I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
John the Baptist desired to point out the Messiah to his audience. At every step he was careful in his preaching to let them know that he was not the one, but there was another, mightier who was coming. He saw his own popularity as a risk insofar as people who came to him might become so fixated on him as to not be able to transfer their attention to the one who was to come, the one John desired to make known. In his mission he carefully embraced humility and led all of his disciples to do so in his baptism of repentance. Seemingly this would keep him and his followers on one side and the Messiah, when he eventually came, on another, separated, exulted, and identifiable. But then Jesus actually did appear and for some reason insisted on being baptized himself. He refused to stay on the other side of a line of separation, even if that would have allowed him to more closely match the expectations of those who looked to his coming. No wonder, then, that John didn't want to do it. He understood that Jesus was not in need of repentance and that he was not one greater than Jesus who ought to be in a position over him, as it would seem that the one who baptized would be over the one who received baptism. But Jesus insisted. He would not be kept at a distance. It was in this way that all righteousness would be fulfilled.
After all the people had been baptized
and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,
heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him
in bodily form like a dove.
It was never in seeking to exult himself that Jesus was made known. It was always precisely in his obedience, in his self-giving, his life as a servant, and his choosing to take the lowest place that he would be revealed. Jesus chose to share our lot and to take our sins upon himself. But the Father made it clear who he was. Here at the baptism of Jesus the Father declared that he was his beloved son in whom he was well pleased. The presence of the Holy Spirit who was always with Jesus was revealed to the world. The crowds were not left confused. Jesus chose to be with them and like them, but was in another way quite different. It was similar at his Passion, when what he chose to do and what he allowed to happen to him made him seem to be a sinner among sinners and a failure. But there too the Father vindicated Jesus by raising him to life in the power of the Holy Spirit. It was again in his humility and obedience that he was made known. And it could not be otherwise for one who desired to be as close to us as Jesus desired to be. From his incarnation onward he demonstrated that he didn't want to heal the human race from a distance. He came as close as he could conceivably come. He lived among us and would even live within us.
He saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he richly poured out on us
through Jesus Christ our savior
The baptism of Jesus transformed, not Jesus, but the waters themselves, to make out own baptism possible. By sharing in the symbolic death of baptism with us he gave the waters the power to bring us new life by the Holy Spirit. Just as he rose from the waters and heard the Father declare him to be a beloved Son so too does baptism make us into adopted daughters and sons of the Father. Just as he rose from the waters to experience the descent of the Holy Spirit upon him so too does the bath of rebirth infuse us with the Holy Spirit in order that we might begin to live a new life by his power.
A bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.
We see in Jesus a gentle Messiah who was always careful with the brokenness and limitations of his creatures. Since he knew that many would push back against a show of power because of their own prideful egos he instead chose to humble himself so that he could draw near without us trying to push him away and injuring ourselves in the process. Yet it is really easy for us, at this distance, after this many years of living as baptized Christians, to take this for granted. For most of us it is fair to say that we have hardly begun to avail ourselves of the graces given to us in baptism. But rather than receive this as a condemnation, let us instead discover opportunity and potential. There is a new seed of life within us that has only just begun to grow. Let us turn toward the Son, the source of grace, so that we can allow this promise to unfold in our lives.
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