The first of anything is always unprecedented. Sounds like common sense, but the idea of “unprecedented” has more of an impact on us, than just the word “first” sometimes. The term unprecedented by nature then is used rarely, because it is experienced rarely. The first time a president elect chooses to use Twitter instead of the main stream media has been unprecedented as an example. The level of crisis in Aleppo Syria is unprecedented to the residents who live there. And on the plus side, the birth of our Savior was unprecedented as well. No virgins ever gave birth before that. Satan may have done his best to counterfeit this characteristic of the Gospel in other pagan religions. But the real event, the real virgin birth was unprecedented. It didn’t hurt to have angelic choirs, magi from the East, and a dedicated star leading the way either. All of these supporting events insured the unprecedented nature of God entering our earth in human form.
But while many miraculous events marked the birth and youth of Jesus, the main event had yet to begin. The ministry of Jesus was on the doorstep. John the Baptist had been preaching about it with a fervency that could not be matched. The Holy Spirit was blessing the ministry of John, convicting his listeners of their need to repent and come to God, symbolically through baptism, and now possibly literally through human contact with Jesus. As with His birth, the counterfeit events Satan created in other pagan religions were not going to come close to the real thing. All the deities of Satan demanded things of man for their favor; Jesus would be the only God who offered things to man, even to His enemies. The real ministry of Jesus was about to be unveiled and it was truly going to be a first. It was truly going to be unprecedented.
So how does the unveiling take place? An event this glorious is sure to begin at the Temple in Jerusalem, in front of the High Priest and the assembly of the Sanhedrin. All of Jerusalem would be called to attend, well at least, anyone who was anyone in polite society, would be called to attend. Jesus would submit His authority to the Priesthood and the Sanhedrin. They would give Him His marching orders, and discuss how soon Rome was to be evicted from Israel. Then the existing leadership would start making plans about which leadership positions they wanted in the new government Jesus was sure to form. After all, Jesus was going to need good lieutenants and counselors, in order to maintain order in the provinces. This was certainly the view of those who led the church in the days of Christ. But it was not the way of Jesus, or of His Father. They had different ideas.
First must come the ratification of the ministry of John the Baptist. The same nut, who called the Priests vipers, and had a message of shock and awe for church leadership, was to be validated by Jesus before Jesus did a single thing on His own formally. That did not make any sense to the Sanhedrin. But it made perfect sense to those who heard the message of Elijah in the words of John, and the power of the Holy Spirit that Isaiah had predicted. God was moving near the Jordan river. Not moving the waters, but stirring the hearts to repentance. The announcements of the proximity of Jesus that John made every day were not the empty rattling’s of a homeless crazy. They were a prophecy of the Truth, who was soon to be among them.
So Jesus begins His ministry without pomp or circumstance. He foregoes the formality of the Temple, and the authority of the Sanhedrin, and looks for a place and a man of abject humility. And there he finds his cousin, a willing servant of the most high God. Matthew begins his account in chapter three of his Gospel picking up in verse 13 saying … “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.” Say What?! From the point of view of church leadership this move makes zero sense. And frankly from our perspective some 2000 years later a lot of questions emerge as well.
First, Jesus had no sin to be baptized from. He had no need of repentance because He lived a perfect life. So why request this act that would have no real meaning for Himself? Second, for those who care about perceptions, the audience standing near was sure to interpret this move as Jesus being no different than they were. But He was different. He was God. They were not. There could not be a bigger difference, yet doing this action would cause them to think, He was just one of them. It is a bit deceptive if all you judge actions upon is their appearances. How many of us still judge so?
Matthew continues in verse 14 saying … “But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” Look closely here as John knows Jesus to be the Son of God immediately, without hesitation, and without doubt. John is not wrestling with the identity of Jesus. John knows full well that Jesus is the Messiah. Not because he read about it in a book. Not because he was related to Jesus by blood. Not because of the conditions of His unprecedented birth. John knows Jesus to be God, because the light of divinity shines through the eyes of Jesus as they stare right through John to the depths of his very soul. John’s response is to further humble himself. John wants Jesus to baptize him, preferably with Holy Fire, but water will do too. At a minimum Jesus has this all backwards.
Matthew continues in verse 15 saying … “And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.” Interesting the choice of the word suffer. He might have used the term, humor me. He might have commanded John, but He did not, instead He pleads with John for patience and acquiescence. He gives John the reason, that this tradition is part of the fulfillment of all righteousness. And there it is. The real motive of Jesus begins to emerge. Those witnesses on the banks of the Jordan river, were in no less need of baptism after the arrival of Jesus than they were before it. Our need continues. Our embrace of the symbolism continues. Jesus does not eradicate the practice of baptism, He endorses it personally by example.
There are those modern Christians who believe they need make no public display of the embrace of humility and service to our Lord. They believe that “what is in their hearts” is enough. Yet across the New Testament church, baptism becomes the entry, the gateway to the faith. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit happens after baptism. Though I am certain His ministry occurs across our lifetimes. Jesus does not get baptized because He needs it. He does it because we need it. We will need it later, even after His work for us on this earth reaches its fulfillment. There is always need for repentance. There is always need for humility. There is always need for submission.
And the ministry of John the Baptist is validated and ratified in no higher a way. God Himself, ratifies John’s message and its continued need. John does not go home after this encounter with Christ. He does not resign and go on a tour to Disneyland. Instead he is even more committed, even more energized. If Jesus had ignored John, that continuation may have never had its fervor. But then the unprecedented happens.
Matthew continues in verse 16 saying … “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: [verse 17] And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This is the definition of unprecedented. No other baptism went like this one. No other baptizee came up out of the water and found the heavens opened up, the Spirit of God descending in the form of a dove, and very voice of the Father God saying these words. God the Father Himself bears witness to the identity of His own very loved Son. God the Father Himself declares in front of all who are there, who Jesus is.
The ministry of John is ratified. But even more important, the ministry of Jesus is revealed to begin, by His own Father in heaven. What John has foretold is reality. It is their reality. It is our reality. This was more than a first. This was a one time only event. The coming of the Messiah was now. The fulfillment of the prophecy given to Adam and Eve, given to Noah, given to Abraham, Moses, David, and countless others has reached its zenith. For 4000 years humanity has waited for this. We have waited for an encounter with God. And sadly, some of us, are still waiting. Not because our God is unwilling to reach us, but because we have substituted the worship of self in His place. We preach the gospel of self, of self reliance, instead of submission to Jesus.
There is no need of baptism, when submission has been fully discarded. The mirror makes no demands on our humility. It asks us only to serve the image we find in it. But Jesus offers us so much more. Jesus offers us an escape from that image, and a journey towards something bigger than we have ever dreamed of. Our self imposed limitations have kept us enslaved to mediocrity at best, and depravity at worst, when what Jesus offers us is a perfection we have not even imagined. Perfect health. Perfect minds. And a Perfect ability to love unencumbered by slavery to self, and the image in the mirror.
Matthew makes no comparison between Old and New Testaments in this passage, because there was no reference that could have encompassed it. Unprecedented leaves Matthew only reporting what he has seen. And this was only the beginning …
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