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Morningside The Baptism of Jesus
“Then
Jesus came from I would love to be able to remember by own baptism. I think about this every time I read the account of the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. There are two reasons. First, I long for the kind of experience that Jesus had. The kind of moment when the heavens are opened and you can see and hear the Spirit and even touch the very face of God. Ah, for such a moment! The second reason is because I enjoy performing baptisms for other people so much, I would really like to be able to remember mine. But in our own Church tradition it is not to be. I want to come back to this a little later. For the moment I would like us to consider a question. Why was Jesus baptised? And why did all four of the Gospel writers think it an event important enough to record and pass on to us? Note:
John’s Gospel doesn’t mention the actual baptism of Jesus but we can detect
echoes of the event in the description that the Gospel writer uses when John the
Baptist describes his first public encounter with Jesus.
John says, So, why was Jesus baptised? Now you may think this is a rather odd, academic question – one of those hair-splitting controversies that theologians enjoy but no one else cares about. But, actually, it is a rather significant question…because baptism is (at least) about two things: · People are baptised so that their sins, and in particular ‘Original Sin’ is forgiven and washed away. (In the Western Church Original Sin is thought of as the nature of sin common to all humanity – it’s the dark part of the ‘human condition’, if you like). · Through Baptism a person is made a member of the Body of Christ. Think about it. First, why would Jesus need to be made a member of his own body? And Secondly, Jesus didn’t need to be forgiven any sins, because we believe that he didn’t have any. So, the question remains, why was Jesus baptised? Here are some of the answers that I have found: ·
By being baptised Jesus was standing in a long and ancient
tradition whereby the prophets confessed sin on behalf of the people - Isaiah,
Ezra and Nehemiah for example. “ ·
Jesus was being obedient to His Father’s will.
“ ·
Jesus’ baptism was His way of inaugurating, beginning His public
ministry. (Some
scholars have suggested that Jesus was originally a disciple of John the Baptist
– His baptism, therefore, would have been a public way of separating himself
from John and setting out on His own ministry). ·
Jesus wanted to show support for John’s ministry. ·
Jesus was without sin and therefore did not need to be baptised.
But by being baptised Jesus was identifying himself with humanity, with
us. It is a continuation of the
Incarnation - Emmanuel, ‘God-with-us’. · ‘He [Jesus] became poor, so that we might become rich’. Jesus wants to set an example of humility for us follow. (Like washing His disciples’ feet at the Last Supper). (Adapted from Life Application Commentary, Tyndale Press) What, if
anything, does all of this say about us and our own baptism?
Pope John Paul II has often been asked about his life and ministry.
It’s interesting and highly significant that the comment that he
consistently makes about himself is this. That
the most important moment in his life was not being ordained a priest, or
consecrated a bishop, neither was it being appointed Archbishop of Krakow in And why? For all the reasons we have just heard. In baptism John Paul was: · Made one with Christ and adopted into His body on earth, the Church. · He was washed of his sins and started on the path to a new life as part of God’s Kingdom. · He was following in the very footsteps of Jesus Himself. And there is nothing more important, more wonderful, more significant that that! But/or perhaps and, there is just a little bit more. The clue lies
with Jesus’ words in the Baptism isn’t just about what God does for us – all of the things that we have been talking about. It isn’t just about all the goodies that we receive when we ‘join the club’, so-to-speak. Baptism, and Jesus’ own baptism shows this in very unambiguous terms, baptism is our commission, (without wishing to sound overly martial) our marching orders, if you like. When Jesus was baptised the first thing that he did was to go into the wilderness so that he could prepare for the ministry that was soon to come; to seek and discern the will of the Father he had promised to serve. When we are baptised God says to us, ‘okay, I’ve given you everything that you need – faith, hope, love, grace, the gift of the Holy Spirit – now go out and do it!’ And so although the vast majority of us have no clue as to what our own baptism was like (because we were too young to remember) we can experience our baptism in a very tangible sense – every day of our lives – when we try to ‘love and serve the Lord’. So as we remember the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan today we are invited to do three things:
Amen.
Simon
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