Baptism—Part III (The Baptism of Jesus by John: Stream of Consciousness Exercise)

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about Jesus’ baptism by John.  In between church services at newhope this past Sunday, I decided to do a little stream of consciousness exercise concerning this very thing.  Again, this is still just a part of my whole practice and process of dropping the dots on the table and giving them a long look before beginning to make connections or draw conclusions.  As I sat writing in the Higher Grounds Café area, here’s what came to mind:
 

Potential Reasons Why Jesus May Have Felt the Need to Submit to John’s Baptism…

Note 1:  Since Jesus was without sin, I have concluded that He did not need to be baptized in order to obtain forgiveness or to be cleansed.  This is fact as far as I am concerned.  For any of you who wish to argue with me on this, please know that you’re going to have a fight on your hands until death parts us.

Note 2:  Even though I have laid out things below as separate and individual reasons, I am quite certain that there were many reasons for why Jesus did what He did and that each “reason” overlaps with many—if not all—of the others.

Potential Reason 1

Jesus wished “to begin with the end in mind” with regards to His public ministry.

Ultimately, Jesus came to earth to accomplish five things:  (1) To bring glory God (which included Himself); (2) To introduce us to the Father and show us what He is really like; (3) To demonstrate what Love is; (4) To define and show us what real living is like; and (5) To fulfill the Law (basically by dying for our sins that we might have life eternal, which, as defined by Jesus, was to know the Father and Jesus, Whom the Father had sent [see John 17:3]).

So, with aim #5 above in mind, it is quite possible that Jesus submitted to John’s baptism as a way of declaring to all of creation, to His Father, and to Himself the true and ultimate destiny of His mission on earth:  His “final baptism” of death (on the cross) and subsequent resurrection just three days later.  As the scriptures have indicated elsewhere, Jesus set His Heart and Face like flint to “taking up His Cross” and to fulfilling the Will and Purposes of God (see Isaiah 50:7, Ezekiel 2:8-3:11, Matthew 16:24-25, Luke 9:51, and John 6:35-40).  By submitting to John’s baptism, Jesus’ path toward death was set within His entire Being.  It’s almost as though, in His baptism, His Life was immersed in that which would “stain” and set in stone His mission from that point onward.  The man, now the Master Warrior, the Sensuous Lover, the Sagely Prophet-Priest, and the Beneficent King, would fulfill His destiny as the God-man and secure the destinies of every one before and after who would, by grace, look upon Him as Savior and Lord.

Potential Reason 2

Jesus wished to inaugurate His public ministry by dying to His previous life as a wood carver in exchange for stepping back into His eternal role as Prophet, Priest, and King and the Carver of Souls.

Much like the way in which Jesus, probably just a few weeks later, called a few fishermen to lay down their nets and to become fishers of men by following Him, Jesus, in submitting to John’s baptism, was acknowledging His Father’s call to lay down His “carpenter’s nets” that He might receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit and begin the work of re-carving men and their hearts and their individual and corporate destinies.

Potential Reason 3

Jesus wished to submit to the order of ministry ordained by God from the foundations of the earth and needed a man’s and God’s affirmation to establish a New Covenantal Order and extend God’s kingdom into the very marrow of mankind’s existence.

Just as the angel’s heralded the physical birth of Jesus, John the Baptist, with his own words and as a mouthpiece for God Almighty, heralded the spiritual birth and anointing of Jesus as the Messiah:

“Behold the Lamb of God, Who [as the Son and High Priest of God] takes away the sins of the world.”

“This is My Son—My Beloved, in Whom I find ALL My delight!  Listen to Him.”

In the Law of Moses, priests were ordained from the tribe of Levy.  Jesus, however, came from the tribe of Judah.  In addition, Levitical priests were not permitted to be king.  In Jesus, God set in place a New Order, wherein a royal priesthood of kings and queens would be established forever…a priesthood of “beloved” sons and daughters of the Most High, who would reign throughout eternity—and to the delight of God, with Jesus to the praise of His glory.

