The Big Story: Jesus Is Baptized


It would be easy to pass over Jesus' baptism in the Bible's Big Story of God's mission to save the world.  It seems so simple and small-scale.  Yet it was a key moment in Jesus' life and therefore a key moment in the Big Story.

One day, John the Baptist is shocked to see Jesus in the line for baptism.  John protests, saying that their roles should be reversed.  Jesus should be baptizing him!  But Jesus said they needed to do this to "fulfill all righteousness."  We don't know all that means, but it appears to mean that submitting to John's baptism was important for Jesus to do.  By receiving his baptism, he connected himself to John and his ministry, and by extension, to God's Big Story.

This was a pivotal moment in that it marked the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.  We don't know much about what Jesus did before this point.  That's probably because he led an unremarkable life.  The comments of people from his hometown (see Matthew 13:53-57) suggest that he had given no sign of being anyone special growing up. 

But things would be different from this point forward.  The scriptures suggest that though Jesus was fully God and fully human, he voluntarily took up the mission of being God's Suffering Servant Messiah.  In this baptism, he showed he was taking up that mission.

Matthew 3 says that when Jesus came up from the water, the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove.  Though Jesus was fully God and fully human, he needed the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill his mission.  Here, he received the power to do so.

Then a voice came from above, saying, "This is my beloved Son.  In him, I am well pleased."  This marks God's pleasure at Jesus taking up his mission.

Jesus' baptism and the power he received reflects our calling as Christ followers.  John 20:21-23 says that in one of his resurrection appearances to his followers, he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirt.  As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."  Here, he symbolized the coming of the Holy Spirt, and gave them his commission to be as he was in the world.

Today, in the Spirit's power, we continue his work, doing the things he did and saying the things he said.

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