The Baptism of Jesus—Beginning of His Public Ministry

As I reflect on this key event in Jesus’s life, I wonder about lots of stuff.

I wonder when Jesus woke up the day of his baptism in the River Jordan, if he knew it was going to be such an eventful a spirit-filled day.

I wonder what the days, months and years previous to his baptism were like for him and his neighbors. These were his private years. His neighbors didn’t know Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. They just knew him as a neighbor and as a local carpenter. I wonder what Jesus was like to do business with? What kind of neighbor was he ? Did he date and was he attracted to one of the local girls? More importantly when did he begin to become aware that he was special and different. I assume that he didn’t know when he was an infant or four or five years that he was the Messiah and that one day he would die a cruel death. So when did he become aware? Many scholars say that his visit to the Temple when he was twelve years old, was a “conscious-awakening” event for him. If you remember when Mary said to the lost child” “Your father and I have been looking for you in sorrow,” he responded: “Did you not know that I had to be about my father’s business.”

I assume the years following that event were growing and maturing years for him. Luke tells us after the Temple event, he returned to Nazareth and “grew in wisdom and grace”. So during those years we can assume he gradually grew in consciousness about his messiahship. We can assume he steeped himself in all the Old Testament scriptures that referred to the Messiah. But, all the time during those private years he was merely Jesus, the carpenter to the locals.

I wonder why did it take Jesus so long to go public? He waited until he was thirty years old. Why did he decide to participate in a baptism that was for sinners? John was definitely amazed when Jesus stepped forward to be baptized. John said: “I should be the one baptized by you, yet you come to me” Jesus said: “Give in for now, we must do this if we are to fulfill all of God’s demands.” (Matt 3:14-15). By lining up with sinners to participate in a baptism for sinners, Jesus was expressing his solidarity with sinful humanity. As Paul would later write: “He became sin” for us so that he could lift us out of our sinful ways.

A Suffering Messiah

The Jewish people were expecting a military type of Messiah, another David who would rally the people together to fight and drive out the Romans. But God revealed to Jesus that he was not calling him to be a military Messiah, but rather a suffering servant Messiah as described in Isaiah 42:1-7, 49:1-6, 50:4-9, 52:13—53:12. Jesus was being called to gain salvation not by military might but in and through suffering. When did Jesus become aware of the kind or type of Messiah he was being called to? Scholars would respond at his baptism. The words spoken to Jesus by the Spirit at his baptism revealed to him that his path was going to be one of rejection and suffering. I wonder how did this revelation impact Jesus’ life? Perhaps his experience was a bit like that of Martin Luther King, Gandhi and other great martyrs who strongly sensed that if they continued walking this path they would pay the ultimate price for their cause.

Then we could wonder how did Jesus learn ‘the ropes’ of being Messiah? After all he didn’t attend a school for budding Messiahs. I guess he learned as he went. His primary teachers and enablers were the Holy Spirit and the scriptures. The Spirit opened up to him the scriptures referring to the Messiah. The Spirit inspired him when it came to his teachings and homilies. The Spirit moved him and inspired him to heal the sick, deliver the possessed, confront the religious leaders of the day etc., etc. So a huge part of Jesus’ learning curve was learning to listen, to discern and respond to the Spirit. This of course is at the heart of what is involved for us in becoming a mature Christian.

A PRAYER TO BEGIN YOUR DAY

Some time ago I put together this prayer and added some comments.

Some Comments

In the first stanza, I thank God for the blessings I too often take for granted.

In the second stanza, I pray that I live the day in such a way that pleases God and helps me to become the person God created me to be. “Help me to discover and become the person you created me to be” is a favorite one-liner prayer of mine. When I am becoming the person God created me to be, I am

Pleasing God

Sharing my best self with others.

Experiencing personal fulfillment.

One way to state the goal of the spiritual life is: to live each day in attentiveness and responsiveness to the Holy Spirit. The good mother is usually very attentive and responsive to the cries of her infant baby. People who play the stock market are very attentive and responsive to the ups and downs of the financial world. They have a good “financial ear”. As disciples of Christ, we should have a good ear for the inner movement of the Spirit. And, ideally, we should live each day with dispositions of heart that reflect the Gospel values of Jesus. In a way, we are the sum total of our decisions. Hence, the importance to frequently pray that we choose well. We pray about all that in the third stanza. The final stanza contains four petitions each of which are important. If the above prayer reflects the sentiments of your heart, than, by all means use it to begin your day. Or better still, write your own prayer, one that expresses your spirituality. If you think that the prayer might be helpful to someone else, please pass it along.