Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.

When we read this passage from Matthew, we have to ask ourselves a couple of questions…

Is this scripture passage about our baptism or is it about Jesus’ baptism?

Why does Jesus need to be baptized?

In response to the first question, the scene is probably not about our baptism. Matthew does not use Jesus’ baptism as the basis for urging disciples to be baptized like Jesus. When the Bible does address the baptism of Jesus’ followers, it does so on the basis of the command of the risen Jesus, not by appealing to Jesus’ own baptism (Matthew 28:19).

But concerning the second question, it is important to remember that Matthew’s Gospel was written near the end of the first century, and precedes fourth and fifth century Christological formulations by several hundred years. Questions of Jesus’ sinlessness or divinity are not yet being discussed.

So why in Matthew’s account is Jesus baptized?

When Jesus comes to John, John hesitates to baptize him. John’s is a baptism of repentance, and Jesus has nothing for which he needs to repent. Why then does Jesus insist on being baptized?

By choosing to be baptized, Jesus fulfills all righteousness – preparing himself to be a perfect sacrifice for us.

The account in Matthew demonstrates this:

John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, he was telling people to repent their sins and to be baptized as a sign of their repentance. He also told them that they needed to prepare for a greater person coming after him.

Matthew’s gospel tells us that when Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John didn’t want to do it. He didn’t think that he was worthy to baptize the Son of God. John argued with Jesus saying incredulously , “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?”

Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Then he baptized him. (Matthew 3:13-15) And as soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water. Heaven was opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

A voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." What an incredible event!

Christ’s baptism remarkably shows all three Persons of the Trinity at the same time: we see the Son being baptized, the Holy Spirit descending, and the Father speaking from the heavens. In this one event, the Father and the Holy Spirit confirm the divinity of Christ, and Jesus submits to his Father’s will.

John the Baptist’s ministry has often been described as one of repentance, and there is certainly truth to that characterization. John believed that the kingdom of God was arriving imminently and wanted no one to be left out of the opportunity to belong to the kingdom.

That was the purpose of his message of repentance.

No one was to be excluded from the opportunity to belong to the kingdom.

John was a rebel, a crazy man that dressed in animal skins and ran around in the wilderness, a radical for his day, he was trying to change the world in his own way, but he did not extol change merely for change’s sake; he encouraged those he encountered to turn from the destructive, alienating ways of the world and turn toward the realm of the Holy One.

Ultimately, the ministry of John the Baptism was centered in participating in and demonstrating the kingdom of God. At the same time, their practices and ways of being disrupted religious and cultural expectations. John the Baptism was charged with preparing the way, and he did that by forming a community committed to kingdom life and actualization. His followers embraced baptism as the visible sign and rite of passage into the community.

Now many communities have formal rites of passages and other requirements in order to enter and begin the process of belonging. Those requirements may include meeting financial obligations, achieving academic benchmarks, or completing an orientation process. At best, those requirements serve as a demonstration of the entrant’s commitment and affinity to the community.

Sometimes, these requirements are used as gatekeepers that restrict inclusion. To keep out those that don't “belong”.

We all have a human emotional need to belong, to affiliate with, and be accepted by members of a group. Belonging is the feeling of security and support when there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity as a member of a certain group. Belonging cements the connection found in a community.

Belonging enabled John’s disciples to leave behind the cultural norms and religious expectations and follow the new direction he offered. Belonging would be the invitation that Jesus would also offer his closest companions: follow me, be with me. Belonging compelled Jesus to enter the world as Emmanuel and to enter the River Jordan to be baptized.

Jesus was born into the religious community. He was raised within it and trained as a rabbi. If there was anyone, based on the customs of the day, who did not need to be baptized, it was Jesus. He did not need to be converted, nor was he. After all, it was Jesus who would assure his listeners that he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.

In embracing baptism, Jesus uses a very public act to launch his ministry. “Interestingly, only Matthew’s Gospel makes the divine affirmation of Jesus a public declaration.” The Voice from heaven declares the sovereignty of God for all who hear that day–not in the temple, but in the water.

"This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

This pronouncement is not sent as a birth announcement to rulers of nations but to everyday folks who made a choice to follow the way and found themselves in the presence of The Way.

I love baptism. No matter the reason people come to the water, it is a choice and the Holy One meets them. Baptism has meaning and substance beyond John’s–and perhaps our own–understanding. Baptism is an invitation to join a community and to take a seat at the table. It’s not a lucky charm to avoid the gates of hell. It’s a public demonstration of belonging to a community where Holy Love reigns.

It’s a sign of joining as a member of the body of Christ.

It’s a commitment to live the baptized life.

Jesus’ embrace of being baptized demonstrated to the religious and political rebels of his day an invitation to belonging, relationship and connection within the reign and realm of God.

Jesus enters the same waters we entered with our own baptism and are invited to continually enter. Those waters not only cleanse; they refresh and renew. They expand beyond borders, they part to allow movement, and they even rage in the storm.

In the midst of cultural clashes, political turmoil, and a time when some may be giving religion a bad reputation, we need to make a public declaration of good news that is expansive, inclusive, diverse, and equitable.

A declaration that everyone “belongs” within the kingdom of God.

We can rejoice in our baptism, in this primary ritual of welcome and acceptance into the beloved community. We can declare to the life-long member, the person off the street, and even Jesus, you belong. Be baptized. Amen.