Acknowledging Humanity (Jesus' Baptism)

ACKNOWLEDGING HUMANITY

The Baptism of Jesus recalls the one and only time that Jesus is recorded as having met with his cousin, John the Baptist.

What then is the significance of this event - for the evangelist who records it; for Jesus who experienced it, and for us who recall it?

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First of all then, what is its significance for the four gospel writers?

Put quite simply, it marks the end of the private life of Jesus and the beginning of his public ministry.

Save for the birth narratives of St. Matthew's and St. Luke's gospels, and our Lord's visit to the Temple when he was twelve years old, we know nothing about the first thirty years of our Lord's life. However, this all changed with his baptism in the River Jordan. Except for a brief period of reflection in the wilderness following upon his baptism, Jesus

was never to be out of the public eye for the next three years.

And so the gospel writers see the baptism of Jesus as marking the end of his private life and the beginning of his public ministry.

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What then is the significance of this event for Jesus?

Was it just a public relations exercise, organised by the New Testament spin doctors to launch his public ministry, or was it something of much deeper significance?

Or, to put the question in another way, why did Jesus consider it necessary to be baptised?

After all, John's baptism was essentially about the forgiveness of sins, and Jesus, according to those who knew him, and the early Christian writers who wrote about him, was without sin. So why did Jesus need to seek for baptism at the hands of John the Baptist?

An early writer suggests that it was in order to please his mother and brothers.

As the author of the gospel according to the Hebrews, which is not included in our New Testament, says "Behold the mother of the Lord and his brethren said to him, 'John the Baptist baptiseth for the remission of sins. Let us go to be baptised by him'. But he said to them, 'What sin have I committed that I should go to be baptised by him? Except perchance this very thing that I have said in ignorance'".

However, I would suggest that this is an unlikely reason for Jesus to seek baptism, in so far as the gospel writers portray him as very much his own person, who does not seek to conform to anyone's wishes, let alone those of his mother or brother, no matter what the cost.

It would therefore seem that we must look elsewhere for an answer.

Perhaps the answer is to be found within the Jewish tradition itself, where baptism was practised but only for proselytes, in other words, those who wish to renounce their faith and become Jews.

The Jews would never have dreamed of themselves as needing to be baptised because they were already members of the chosen race and therefore considered that they were assured of salvation.

However, as regards converts to their faith - that was different. They were cut off from God. They were stained by sin. They needed to be washed before they could become a member of the chosen people of God.

Given such a background, one can begin to appreciate the earth shattering effect of John the Baptist's message upon a complacent Jewish nation.

"What we, a member of the chosen race of God, need to be baptised? Never".

Thus Jesus - who, don't forget had been brought up as a devout Jew, circumcised on the eighth day after his birth; presented to God on the 40th day after his birth, and presumably brought up to attend regularly the Jewish synagogue - Jesus, by his very action of identifying himself with the non-Jewish world and its need for God, also indirectly challenged the complacency of his fellow Jews.

In other words, by submitting himself to the baptism of John the Baptist, Jesus acknowledged his own human capability for sin and therefore his own need for God.

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If the significance of the baptism of Jesus for the gospel writers was that it marked the commencement of his public ministry, and if Jesus used it as a means of identifying himself with humankind in its need for God, what then is the significance of the event for us today?

There is my friends, an awful danger that, because we have been brought up within the life of the Christian Church, we automatically assume we are assured of salvation. We are O.K., whereas those outside the walls of the church are not O.K. We are God's chosen people of today, and they are not. We do not need to acknowledge our human capability for sin, whereas they do. Yes, there is a great danger of thinking that we are better than those who do not

come to church.

It is therefore important to remind ourselves that before Jesus engaged upon his public ministry, he first identified himself with those to whom he was to preach, by acknowledging his own capability for sin, and therefore his own need for God to save him.

He was not afraid to admit to being as human as the next person and this implied capability of sin, although history records he never actually succumbed to its power. He never pretended to be better than other people, but rather, to acknowledge his own humanity, revealed through his life the power of God to save.

And so it is only when we are prepared to acknowledge our own humanity including our capability for sin, and all that that implies, that we are fit and able to minister to those in need.

Then, and only then, can we too expect to hear those divine words of assurance ringing in our ears: "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased".