The Baptism of Jesus

Why was Jesus baptized? What did Jesus’s baptism accomplish and communicate to us?

Luke tells us, “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." (Luke 3:21-22, ESV).

Matthew’s Gospel account adds, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented.” (Matthew 3:13-15, ESV).

This conversation and interaction between John the Baptist and Jesus reveals Jesus desire to be obedient to the requirement of the law and his desire to fulfill the law in order to “fulfill all righteousness”.

We also see the commissioning for ministry and the blessing of God the Father in Jesus’s Baptism. We catch a glimpse of the Trinity in one place as Jesus comes out of the water, the Father speaks, and the Holy Spirit descends down upon Jesus.

The baptism of Jesus is important and calls to remembrance the history of God birthing his children from Spirit and water in creation; delivering his people from judgement through the waters in the days on Noah; delivering his people from slavery in Egypt through the Red Sea in the days of Moses; leading his people into the promised land through the waters of the Jordan River in the days of Joshua; and saving his people through the waters of baptism and giving them the Holy Spirit in this era of the church.

Baptism is also commanded by Jesus himself in the Great Commission in his last words to his disciples before his ascension. Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19, ESV).

If baptism was this important and essential for Jesus, it should be important and essential for every believer as well.

May we be obedient in following Jesus, being obedient to be baptized, and being obedient to baptize others—recognizing the importance of Jesus’s baptism and learning from Jesus’s baptism.

The importance of Jesus’s baptism:

1. Jesus was obedient to God and sought to be baptized by John the Baptizer.

2. Jesus received God’s Holy Spirit when he came out of the waters.

3. Jesus received God’s blessing at his baptism, as the Father proclaimed, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

4. Jesus’s deity was identifiable at his baptism—Jesus is God’s son.

5. Jesus was prepared and commissioned at his baptism, as God showed favor and blesses him, as the Spirit led him into the wilderness afterwards and empowered him to resist the temptation of Satan.

6. Jesus was baptized, and Jesus commanded that his disciples be baptized and that we baptize other disciples in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19.

What can we learn from the baptism of Jesus?

1. Baptism is important. If Jesus needed to be baptized and was obedient to God unto baptism, we must be obedient to God and be baptized.

2. When we are obedient and are baptized, God will give us his Holy Spirit. Baptism is necessary for God's Spirit to remain upon us.

3. God was pleased with Jesus at his baptism. God is pleased with our obedience and God is pleased to bless us and affirm us as his children. We are God's beloved.

A Prayer for the Candidates of Baptism: “Almighty and everlasting Father, in your great mercy you saved Noah and his family in the Ark from the destruction of the flood, prefiguring the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Look mercifully upon these your servants. Wash and sanctify them through your Holy Spirit, that they may be delivered from destruction and received into the Ark of Christ’s Church; and being steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in love, they may pass through the turbulent floods of this troublesome world and come into the land of everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).

Happy New Year! Start the new year off right with a daily devotional time, with Grow 365, for January. I will be creating a devotional book for every month this year and offering them free by subscribing. Get a link to Grow 365: January here: https://www.robbiepruitt.com