What is Baptism?
Have you ever been baptized?If you are one of the tens of thousands of Roman Catholics in the Plainfield area (St. Mary's Parish alone has 7700 families on its roll), then a priest most likely sprinkled you with water as an infant. The same is true if you belong to one of the other denominations that baptize infants.
Baptism in Catholic and other "paedobaptist" (infant-baptizing) churches is a way of ushering babies into their parents' religion (Catholics also believe baptism cleanses babies of original sin). For Baptists and many non-denominational churches (of which my church is one), the ritual is done by full immersion in a tank of water (or a lake or river), after a public testimony of faith in Jesus.
In the Bible, the real meaning of baptism has less to do with how much of one's external self gets wet, and more to do with how much of one's internal self is committed to God.
An Unexpected Event
In today's passage, Jesus is baptized. A prophet named John the Baptist had been out in the wilderness, preaching to gathered crowds that God's kingdom was about to arrive, and that people should turn from their sins and prepare their hearts for the Christ's arrival. Matthew 3:5 says that "all Jerusalem" and the surrounding region was going out to hear John. So John preached to huge crowds, and then, one by one, he baptized them, dunking them in the Jordan River as a symbolic way of washing them from their sins.While this was all going on, Jesus went out to see John. Luke 3:21-22 (today's passage) reads:
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
This is an amazing scene. Here's Jesus, the One John has been telling everyone to look forward to, the One predicted by prophets for nearly two thousand years. Jesus is about to start his mission, and he comes and gets baptized himself.
Like a sinner.
Why?
What Jesus' Baptism Means for You
Jesus was baptized for a few reasons. First, he did it to identify with sinners like us. Just as all those Israelis came out to repent of their sins and prepare for Christ's arrival, and just as we are told to do the same thing, so Jesus showed that he approved of this ritual. Jesus is the forerunner of everyone who trusts in him. His followers are encouraged by seeing that, whatever we go through, he has been through it first.The second reason Jesus was baptized is shown by what happened next. The Holy Spirit came down from heaven and rested on him. And the Father spoke from heaven, telling his approval of Jesus, his Son. So here you have the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit together, confirming Jesus' identity and validating his mission. Jesus' baptism kick-started his mission, and the Holy Trinity testified that Jesus' mission was legit.
Finally, Jesus did this to "fulfill all righteousness." I could go on a tangent here about the righteous requirements that the Jewish priests needed to follow in order to be considered fit to minister at God's temple. However, it is enough to say that Jesus' baptism is part of his perfect life. He had to be sinless, keeping every single one of God's requirements, in order to represent you and me before the Holy God.
Baptism and God's Love
All this being said, here's your takeaway from this Scripture: Jesus is God's Son, and God is happy with him. This is so important for you to understand. There is no one else who has kept God's requirements (not you, definitely not me), only Jesus. If you want to get right with God, you need to go through him.God loves you. Powerfully. Perfectly. And just like he is perfect in love, he is also perfectly just and fair. He will give to everyone what they deserve. To everyone who lives for themselves, God will pay them their wages--and the wages of sin is death. But to everyone (every sinner--and we are all sinners) who trusts Jesus with their life, God will forgive their sins and give them the right to become children of God.
Because God loves you, he has provided a way for you to be reconciled to him. Baptism is a symbol of identifying with Jesus--who identifies with us.
We are going to have a baptism class at Grace Pointe Church soon. If you would like to know more about this Christian ritual, please contact me at jsettecase@gracepointe.us.
For further reading on Jesus' baptism, click here and here.
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Joel Settecase is the Associate Pastor for Evangelism and Student Ministries at Grace Pointe Plainfield, at 143rd St. and Route 30.
