We talked last week about John the Baptist. Now we need to talk about Jesus’ baptism. Each of the gospels mention it, though the perspective changes from book to book. Mark is pretty sparse on details (as he often is), though he does mention that voice that proclaimed the identity of Jesus and the Father’s pleasure with what had been done. Luke’s account is very similar. Matthew adds the protests of John, where he said, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” We’ll talk more about Jesus’ reply to John.

John’s gospel doesn’t mention the baptism itself, but it does mention the descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove. No mention of the voice from heaven, either.

So why was Jesus baptized? “To fulfill all righteousness” is the quick answer, quoting Jesus’ words from the gospel of Matthew. But it raises as many questions as it answers. Matthew often talks of fulfillment, yet it’s hard to see how this act fulfilled any prophecy. And he says this was about fulfilling righteousness, not Scripture.

Then you have the fact that John’s baptism was about repenting from sin and receiving forgiveness for that sin. Jesus had no sin. (It’s an interesting fact that Jesus began his ministry by being baptized for sins that he didn’t have and ended it by being crucified for sins that he didn’t have)

If you had to give a brief answer to the question “Why was Jesus baptized?”, what would you say?