Beloved: The Baptism of Jesus

Water streams from a man's hair and shoulders as he rises out of the river. Above him, the sky seems to tear open. And a voice speaks, so close and so warm it feels like a hand on his shoulder.

For months, people have been streaming out to the Jordan River to hear John the Baptist. He is a fiery preacher, calling everyone to turn back to God and to show it by being baptised in the river. Farmers, fishermen, tax collectors, soldiers, all wading in. And John keeps saying the same thing. “Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am. I baptise you with water. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Then one day, among the crowds, a man arrives from Galilee. He is about thirty. A carpenter's son from Nazareth. His name is Jesus.

Jesus has come to the Jordan for one reason: to be baptised by John. He wades out toward him. And John stops. Something is wrong with this picture. John has spent months calling sinners to wash and start again. But he knows who this is. He tries to prevent him.

“I need to be baptised by you, and you come to me?”

You can hear the confusion in it. It is like a pupil being asked to teach the head teacher. But Jesus answers him gently and firmly. “Let it be so now. It is right for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Jesus does not explain everything. He simply says this is the right thing, the thing God wants. Christians have understood his words in different ways. Many say that Jesus, who had no sin of his own, was standing alongside sinners, stepping into the water with the very people he came to save. Others stress that he was showing his full obedience to his Father, from the very start. Whatever John understood that day, he trusted Jesus. And so he agreed.

John baptises him. And as soon as Jesus comes up out of the water, Matthew says, the heavens are opened. Jesus sees the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and resting on him. Not a roaring fire. Not a storm. A dove, gentle and quiet, settling on his shoulders. And then a voice from heaven. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Think about that. Jesus has not yet preached a sermon. He has not healed anyone or calmed a storm. He has not yet faced the cross. And already his Father says, I love you. I am delighted with you. Everything that follows in the Gospel flows from that moment.

Where did it happen? Matthew simply says the Jordan. But John's Gospel says John was baptising at Bethany beyond the Jordan, on the river's eastern side. Today, on the Jordanian bank north of the Dead Sea, a site called Al-Maghtas, meaning immersion, is identified with that place. Archaeologists there have uncovered remains of early churches and pools used by Christian pilgrims. In 2015 UNESCO added it to the World Heritage List. Pilgrims have been coming to this stretch of river for well over a thousand years.

The baptism of Jesus. You'll find it in Matthew chapter three, verses thirteen to seventeen. Before he did any great work, Jesus heard his Father call him beloved. Christians believe that, through Jesus, God speaks a word of love over his children too. So here is something to think about. How might it change your day to start it knowing that God loves you, before you have done anything at all?