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

The baptism of Jesus by John is referred to in all four Gospels. “Referred to” rather than recounted because while Mark tells the story more or less straightforwardly, the other accounts show varying degrees of unease. The origin of the unease is probably two-fold. First of all, the baptism shows Jesus “submitting” to John and receiving from him. One could conclude that the one who gave was greater than the one who received. In the second place, at the time the Gospels were actually written there were still followers of John the Baptist around. Perhaps part of their identity over against the Christian movement was that John was the mentor and Jesus a pupil. One of the side-effects of this unease with John’s Baptism of Jesus is that the baptism is one of the most historically certain events in the Gospels, because the early Christians would not have “developed” an account which gave them so much trouble

 POINTERS FOR PRAYER

 1. The Baptism of Jesus marks a turning point in his life, and the start of his public ministry. Recall moments when your life changed and you moved into a new phase.

2. The experience was one in which Jesus had a new sense of his own identity. What have been the experiences which have helped shape your sense of who you are?

3. How have you come to an awareness of being a child of God, beloved by God, and one on whom rests the grace of God?

4. It is surprising that Jesus, the Saviour of the world, asks to be baptised by John. The request symbolises his desire to identify with us. At the same time he is filled with the Holy Spirit. That step of identifying with us is an important element in his being able to help us. Have you ever found that when someone identifies with you, it is easier for him/ her to help you? Has your ability to identify with others had any impact on your effectiveness in helping others?

Can you recall some special moments between yourself and your parents? Did you ever hear from them the equivalent of “This is my son, my daughter, the beloved: my favour rests on you”? In Jesus’ ministry, on several occasions, he felt such a word from his Abba, his Father. His baptism by John was one such moment, as was the Transfiguration later on. Such deep love and affirmation grounded him as a human being and as God’s prophet to the people of Israel. Our sense of calling grows out of our relationship with the Father, whose beloved we are, whose favour we too enjoy.