The Baptism of Jesus

Scripture: (Matthew 3:13-17) Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptised by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptised, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Here we see the difference between the old and new testaments. See Mark 1:9-11.

As Jesus comes up out of the water, the evangelist recalls two important scripture passages. The first recalls Isaiah 64:1, O that you would tear open the heavens and come down. So, this event is the answer to that 600-year-old plea.

Then comes the voice from heaven, You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.

This recalls Psalm 2: 7b, You are my son; today I have begotten you. But this is no ordinary psalm, rather it is the hymn for the coronation of the king in which the candidate is ‘chrismed' or ‘christed.'

Two big statements; Jesus is the answer to Israel's plea for mercy and redemption and the one who is also the Messiah, the Christ or ‘chrismed' one of God.

However, the biggest statement is that they saw, The Spirit descending like a dove on him. Now, there may have been doves flying about, but that is largely irrelevant. The key thing is the gentleness of the Spirit.

Where Jesus' hardly older second cousin used the old testament law to shout at sin and cut sin out with force, stomping on sin and burning sin away, Jesus spoke gently. See Matthew 5, Blessed are the poor in spirit; those who mourn; the meek; those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; the merciful, the pure in heart; the peacemakers and those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.

Jesus came to love sin away.

So, let me ask myself. Am I baptised with this Spirit? How do I, in this time and place, use the beatitudes to act out my baptism to bring love, justice and peace?

Join Archbishop Christopher Prowse and others on Sunday 18 October for the 2020 Online Marian Procession and Multicultural Mass