Mark 1:4-11 - The baptism of the Lord

Virtually every Christian denomination affords baptism a very important place in its theology. We don’t all approach it in the same way – some do it as a response to salvation, some for salvation; some sprinkle while others immerse; for some baptism is done at infancy by parents and for others it is chosen by the individual. Regardless of our differences about reason, method, and time, however, we all believe that it is an important event early in the life of a Christian. For all of us it is an occasion where, in a unique way, the human interacts with God.

This meeting between the human and divine is no where more visible than in Jesus’ own baptism. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all include the story of Jesus’ baptism, and though John does not, he alludes to it in chapter 1:29-34. Interestingly, none of the gospels ever really settle the question of why Jesus decided to have John baptize him – Mark and Luke offer no reason at all, and Matthew’s reason (“it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness”) is sufficiently vague so as to leave one still guessing.

The question of why Jesus got baptized is not merely an academic question; it posed a real problem for some early Christians and still continues to be a source of puzzlement for us today. A major tenet of the Christian faith is that Jesus lived a sinless life from birth until death. In fact, one could argue that Jesus’ sacrifice was good for all humanity precisely because he was sinless – an unspotted lamb brought to the sacrificial altar for the sins of the world. Paul even said it in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that “for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The problem is that Mark 1:4 very clearly says that John proclaimed a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Therefore, if Jesus submitted to John’s baptism, then does that mean that he was a sinner just like the rest of us? You can see where some might have a potential theological problem.

Obviously I believe, like Paul, that Jesus was sinless. Therefore, I am forced to conclude that Jesus was baptized for some other reason about which thousands of people throughout history have only been able to speculate. I don’t claim to suggest that I have solved the answer to this riddle…quite the contrary. But let me list a few reasons why Jesus might have decided to submit to John’s baptism.

First, his baptism is the occasion to announce his special status as God’s son. Remember that before John the Baptist arrived on the scene, the voice of God in Israel had gone quiet. Suddenly, John arrives and people believe that God is once again speaking to God’s people. And John points not to himself, but to the one who is coming after him, the one who would be the Messiah, the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. God was ready to do something new! But this time, God demonstrated that the new thing was going to happen in the person of the Son of God.

Second, through baptism, Jesus identifies with the sinners that he came to save, and therefore leads us in the way to a new relationship with God. Jesus came to bring about the kingdom of God. It was the most prominent theme of his teaching ministry. He called people to repent, to prepare for life in the kingdom. One way to speak of baptism is to speak of it as the door through which we enter the kingdom. It is not just an act that results in salvation or the forgiveness of sins, but it also prepares us for a new way of being in God’s kingdom. Jesus’ baptism signified that God was doing something new. It was the act at the beginning of his ministry which signified a new possibility – living in the kingdom of God. Our baptism serves the same function. We follow Jesus through the door to the kingdom. Baptism prepares us for a life lived in the kingdom, for this new and exciting possibility.

Third, Jesus’ baptism marks the kind of ministry that he would have. Christians have always associated baptism with the death of Jesus. Symbolically, at baptism we die, are buried, and resurrected as Christ was. Baptism can only function as a symbol of new life if it first leads us into death. So, for example, Paul wrote in Romans 6:3-4: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” If we look at Jesus’ baptism through the lens of our own understanding of baptism, then we can see how it prefigures the kind of life he would lead. Jesus’ ministry was going to be a ministry of radical self-denial that would lead him ultimately to his death on a cross. Jesus would be killed, buried, and then resurrected, conquering death. The end of his ministry is foreshadowed by the beginning of it.

Obviously I have not finally and completely answered the question of why Jesus was baptized. This is a question for the ages. Perhaps the question is never definitively answered because such an answer might encourage us to stop thinking about Jesus’ baptism, and thus stop thinking about how we are intimately connected with Jesus through our own baptism. That would be a tragedy!