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. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:13-17
¿Why was Jesus baptized? It is a recurring question when these passages are read. Anyone would think that it is a topic to speak in a theology class, however, it is of capital importance for the ministry of Jesus and for our faith, as we will see in these notes. The short answer was given by Jesus himself in Matthew 3:15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.
¿What does it mean that «it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness»? That Jesus was obeying the ordinances of the Father, he was obeying the guidelines given by God to begin his mission here on earth. Let’s expand the matter a little more.
Water baptism was the sign of the beginning of the fulfillment of the New Covenant or the Renewed Covenant that was promised by God through the prophet Jeremiah:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Jeremiah 31:31-33
He also confirmed it through the prophet Ezekiel:
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
Ezekiel 36:25-27
At the time of fulfilling this promise, God sent a messenger who would prepare the ground for the arrival of the kingdom of heaven and his king the Messiah. Jesus Christ himself testified of John in Matthew 11:10 when he said: This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ For this reason, Jesus Christ said that John had been the greatest of the prophets (Luke 7:28).
John the Baptist opened the doors for the kingdom of heaven to begin, and to everyone who was going to participate in that kingdom water baptism was, in the words of the Christian and Jewish theologian, Alfred Edersheim, a “consecration to the new Covenant of the Kingdom and a preparatory initiation to it ”.
In John 1:33 the evangelist narrates the testimony of John the Baptist: “I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ” God himself gave the explicit order to John to baptize in water. God decided to give the order because that practice did not exist and because God’s purpose was also to show something new.
At that time there was a baptism of initiation to proselytes, that is, to those who converted to Judaism, it was a practice that was similar, but did not have the meaning that God gave to John’s baptism. It is easy to confirm that none of the Old Testament writings had done what John was going to do. With the order given to John the Baptist, God Himself began the fulfillment of the great promise (Ezekiel 36:25), that of the coming of his kingdom to the earth, that of redeeming all those who had the messianic hope, that He will be Our God and He Himself will make us His people.
Now the sign of the Covenant with God was not a mark on the body, as circumcision had been, a practice that marked your body, but did not necessarily touch the heart, and that was precisely what God asked for:
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.
Deuteronomy 10:16
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
Jeremiah 4:4
For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
Romans 2:28-29
Now the sign of the Covenant with God was water baptism, it was the new mark to signify that it becomes part of God’s people and the kingdom of God, and this sign, which is not a mark on the body, points better to the operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer (Ezekiel 36:25 is the prophetic voice of what God was going to do with the water). It is not important that another human being sees the mark, it matters that God sees the mark, because praise comes from God and not from men.
Baptism is not a rite that works magically on who does it, but rather points and highlights the operation of the Holy Spirit in the believer. An operation in which God Himself circumcised our heart, so that we may be born to love Him with a sincere heart and not that we seek Him for an external obligation or for convenience. God himself makes us his children as promised from the Old Testament:
And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Deuteronomy 30:6
and it is what God himself works in us by participating in the work of Christ:
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
Colossians 2:11
Now, returning to the task of John the Baptist, any normal adult who wanted to participate in the coming kingdom should show repentance of sin, because he understood that participation in the kingdom of heaven required a change of life, and he did evidently when baptized. But not Jesus. It was necessary that Jesus let himself be baptized by John, not because He had sins to repent for, but because He was the one who brought the kingdom, He was the one who was going to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth with all his work and, only at his baptism, John (and hence all of us) would be able to recognize who the Messiah was: «He on whom you see the Spirit descend and perch on Him, this is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.» By baptizing Jesus, John could see if the Spirit descended upon Him and could confirm who the Messiah was. And that testimony was also accompanied by the voice of heaven that John heard: «This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.» (Matthew 3:17). The testimony of John the Baptist was crucial in recognizing Jesus as the Messiah; hence it is mentioned in the four gospels. John the Baptist was recognized everywhere as a prophet sent by God and his fame and his work was believed in distant places of Jerusalem. Even when the apostles went out to preach to other cities, they found people that had been baptized with the baptism of John (Acts 19: 3). If Jesus had not been baptized, we would not have the testimony of John the Baptist recognizing him as the promised Messiah (John 1:31).
When John baptized Jesus Christ, both fulfilled the justice of God, they did what God expected them to do «… it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.» In the answer, Jesus tells John that both should fulfill God’s justice and they did so. Both Jesus and John obeyed the Father of heaven, and although John was overwhelmed by the presence of the Messiah and considered himself unworthy of such action, he obeyed the Father’s order and baptized him.
It is beautiful to see how the Son of God willingly submits to what the Father had commanded, and even John the Baptist had to do what he was sent to do, although he clearly recognized his lack of dignity. The point that both taught was that we must follow the guidelines given by God. From the perspective of John, we must obey God, even if we are unworthy to do so. From Jesus’ perspective, we must obey the Father, even if we are very worthy to do so; in other words, no matter how high or lower our place in the kingdom of heaven is, God will always be the one who directs his kingdom and we must adjust to his orders, even if that means exalting or humiliating us, because He is the one who we owe all the glory. That was the beautiful example of both, our Lord Jesus Christ and John the Baptist.
Amen
Arjé y logos 