Bishop Glen John Provost
Bishop of Lake Charles
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
January 9, 2011
Baptism of the Lord
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17
I have always been intrigued by the answer of Jesus to the protest of John Baptist at his baptism. John the Baptist tries to prevent Jesus from being baptized. After all, John’s baptism was a “baptism of repentance.” Besides this John knew already that there was one coming after him who was mightier than he was (Matthew 3:11). When John protests to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you” (Matthew 3:14), Jesus says in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). Jesus seems to be saying, “Let it happen. It is important.” At least this seems to be implied by the use of the word “now,” a kind of immediate accommodation. However, the key to understanding this enigmatic answer is found in the word “righteousness.” What is this “righteousness” that must be fulfilled by this action of the baptism?
In the Jewish world of Jesus’ time, “righteousness” was man’s response to the Torah. The Torah was essentially the Law. God had made a covenant with man, and the law established what it was that man must do to be in accord with God’s will. “Righteousness,” to express it another way, was a total acceptance of the will of God. Certainly there is no requirement for John’s baptism in the Torah. What Jesus is saying is that the baptism expresses an unreserved “yes” to the will of God. It is an obedient acceptance of God’s yoke (cf. Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Chapter One).
The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance. This meant that those who were baptized confessed their sins and were plunged into the water to signify their death to sin and their cleansing and forgiveness. But Jesus is sinless? Yes, indeed, that is the point. By being baptized Jesus is identifying with the sinful humanity that He has come to redeem, a redemption that will take place only because He freely and totally accepts death. His baptism is a foreshadowing of His crucifixion and death. For this reason later in the Gospels Jesus will speak of His death using the word baptism, as in the Gospel of St. Luke. “There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished” (Luke 12:50) (cf. Mark 10:38).
Why does the Church end the Christmas Season with a celebration of Jesus’ Baptism? I think the answer is quite simple. Up until now we have seen the Lord Jesus as a child, an infant in the manger of Bethlehem and a child receiving the gifts of the Magi. His Baptism is the beginning of His public life. Here, in this event, we see for the first time what it is He has come to do. What has been, up until this time, symbolized, for example, in the gifts of the magi, is “now” revealed. By descending into the water, Jesus identifies with the sinful humanity that He has come to redeem by His passion, death, and resurrection.
Jesus is willing to suffer with others. By suffering with others, He will suffer for others and thus He will transform suffering into something redemptive. In saying that “… it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness,” Jesus is accepting completely the Father’s will.
To end the Christmas Season with the Baptism of the Lord is something like reaching the end of the first volume of a book “to be continued.” In every first volume of a story “to be continued,” the stage is always set for the second volume, the part two that will continue the actions and deeds of the hero. The Christmas Season has set the stage for everything that Jesus will do later in His actions as Redeemer, beginning with His suffering and death.
It is for this reason that the voice of the Father resounds from heaven and speaks. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). We will hear this voice only one other time, at the moment of the Transfiguration, when Jesus appears with the giver of the Law, Moses, and God’s great prophet, Elijah. We will read that Gospel appropriately during Lent. The Father is pleased, delighted because the Son is fulfilling His will.
So as Christmas Season ends, we see more clearly the “why” of Jesus’ mission. Christmas has brought joy at the coming of the Savior. All the festive story of Christmas has reminded us of Jesus’ purity and innocence. However, the Savior has come with a mission, that mission is to fulfill the Father’s will, which is that He suffer and die for the sins of mankind. He is obedient, even unto death, death on a cross. John plunges Jesus into the waters of death that He might rise demonstrating His obedience to the Father’s will. In this the Father is “well pleased.” Our redemption is at hand.