The Baptism of the Beloved of God—Lectionary Reflection for Baptism of Jesus Sunday, Year A (Matthew 3)

Matthew 3:13-17 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. ¹⁶ And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

**************

                In the 1980s the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches created a convergence document that represented years of study and conversation regarding Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry. That document offers us an important definition and description of Baptism that many turn to when they are engaged in ecumenical conversations regarding the nature of the sacraments and ministry. Since this is Baptism of Jesus Sunday, it is worth pondering some of what that document has to say to us about this central sacrament (some call it an ordinance). While some Christians practice infant baptism, usually by some form of sprinkling, others (my tradition) practice believer’s baptism by immersion. Although you will find some form of baptism practice in most all Christian communities (Quakers practice spirit baptism but not water baptism), we’re not all in agreement as to the many fine points, though most of the communities involved in the Faith and Order Commission do not require rebaptism. While this is a convergence document we still have lots of work to do if we’re to truly experience the unity envisioned by Jesus.

                As we read the passage from Matthew 3 the focus is on Jesus’ own baptism, which raises important questions as to why he would seek baptism. Even John wondered why he was there. As I read this account (as well as the others), the central message is one of solidarity. Jesus seeks baptism as a sign of his solidarity with us. That act of solidarity then invites us to reciprocate by participating in his life, death, and resurrection. With that in mind, I share this word from the BEM document in a section that deals with the meaning of baptism:

Baptism means participating in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus went down into the river Jordan and was baptized in solidarity with sinners in order to fulfill all righteousness (Matt. 3:15). This baptism led Jesus along the way of the Suffering Servant, made manifest in his sufferings, death and resurrection (Mark 10:38-40, 45). By baptism, Christians are immersed in the liberating death of Christ where their sins are buried, where “old Adam” is crucified with Christ, and where the power of sin is broken. Thus, those baptized are no longer slaves to sin, but free. Fully identified with the death of Christ, they are buried with him and are raised here and now to a new life in the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, confident that they will also ultimately be one with him in resurrection like his (Rom. 6:3-11; Col. 2:13, 3:1; Eph. 2:5-6). [Baptism, Eucharist, & Ministry. Faith and Order Paper No. 111, (Geneva, Switzerland: World Council of Churches, 1982)]

We can say, I believe, that baptism provides a foundation for the Christian life that witnesses to different elements of our faith journey. This includes the act of identifying ourselves with Jesus, as well as serving as a means of affirming our faith and being sealed with the Holy Spirit.

                Baptism of Jesus Sunday serves as a reminder that while Jesus might not have needed to be baptized, he chose to be baptized as an act of solidarity with us. In celebration of that act, this Sunday offers an opportunity for members and participants of congregations to reaffirm previous baptismal vows, whether made by them or made on their behalf. In doing this we can reaffirm our own participation in the life of Jesus and membership in the larger Body of Christ.

                The reading from Matthew 3 begins with Jesus coming to the Jordan to be baptized, but to better understand what Jesus is coming to do here, we would be well served by stepping back to the beginning of Matthew 3, where the Gospel writer tells us that John went into the wilderness to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. He does this by preaching a message of repentance that includes being baptized in water as a sign of repentance. However, according to Matthew’s account, John then spoke of another baptism: “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Mt. 3:11-12). It’s important to remember that John saw his own ministry as pointing beyond himself to one who would bring into being the realm of God. When John saw Jesus, he seems to have discerned that this might be the one he was waiting for. Here was the one who would bring forgiveness and empowerment (along with the refining fire that burns away the chaff). As we see here, in this moment of baptism one recedes into the background while the other moves into the center of the story of God’s realm.  

                The story of Jesus’ baptism presents us with a dilemma.  John realized this right away. He preached a message of repentance, but did Jesus need to repent? What were Jesus’ sins that needed to be dealt with through baptism in the Jordan? While Mark’s account leaves us with much ambiguity when it comes to Jesus’ state of mind as to his need for baptism (Mark 1:9-11), since in Mark there is no record of John resisting Jesus’ request, here in Matthew John asks Jesus why he had come for baptism, even suggesting that he (John) needed to be baptized by Jesus. Although Jesus doesn’t baptize John, it would appear that Matthew, unlike Mark, wants to eliminate any sense that Jesus needed to be restored to right relationship with God. In other words, there is no record here (or in the other Gospels including Mark) that Jesus repented before receiving baptism. Instead, Jesus informs John that he needs to undergo this baptism to fulfill righteousness.  In other words, this is an act of obedience on Jesus’ part to the will of God. That is, it is the necessary step before God reveals Jesus’ true identity. 

