Matthew 3:13-16

Rachel Workman: I don’t have a comment about today’s readings.

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John Burnett:  ¹³ Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *permitted Him. ¹⁶ After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and ^[a]he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and ^[b]lighting on Him,   I can definitely understand where John was coming from.  Baptism is a symbolic sign of what is spiritually taking place when we repent of our sins put our trust in Jesus Christ as payment for those sins.  Jesus had no sin it was completely different for him.  Sanctification is the process of us becoming more like Christ so he modeled what we should do and how we should live.  He obviously thought baptism was important to show us what happens when He is our Savior and our sins are washed away.

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Pat Bell: How glorious it must have been to see!! When I read these things in the Bible it makes me want to have lived in those times! 

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Allen Michaels:  ¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. Why did Jesus ask to be baptized? It was not for repentance for sin because Jesus never sinned. To “fulfill all righteousness” means to accomplish God’s mission. Jesus saw his baptism as advancing God’s work. Jesus, the perfect man, didn’t need baptism for sin, but he accepted baptism in obedient service to the Father, and God showed his approval.

What if we were John and Jesus arrives, and his coming tests our integrity. Would we be able to turn our followers over to him? John passed the test by publicly baptizing Jesus. Soon he would say in John 3:30, “He must become greater, I must become less.” Can we, like John, put our egos and profitable work aside in order to point others to Jesus? Are we willing to lose some of our status so that everyone will benefit?

¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” The doctrine of the Trinity means that God is three persons and yet one in essence. In this passage, all three persons of the Trinity are present and active. God the Father speaks; God the Son is baptized; God the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus. God is one, yet in three persons at the same time. This is one of God’s incomprehensible mysteries.