Here’s an Important Question: Why Was Jesus Baptized?

Why was Jesus baptized? He’s perfect. John the Baptist knows it. Jesus knows it. Jesus never sinned. He’s morally pure. He’s ceremonially pure. But here He is, submitting to a Baptism that symbolizes repentance for sin. He doesn’t need it. But we sure do. 

Imagine this with me. You’re John the Baptist. You’ve grown up being told stories about your cousin, Jesus. He’s the Messiah. The Son of God. Your job is to prepare the way for him. And now, you see Him in the crowd. It’s time. Jesus wades into the Jordan. You’re thinking: “He’s going to baptize me!” And then, everything is flipped upside down. I guess it makes sense that he questioned what was happening, right?

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John to be baptized by him in the Jordan River. But John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” So Jesus replied to him, “Let it happen now, for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John yielded to him. After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight.”

Matthew 3:13-17

John’s Reluctance to Baptize Jesus

John’s ministry was all about baptism. But John’s message about why baptism was important, was that sin had made the people’s hearts unclean. Baptism was more than ritual purity before entering into the Temple. It was about repenting for the sin that corrupts the soul.

But when Jesus enters the water, He doesn’t have anything to repent for. He’s perfect. If repentance is turning your back on sin and evil and toward a holy and perfect God, then John has a really good reason to think that he’s the one about to get baptised. But Jesus has a different perspective.

Jesus’ Reason for Baptism

Jesus tells John, Let it happen now, for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness. Essentially, Jesus says, “Just go with it.” Here’s why. Jesus isn’t being baptised as an individual. He’s being baptised as the New Israel. Matthew has already started to help us see this when he connects Jesus’ time in Egypt with Israel’s redemption. Jesus is the perfect Israel.

And Israel does need repentance. Really, that’s the whole point of John’s ministry. So, when Jesus enters the water to be baptised, He’s being baptised as a symbol of the redemption of Israel. He is the perfect Messiah and the High Priest entering into baptism on behalf of the entire nation.

The Trinity

But this moment is even more stunning because of what happens when Jesus comes out of the water. Matthew writes that a voice called out and said, “This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight.” As this was happening, something descended on Jesus. Matthew says it was like a dove. But it was the very Spirit of God. At this moment, we have all three members of the Trinity present. And Jesus is going to call back to this event several times during His ministry. Something has shifted in God’s plan for Israel.

Jesus enters His ministry publicly demonstrating that He is taking on the role of a Righteous Israel. Matthew keeps going back to this point over and over again. Israel was brought out of Egypt to be a light to the nations. They failed in this calling. Now, Jesus has come to fulfill this.