                After John baptizes Jesus in the Jordan, the heavens open as Jesus rises out of the water. When the heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus in the form of a dove. After this, a voice from heaven speaks: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” The use of the word this in this account suggests that the message from the heavens is directed not at Jesus, as in Mark, but to the crowd. In Mark, the voice speaks to Jesus, declaring “You are my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” (Mk.1:11).

                The voice from heaven, combined with the Spirit’s descent, offers us a distinctly Trinitarian moment that connects us to the closing words of Matthew’s Gospel, when Jesus commissions the disciples to go into the world, making disciples, and “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19-20). For Matthew it’s not that Jesus needs to hear this affirmation of his calling, but rather his calling needs to be proclaimed to the world. The voice lets the crowd know that this is the one they’re waiting for, so listen to him. At the same time, the voice along with the descent of the Spirit serves to ordain Jesus for the ministry that he is about to embark upon. As Alan Culpepper notes, “the descent of the Spirit signals Jesus’ empowerment for his ministry, justifies the identification of Jesus as Immanuel (1:23), and prepares for the announcement that Jesus is the ‘Son of God’” [Matthew, NTL, p. 65]. Thus, before Jesus’ ministry can fully begin the foundations for that ministry need to be affirmed and sealed through the Spirit, which then leads to a time of testing in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11).

                We hear this word on one of the first Sundays of the new year (depending on how the calendar falls). Baptism of Jesus Sunday serves as an opportunity to reflect on Jesus’ baptism and accompanying ordination for ministry, but it also has a word for us. While standing in quite the same place as Jesus, might we hear this as a word of affirmation, that we too are beloved of God, and perhaps even ones with whom God is well pleased? Are we not recipients of the same Spirit who descended upon Jesus (isn’t that the message of Pentecost)? So, what might this passage say to us that pertains to our own life of discipleship?  If Jesus’s baptism serves as a sign of solidarity with us, as he fulfills all righteousness, how might we identify with Jesus and his baptism? 

                We probably need to start with a primary difference between Jesus and us. Thus, unlike Jesus, all of us need to repent of our sins. We require forgiveness. We need to be reconciled in some way with God and with our neighbors. The fact that John turned to Jesus, asking Jesus to baptize him, reminds us that we, like John, need to repent and be forgiven so that we might experience reconciliation with God. From there, we move to what happens in baptism, the endowment with the Spirit of God. If we are to participate in the ministry of Jesus, we too must be empowered by the Spirit. At Pentecost, Peter responded to those who asked what they must do to experience salvation, telling the inquirers that they needed to “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts2:38). [On the question of the gift of the Holy Spirit and what that means for the Christian life, see my book Unfettered Spirit: Spiritual Gifts for theNew Great Awakening (Energion Publications, 2021)].

                Another difference between our baptism and that of Jesus, at least as described here in Matthew, is that while Jesus receives his ministerial orders and empowerment, this is not an act of adoption (Mark’s account could be read as Jesus being adopted by God in baptism, while the infancy narrative of Matthew 1-2 would suggest that his status as Son of God is not by adoption). As for us, our status as a child of God is not by direct descent but by adoption. That adoption through the Spirit is sealed through our baptisms.  

                Having become members of the body of Christ in baptism, we participate in the life and ministry of Jesus. As noted by Paul in Romans 6, we have been buried with him in baptism so that as we rise from the waters of baptism we are enabled to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:1-4). Therefore, might we take this opportunity to not only reaffirm our baptismal vows, or perhaps receive baptism, but to recommit ourselves to walking with Jesus and participating with him in a ministry that reveals God’s presence in our world, that the world might know the love and grace of God. In doing this might we also hear the voice of God say to us, as we’re endowed by the Spirit, that we too are beloved of God who might say of us: “This is my child, in whom I am well pleased?” 

Image Attribution - Miller, Mary Jane. Holy Baptism, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=59682 [retrieved January 3, 2023]. Original source: Mary Jane Miller, https://www.millericons.com/.