Fr. Michael Williams

On the banks of the River Jordan, John’s baptism was a call to repentance. People would go to him confessing their sins, they would then be baptised by him, as a sign of the cleansing they were undergoing.

Like John then, we can be surprised that the Lord would seek -the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins- from John. It is understandable that ‘John tried to dissuade Him’. John knew more than anyone that Jesus was the Messiah- the Lamb of God- the One who would take away the sins of the world. Jesus is the sinless One- God from God and Light from Light. So why did Jesus go to John for baptism, knowing full well, that He was not in need of it?

It seems that Jesus wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with sinners, even though He wasn’t a sinner Himself. He wanted to show His solidarity with humanity. Jesus wanted to show solidarity with the sinners that He came into the world to save because, ‘Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners’.

But Jesus didn’t just want to show His solidarity with sinful humanity, He wanted to raise us up out of our fallen plight. By being plunged into the water by John, Jesus was being plunged into the darkness of humanity’s condition. But Jesus didn’t remain in the water- He came out of it. Coming out of the water, ‘The Heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended’; coming out of the water is a sign of the Resurrection and new life.

So in His baptism, Jesus was uniting Himself with our fallen state, but only so that He could raise us up again. He didn’t only come into our world to experience the broken nature of humanity, He came that we may be lifted up into His life of grace and goodness. He was plunged into the darkness, so that He could lift us up into His own wonderful light. Ultimately, Jesus’ baptism is about Him lifting us into His life of grace.

Following Jesus’ baptism the Scriptures tell us that ‘Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil’. There was no bouncy castles or party for Jesus following His baptism. His baptism plunged Him into trials, temptations and suffering.

We too, when we were baptised, had the sign of the cross traced on our foreheads to show we share in Our Lord’s mission of redemptive suffering. But the Spirit would raise Jesus to new life once His trials were over. We pray that we will follow Jesus through His suffering and death, to the glory of His Resurrection, an event Christians celebrate every Sunday, an event that opens the heavens to us, even now.