The Baptism of Jesus

Today's Reflections 

 

                       

The Baptism of Jesus 

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Mt 3:13-17

¹³Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. ¹⁴John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” ¹⁵Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. ¹⁶After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened [for him], and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove [and] coming upon him. ¹⁷And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Solidarity with sinful humanity. Celebrating the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we are reminded of the opening words of Porta Fidei, Pope Benedict XVI’s Letter of Indiction of the Year of Faith (2012-2013): “The ‘door of faith’ (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To enter through the door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death and eternal life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”

To enter through the “door of faith” is to set out on a journey that begins at baptism. This was true of Jesus.

The life of Jesus of Nazareth begins with the “infancy stories” that we read in Matthew and Luke, and even with the Logos’ (Word) existence with God “in the beginning” that we read in John. But these are “prologues” of the main event—the public life and ministry of Jesus. The main event begins when John baptizes Jesus in the River Jordan. Baptism is the “door” through which Jesus enters and changes human affairs.

Baptism in Judaism in Jesus’ time is done through immersion. One enters “into the waters” which recalls the death symbolism of the annihilating power of the ocean flood. One therefore “dies” to sins that one confesses while being immersed in the water.

But the flowing waters of the river also symbolize life. As one emerges from the water, one is purified of the sinful past that burdens and distorts life. One becomes new again and starts a new life.

Is this true of Jesus? He has no sins to confess, as pointed out by John himself: “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” (v 14). Rather, Jesus’ lining up with sinners to receive baptism expresses his solidarity with sinful humanity; he loads the burden of mankind’s guilt upon his shoulders and unloads it by his resurrection.