 - 22
….this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Luke 3
21 When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
John the Baptist asks a good question at the Baptism of Jesus, he was puzzled by Jesus coming to him to be baptised, and so said, “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?”
He has a point, it is surprising that Jesus asks to be baptised by John.
Baptism is about forgiveness of sins, and John recognises Jesus as ‘the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’, so why would the one who takes away the sin of the world need to receive the forgiveness symbolised in baptism?
In Hebrews 4:14 we read of Jesus, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”
Jesus lived the perfect life; all his thoughts and actions were in accord with love of God and neighbour, in baptism he would have nothing to be sorry for – no regrets – no guilt – no need for restoration of his relationship with God.
So why was Jesus baptised?
Jesus himself gives an answer of sorts to this question, he says to John, ‘Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.’
Jesus thought it the right thing to do, and that was good enough for John, but it is not much of an explanation.
Sometimes Jesus asks us to act on trust without our fully understanding the reasons why, just as John was willing to obey because Jesus had said it was the right thing to do. In fact, I doubt we ever fully understand God's intentions, the mind of God is eternally beyond our mortal minds, and the best explanation we have is always to consider the mind of God made flesh in Jesus Christ.
If we we do act on trust when asked by Jesus, then after the event we may see something of the reason, as John saw after he had baptised Jesus.
If, however, we are defeated by doubt and do not act as we are called then we may never get to see why we were asked to serve.
It would be a sad thing if in a vision you could see in heaven a room full of unopened boxes, each a missed opportunity in your life, missed because you listened to doubt rather than faith.
Jesus asks John to trust and obey - but knowing what happened next in the story we can discern some of the reasons for Christ’s request. I can think of seven in fact.
1, Jesus leads by example. As Christians we follow the way of Christ, Jesus taught baptism and repentance, and as Jesus always taught by deeds as well as words he showed us the way through the waters of baptism. As followers of Jesus we must follow him through the waters of baptism so that we may follow him into eternal life.
2. Humility. In submitting to the baptism of John, Jesus demonstrates humility, a quality that is totally characteristic of Jesus. In the baptism scene it is Jesus who holds all the authority, and yet it is John who exercises authority in administering the sacrament. We may learn from this two things; that as followers of Jesus we must walk humbly through this world, and also that sometimes those who are in authority over us need us to serve them. A Bishop is as in need of a kind word of encouragement from a church cleaner, as the church cleaner is from the Bishop.
3.The baptism of Jesus prefigures his death and resurrection. The word ‘baptism’ is derived from a word meaning to soak. John plunged people down into the waters of the Jordan, and lifted then up and out.
(Our Anglican baptism service diminishes the action to a sprinkling, and in proportion increases the words spoken!)
The symbolism of washing away sin is powerful; away in the waters of the ever-flowing Jordan flow your sins. However, the symbolism runs deeper. Baptism symbolises death and new life, down into the watery tomb and up into new life. Baptism is a picture of death and resurrection.
Paul wrote in Romans 6, ‘don't you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.’
The baptism of Jesus prefigures his own descent in to the grave and resurrection to new life, as it symbolises our future death and resurrection. Roman Catholics sprinkle water on the coffin at a funeral service to remind everyone of thier baptism, and the promise it holds of new life. It is a good practice I may adopt.
4. The baptism of Jesus affords us a glimpse of the Trinity at work. All three persons of the Trinity are present and working with John in the baptism. We read, “And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”’
That’s God the Father speaking from heaven, God the Son standing in the river, and God the Holy Spirit visible as a dove. The baptism of Jesus reveals to us the nature of God; that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and it reveals that God wants us to work with Him in his plan for the redemption of the world.
God, who is all sufficient, all powerful, all knowing, and ever present, asks us to be a part of His work, the picture tells this story, there is John the Baptist, at the centre of the baptism scene, a mortal man drawn into the life and work of the Trinity.
God wants us to work with Him, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and He wants us to recognise that He is present with us, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in our everyday lives. The Baptism of Jesus is not a unique event, it reveals the true nature of things; that as we dig our vegetable patch, or journey to work, or prepare our dinner, the Trinity is there with is in every good and healthy work, asking us to work with faith not fear and to look for the results.
5. Baptism is an act of commissioning each of us to the task of serving the Church, and the Kingdom of God. Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God has a list of jobs for you to be getting on with, and baptism is your call to get on with it.
The baptism of Jesus helps us to see this, Jesus is our captain, his baptism marked the start of his ministry, as our baptism marks the start of ours.
6.In the Baptism of Jesus we see this commissioning to serve is enabled by the Holy Spirit, we read, ‘the Holy Spirit descended on him’. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to energise our service; we need not labour in our our strength alone, but in that of the Spirit. So call on the Holy Spirit to inspire you when you pray and have work to do.
As Peter said, ““Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
7. "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." The baptism of Jesus reveals that at the heart of the Christian faith is not doctrine or rules, but a relationship with our loving Father God. God is love, a Trinity of divine love, who invites us to receive and share that love, so all may be drawn into eternal life.
If you are a Christian you should be baptised, if you were baptised as a child you should be confirmed, so that the promises made on your behalf can be spoken from your own mouth.
Jesus taught as much by what he said as what he did, and his Baptism contains many lessons for us, but most of all God’s message in this is simple and profound, "You are my child, whom I love.”
Amen.
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