The Baptism of Jesus Christ
The baptism of Christ is celebrated on the 6th of January every year and
people are always happy to worship the Greatness of God once again after the
great Christmas Holiday.
This great miracle was performed by God through John the Baptist, When
Jesus was about thirty years old, miracle through which God once again showed
his greatness.
Jesus’ baptism is an act of humility. In his baptism, he consents to be
counted as if he were a sinner, along with everyone else. He once again showed
the world that true kings are the ones who are the humblest.
Also, John is a living proof of faith in God and humbleness. 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: Then Jesus came from Galilee
to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, “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 allowed him. (Matthew 3:13-15)
By submitting to baptism, Jesus also confirmed John the Baptist’s role as
the one who prepared the way for the Lord (Isaiah 40:3; John 1:23). John had
already stated that he was not the Messiah, but that another was coming who
would baptize with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8).
The person whom John waited for was Jesus, the promised Messiah. He
is the one whose sandals John was unworthy to untie (Mark 1:7). Therefore,
when Jesus received baptism, He supported the unique role of John the Baptist.
Jesus first accepted these teachings of John for he came himself to be baptized.
We are told that at the moment of his baptism the heavens were opened to him
and he saw a dove descending upon him, and heard a voice saying to him in the
words of the Old Testament Psalm: "Thou art my beloved son; this day have I
begotten thee" (Ps. 2: 7; quoted this way also in Heb. 1: 5). There is no reason to
think that this vision was seen by anyone else at that time; both Mark and Luke
report the experience and the words as being to Jesus alone, although Matthew
changes the words of the Psalmist to make it seem that the words were spoken
to all those gathered there ("This is my beloved son..."). But we know that John
continued with his own disciples until his death, and if John had acknowledged
Jesus as the One coming after him, as Matthew tells it, and if those words had
been spoken to all of John's followers it does not seem likely that John would
have continued with his own followers nor that he would have questioned Jesus
as he did later ("Art thou he that should come?" Matt. 11:3; Luke 7:19)
It is then written in the Holy Bible that Jesus withdrew into the wilderness
for forty days and forty nights, or for an extended period during which he was
"tempted of Satan". Luke and Matthew provide details for these temptations,
reporting them as three in number, all involving supernatural activity and all
rejected by Jesus in words chosen from the Old Testament.
In the end, the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist has an enormous
significance not only theologicaly, but simply for every human heart. It
affirmed Jesus as Messiah whom John spoke of, and the most important, he
showed us first what humbleness really means, and it also marks the beginning
of Jesus' ministry and confirms his identity as the Son of God.
