Jan. 11 Mt 3:13–17
Why baptism?
When Jesus came to John to be baptized, Matthew tells us, “John tried to prevent him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?’ ” John’s hesitance makes perfect sense. His baptism is a ritual connected with repentance and the confession of sins. How could Jesus, who is perfectly sinless, undergo such a ritual? Why should he be washed with water if he has no impurity to be washed? And who is John to perform such a ritual upon Our Lord? Shouldn’t it be the reverse? You and I would probably have the same hesitance that John had.
Jesus answers John’s hesitation with insistence, saying, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” This is a unique moment that calls for something specific, and Jesus says that the purpose of this moment is “to fulfill all righteousness.” This is the will of God: that Jesus be baptized in the Jordan River by John, the forerunner of the Messiah.
This addresses the hesitance. John consents.
But we still might ask, “Why?” Those questions remain unanswered.
We know that it was the will of God for this baptism to take place, but why? What did it accomplish, if Jesus did not need to repent and be washed clean? St. Thomas Aquinas gives us three reasons in a splendid synthesis of the whole tradition that came before him, drawing from St. Ambrose, St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and St. Augustine as representatives of all the Church Fathers (“Summa Theologiae, Part III,” q. 39, a. 1).
First, Christ descended into the waters not to be sanctified by the waters but rather to sanctify them. Jesus took John’s baptism, a symbol of repentance that did not confer grace, and transformed it into something new. Being baptized by John, Jesus instituted a sacrament. John baptized merely with water, but Jesus’ baptism gives us a new birth “of water and the Spirit” (Jn 3:5). Because Jesus sanctified the waters of baptism, this sacrament does far more than what John’s ritual did. Christian baptism accomplishes the remission of sins and bestows sanctifying grace to us. When we are baptized, our souls are washed clean and filled with the indwelling presence of the Blessed Trinity.
Second, Christ was baptized to plunge the whole of humanity into the water, the sinful humanity that had fallen in Adam and that he had taken on himself in the incarnation (though without sin). This is a reminder to us that Jesus did not need baptism for his own sake, but he lived the mystery of his baptism for our sake. This is true of everything he did in his earthly life; it is true of the incarnation itself. “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven,” we say every Sunday in the creed. For our sake he was baptized, plunging our humanity into the waters of the Jordan, to rise from them again and see the heavens opened. His baptism was an anticipation of his saving death and Resurrection. For our sake, he plunged himself into death, descending to the realm of the dead, to rise again on the third day and open heaven for us.
Third, Christ was baptized to show us by example what we are to do — what he commanded us to do (Mt 28:19). Besides being the institution of a sacrament, the moment of Christ’s baptism is also a huge moment of revelation. It tells us who Christ is: the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased and the one whose sacred humanity is brimming over with the Holy Spirit. Thus, it also reveals to us what baptism does for us. It unites us to Christ, making us members of his body. In him, we are made adopted children of God, in whom he is well pleased. And we are filled with the Holy Spirit, by whose power we cry, “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15).
Celebrating the mystery of the baptism of the Lord gives us reason to reflect on the sacrament of baptism and the life of grace we may now live because of it. We can reflect on the way that this sacrament has shaped our lives and our relationship with God. What can we do but give thanks to God and seek to live out our baptismal promises with greater fidelity each and every day?
Fr. Oetjen works in the diocesan tribunal with residence at St. Agnes Church in Arlington.
Made for communion