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43. His Baptism


Psalm 2:7-12, Isaiah 42:1-9, Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, and John 1:31-34
Key Verse: And a voice from heaven said, "This is my son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased."
Matthew 3:17, Mark 1:11 & Luke 3:22

During the ordination service in the Evangelical Covenant denomination, the ordinands, (those who have completed the work required and are headed into full time ministry), kneel before the congregation, at the annual meeting, while the superintendents of our denomination, (eleven at this time), move behind every person who is kneeling, lay their hands on them and pray for their ministry.  Every leader prays for every ordinand. 

When a pastor begins his ministry at a church, the superintendent of the conference of the church at which he will be serving, comes to the church and performs what is called a "Service of installation." Again, the new pastor kneels and the superintendent lays his hands on the pastor's head and commits the ministry to prayer.  This will take place at every church that the pastor is called to lead.  It is witnessed by the entire congregation.  They see the baton of leadership being passed to and taken up by their new shepherd. 

Ministry is always begun with blessing, the laying on of hands, and prayer.  Other denominations may do it differently, but all of us bless new ministries with some sort of recognition as this.  Even Aaron, the first high priest, was ordained by Moses. 

Today's story is often referred to as Jesus' baptism, but we could also call it the story of His ordination.  God Himself descends upon His Son, in the form of a dove, to bless, anoint and recognize that Jesus' ministry, His real reason for coming, is begun and to charge the witnesses of this event to pay attention to Him. 

The actual act of baptism had been performed for about one hundred years as a part of welcoming Gentiles who wished to convert to Judaism.  John was taking this act a step further by offering it to Jews who wished to convert from a life of sin, through repentance, to a life of holiness. 

How humble John is in accepting the responsibility of baptizing his cousin with water.  John knew that water couldn't really wash away sin, but it was what he was called to do, by God, as a symbol of a more spiritual cleansing for the people, so he did this faithfully. 

Both John and Jesus knew that the water wasn't necessary.  What could Jesus have repented of?  Yet, the sinner, the one in need of repentance, is chosen by God to perform the act, which will, once again, further identify Jesus with those He came to save.  As we can see from Psalm 2 and Isaiah, this was necessary to fulfill scripture and the promise that God had made to walk with His chosen ones and identify with them in their sufferings.  How many times have we noticed this in Jesus' life already?  Yet again, the Holy One walks with us. 

We can identify with John's sense of unworthiness to perform this task of baptizing Jesus.  We would have been no better and no more worthy.  Yet, that is what God constantly does by reaching out to us sinners to accomplish what He himself could do so much better on His own. 

Just as John, a sinner, was asked to participate in the ordination of Jesus' ministry, so we are asked by God to make His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.  We are not worthy, except for Christ.  We will never do as well as Christ could do on His own.  We must be humbled by the thought that He chooses us to join in His ministry.  What an honor has been given us to serve the almighty God. 

Hymn: When Jesus came to Jordan

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