I imagine many of you may be unaware that today is the day the church traditionally remembers the baptism of Jesus. So how appropriate that today we should be baptising Caleb. As we just read, Jesus too was baptised, not as a baby, but as an adult, as a sign that he was about to begin his work for God.
Now we need to recognise from the start that Jesus didn’t need to be baptised. In fact no-one needs to be baptised. There’s nothing magic about it. There was a time when people thought you needed to be baptised or you couldn’t be a Christian and therefore, of course, if you died you’d go to hell. There may still be people who think that, but that isn’t why we baptise people. You become a Christian by putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ; by making him your Lord. And then he gives you new life. Baptism is merely a sign that that new life has begun. We baptise children like Caleb on the understanding that we’re bringing them into the community of God’s people. That’s why we encourage people to not just have their children baptised but to get them involved with their local church, so they grow up trusting in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
But let’s get back to Jesus and his baptism. The symbolism of baptism is both of washing and of new birth. It carries the idea that the old sinful nature is being washed clean, ready for a new start in serving God faithfully for the rest of our lives. But it also signifies death and rebirth. As the baptism service reminds us, the people of Israel passed through the Red Sea as a sign that they were being reborn as the people of God, freed from slavery to serve God in their new land. It reminds us that Jesus died and rose again to bring us new life. So there’s both the idea of the removal of sin, and of the old sinful life being replaced by a new life for God.
Now the problem with both those ideas, as far as Jesus is concerned, is that he didn’t need to do it for either reason. So why did he do it? Well, because there was a sense in which he did need to. But first let’s think about why he didn’t need to be baptised.
Why he didn’t need to be baptised.
John was in no doubt about what should and shouldn’t be happening. Look at v14: John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" John understood Jesus’ importance in the scheme of things. He’d said a few verses earlier that Jesus was the promised Messiah, whose sandals John wasn’t even worthy to carry.
But it wasn’t just that. More importantly, baptism signifies being washed clean from sin, and Jesus had never actually sinned. The reason John was baptising people was to purify them before the Messiah came. So they’d be ready. Up to this moment John’s message has been one of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He’s been warning people to flee from the wrath that’s coming as God’s Messiah, God’s anointed King, bursts on the scene. And in the final words we have recorded from John’s lips, he tells people that he baptises with water for repentance but one is coming who will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Jesus’ coming will bring the breath of life and the fire of cleansing.
What’s more Jesus didn’t need a new start in obeying God because he had always obeyed God. That’s why as he came up out of the water God spoke and said "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
But that still leaves the question, "Why did he need to do it?"
Why he needed to be baptised.
Jesus says "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." There was a sense in which Jesus did need to be baptised. He says it’s to fulfill all righteousness. That is, to fulfill God’s law.
In the sermon on the mount we have these words of Jesus recorded for us: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." Jesus’ whole life, you see, was intended to fulfill the law and its requirements. So his baptism by John isn’t a sign that he needed to repent. Rather it’s a sign that he identifies with all those who live under the law and that he himself submits to that law. His submitting to baptism says that John’s message is right. That people do need to submit to God’s law if they’re to be ready for the coming of the King.
Hebrews 4 speaks of the comfort we can derive from knowing that Jesus understands what our life is like. (Heb 4:14-16 NRSV) "Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." One of the reasons for Jesus being baptised by John was to identify with us in our weakness. Not that he needed to repent, but that he understands what we go through.
Baptism is a means of identifying himself with Israel. Baptism was one of the rituals that was used when a person became an Israelite. It signified purification from every impurity that might hold them back from the worship of the true and living God. You may remember the story of Naaman, the Assyrian, who was told to dip himself in the Jordan River 7 times if he wanted to be healed of his leprosy. In a similar way Jesus lowers himself into the river to identify himself as a true Israelite.
But also, his baptism by John is a sign of his humility. One of the things you see in corporate life is the way new managers try to distance themselves from their predecessors. They don’t want to be compared with them, in case they suffer by comparison. I remember someone once saying, "You know, you’re the worst vicar we’ve ever had. But don’t feel bad about it. It’s just that you could never be as good as the one you’ve replaced, and he could never have been as good as the one before him and so on." Well, that’s how life is sometimes, particularly if you follow someone who had a well loved and successful ministry. So we tend to avoid comparisons with our predecessors. But not so Jesus. It’s a sign of his humility that he comes to John, he lowers himself into the muddy waters of the Jordan River and submits to the ministry of his predecessor; of his herald.
And here’s the interesting thing: as he does so he symbolically takes on himself the sins of the world. Those waters that have washed away the sins of the people now cover Jesus as he lowers himself into them. Finally:
What difference does this make to what we’re doing here today?
What difference does it make for us that Jesus began his ministry with this act of being baptised?
I guess the first thing to say is that Jesus’ submission to baptism is a commendation to us of the value of baptism for us. If he who knew no sin chose to begin his public ministry with an act of baptism, then we should be encouraged to see baptism as an important act of initiation for all who are followers of Christ.
But that’s not the main issue is it? A much more important issue for us is the fact that by this act, Jesus identifies with us. Sometimes we wonder whether God really understands what we’re going through. Particularly when things are tough, we wonder whether he really appreciates how hard it is to live in this broken world. But here we see Jesus identifying with us in this practical way of submitting to John’s baptism, to remind us that yes, he does understand what it’s like to live in a fallen world, where things don’t always go right, where people hate you and persecute you for doing good, where people break God’s laws and need to repent, and where people suffer through no real fault of their own.
When we come to God in repentance, asking him to forgive us, we can have confidence that he knows how hard it is to resist temptation. Jesus even knows how hard it is to lower ourselves to admit our failure. Have you noticed how the hardest part of repentance is often that it requires us revising our view of ourselves as being beyond reproach? We build up this self image that says that we’re not to blame. If things go wrong it’s always the other persons fault. It’s hard to submit ourselves to a baptism of repentance if we take it seriously. We don’t like to admit that we’re less than perfect. And it’s just as hard when we baptise a child like Caleb. We don’t like to think of a little child as needing God’s forgiveness. We’d like to think that they’re without fault. But the reality we acknowledge by this act today is that they too need to be washed clean, purified, given new life in Jesus Christ.
Well, Jesus knows what we’re like. He’s lived life as a human being, he’s gone down into the waters of the Jordan as a sign of human imperfection, even though he suffered no imperfection in his own obedience to God. If we meditate on that fact it might make it easier for us to face up to our own limitations, our own imperfections as far as our obedience to God is concerned.
But, finally, there’s another important element in this story for us today. It appears as Jesus is coming up out of the water. "Suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, ’This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’" Here, right at the outset, we see Jesus’ glory manifest. Even at the moment when he’s lowered himself as far as he can go, God speaks and attests to his real glory, that of the only begotten Son of the Father.
It’s as though Matthew wants to remind us from the outset, that this Jesus isn’t just a great teacher and healer. He isn’t just the greatest of the prophets. No, he’s the beloved Son of God, with whom God is well pleased.
This Jesus, who lowers himself to the depth of us failed human beings, is the Beloved Son of the Living God. His baptism, unnecessary as it was in terms of repentance from sin, nevertheless shows us the importance of submitting to God’s law, God’s will for human life. It encourages us that Jesus was truly human, that he understood what it means to be a human being. And it assures us that John’s offer of forgiveness indeed came from God.
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