Potential Reason 4

Jesus wished, except in the committing of sin, to identify completely with mankind and to set an example for how one can turn ones back on one’s former life or previous ways of living and set one’s will toward doing only that which he or she sees the Father doing.

As Hebrews 4:15 reads, in Jesus, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.”  In Jesus, God became intimately acquainted with the grief, suffering, hardships, and emotional ups and downs of life on earth.

In Johns gospel, Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except by Me (see John 14:6).”  There is THE Way to the Father, and that "Way" is Jesus.  But there are lower case ways—specific ways of being (in Jesus), ways of living (in Jesus), and ways of turning (in Jesus) toward the very Face of God—that Jesus demonstrated to all of us.  One of those “ways” was demonstrated in Jesus’ baptism by John.  Even though John’s baptism was one of repentance, Jesus demonstrated His own humility and submission to God by admitting that He could do only what He saw the Father doing…that He could do only that which the Father had ordained for Him to do (much the way our good works (again, in Jesus) were ordained by God [see Ephesians 2:10]).

For the first 30+ years of Jesus’ life, Jesus was content to live a life of relative obscurity as he learned and grew as a human being.  As many would ask, during His public ministry, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?  Where did he get all of this (meaning, the wisdom and power that seemed to just flow effortlessly from within Him)?”  Many saw what appeared to be a disconnect and, as such, took great offense at Jesus.  It was sort of like, “Who is this nobody now trying to be somebody?  Where did he get all these things?  They, most obviously, did not originate from within him, for he is nothing but a carpenter’s apprentice and certainly not capable of acquiring such resources on his own.  Pay him no mind, for he is but the puppet of another.”  And so, again, many took offense at Him.
Ironically, though, they were not far from the truth, were they?  No.  In coming to earth, Jesus had, as the scriptures indicate, “emptied himself, and took on the form of a servant (see Philippians 2:8).”  Throughout the gospels, we read again, and again, and again, the words of Jesus concerning these very things:  “I can do nothing on my own (see John 5:30).”  In many ways, Jesus epitmoized the "poorness of spirit" He seemed to laud so much in the beatitudes recorded in Matthew's gospel.  

And so, in great humility and in accordance with the ordinances of God, Jesus submitted to baptism as an example of reliance upon God for everything.  Jesus took nothing into His Own Hands.  He placed Himself totally in submission to His Father’s will.  And that, my friends, is the “way” to live—by definition.

So…those were my thoughts from this past Sunday morning's exercise.  Of course, some distillation has occurred over the last two days since then, but they are still just my initial thoughts on this whole subject.  As is "my practice," I’m going to continue to just sit with these things for a while and, of course, pray through them.  May God to speak into my soul that which I am so desperately in need of hearing.  I promise to share with you all that “I hear,” okay?

Peace out, y’all!

Daver



Acknowledgment:

Recently, a very dear friend of mine wrote and asked me the following:

“Also, when you write, do things pop up in your mind from other writers?  Like you wonder if what you are writing is original because you write something and then realize it sounds similar to something you read?  Or it sounds like you have picked up the rhythm and cadence of other writings in certain parts?  Like, I have to go back and see how similar it was to something else I read.”

I thought her questions were absolutely fabulous.  My answer was, quite simply, as follows:  “Yep...all the time.  That's ALWAYS a consideration, and it's a really good thing to be conscious of and to pay VERY close attention to.”

I share this particular conversation with you as a preface to writing the following:

So many people have influenced my thinking down through the years that it is hard for me to know when it’s “me” writing or when it's just me regurgitating back what I was so privileged to read at some point in my life.  So, with that written, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to the extraordinary voices of Henry Nouwen and C.S. Lewis, who have shaped much of my thinking about so many things for close to three decades now.  I cannot wait to meet both gentlemen in heaven someday.  Aside from Albert Einstein, the Three Stooges, Victor Frankl, and Mother Teresa, they are, perhaps, the most intelligent people that walked the face of the planet during the twentieth century.  I thank God for them.  D...