Laura J. Davis

Why was Jesus baptized?

In this week’s excerpt from Come to Me, we look at the first thing Jesus did before he began his ministry. He sought out his cousin John the Baptist and was baptized by him. In Come to Me, I had to be very careful in not changing scripture, so what you are reading (the spoken words of Christ and John) are the actual verses from Scripture. So let’s look at the conversation that transpired between the two.

The first thing that John said when he saw Jesus coming toward him was, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”(Matt. 3:13) He sounds surprised doesn’t he? We need to remember that John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance. Since John obviously knew who Jesus was, he was naturally surprised that Jesus would request to be baptized. Jesus knew no sin; therefore he had nothing of which to repent. So, why did he want to be baptized? Let’s look at the next verse:

Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. (Matt. 3:15) One of the things we need to remember is that Jesus followed the Laws of Moses (the laws given to Moses by God). While He himself had not sinned, as our High Priest, it was his duty to be cleansed in accordance with the Law. The Laws of Moses were very strict on cleansing rituals, especially for the priests. In fact, they were so strict that if a priest accidentally touched something that was defiled, he had to go and wash. Why? Because the priests were consecrated to God and as such were considered holy to Him.

At this time in his life, Jesus had been on earth for approximately 30 years. It was necessary to “fulfill all righteousness” that he be ritually cleansed to symbolize his role as our High Priest before God. Jesus therefore, was being obedient to God by being baptized.

Today, baptism symbolizes our commitment to serve the Lord. It is a public confession of our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. It does not take away our sins, or save us. Baptize or bapto in the Greek meant “to dip” and was used among the Greeks to signify the dyeing of a garment. If you take something red and dip it in bleach, it will come out white. Likewise, our sins are “washed” away by the shed blood of our Saviour. We, through baptism, are presenting ourselves as a holy vessel to the Lord, consecrated to Him.

Have you consecrated yourself to the Lord? Tomorrow begins the first day of Lent and it is not just about giving something up for God, it is about consecrating yourself to Him. Why not take these days to prepare yourself for that glorious Easter morning when Jesus rose from the dead, so that you might be made clean to approach the throne of grace, through His shed blood?

‘And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His name.' (Acts 22:16)

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