The Baptism of Jesus

We celebrate the baptism of Jesus. The early audience of Matthew’s Gospel would appreciate the many symbols and stories from the Hebrew Scriptures that are interwoven into the story of Jesus’ baptism:  

First, the spirit hovering over the water recalls Genesis 1 & 2 that describe the spirit like a wind resting on the waters of chaos from which God created the world. When we read the Baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3 and remember Genesis 1 & 2 we are nudged to see Jesus as the New Creation. Through Jesus God is doing something new in the world, Jesus as Christ represents a New Creation. 

A second archetype woven into the story of Jesus’ baptism is also in Genesis. Genesis 8 relates the story of Noah and the flood. Jesus recapitulates the story of the flood into his body by being fully immersed in the water, just as creation was fully immersed in water during the great flood. As Jesus emerges out of the water a dove descends on him. As Noah and the ark emerge out of the flood waters a dove bearing a green an olive leaf returns to them. Again the message of hope and new life from the Great Flood are woven into the message of Jesus baptism. 

A third story from the Hebrew Scriptures that Matthew relies on is the Exodus of God’s people through the Red Sea. God’s people living in slavery in Egypt are led into freedom by Miriam and her brother Moses. To reach freedom in the Promised Land the Hebrews travel safely through the Red Sea. The Exodus story symbolises the ideal of living as free people. Matthew’s Gospel embodies the story of the Exodus in the baptism of Jesus and implies again that Jesus is a New Moses, a leader who will set people free.

A fourth text that Matthew 3 depends on is from Isaiah 42: “Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.” In Matthew 12 Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath day and it is at this moment Isaiah 42 is used to describe Jesus. In Matthew 17.5 Jesus is on a mountain praying with Peter, James, and John when a voice from a cloud repeats the baptismal message: “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” The clouds symbolises Shekinah the presence of God.

A fifth memory that the baptism of Jesus relies on is obvious with the opening statement in Matthew 3.17: “Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan”. Joshua 3.1 relates: “Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over.” Joshua took over from Moses as leader of the Hebrews. In Joshua 3:14-17, God’s people walk through the river Jordan as their ancestors walked through the Red Sea. The people of God follow the Levites who carry the ark of the covenant that symbolised God’s presence. The river Jordan was in flood but dried up when the Levites bearing the ark entered the water, allowing the people to cross over the Jordan safely and on dry land. What is the ark? It was built by the Israelites under the leadership of Moses. The ark of the covenant is a chest made of acacia wood and covered in pure gold. Near the middle of the chest are two poles also covered in gold, these poles assisted the Levites in carrying the ark. Inside the ark was the ten commandments, Aaron’s staff, and a jar of manna. On top of the ark was the mercy seat and on either side of the mercy seat were two winged angels, cherubim. According to Exodus 25.22, God spoke from the mercy seat: "There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites." The ark was a significant sacred artefact because it manifested God’s presence with God’s people. This is an important point, the ark meant God was real, God was near, God spoke, God was with you, God fulfilled the covenant: “I will be your God and you will be my people”. For our reading of Matthew 3.17 today I suggest we latch onto this symbol. Just as Jesus is a New Creation so too is Jesus a new Ark of the Covenant.  

The moment I wish us to focus on is the meeting point between Jesus ascending and the dove descending. The scripture describes the heavens being torn apart, a symbol portraying a breakthrough, a watershed moment. Jesus ascends from the waters of baptism at the moment the spirit descends onto him in the form of a dove. Jesus becomes the place where heaven and earth meet, where grace and truth embrace and where righteous justice and peace kiss (Psalm 85.10). Jesus becomes the marriage of finite humanity with infinite divinity. Jesus becomes the ark of the covenant, the manifestation of God’s presence in the world. The mystical moment for Jesus is when the boundaries between heaven and earth dissolve into one. I suggest that the Baptism of Jesus is unitive consciousness, a moment when Jesus know that he is not separate from God. Like the ark of the covenant, a human thing of beauty signposting the nearness of divinity, Jesus manifests God’s unity with finite reality. In his baptism Jesus is one with creation symbolised by being in water and also one with God symbolised by the voice from the clouds and the touch of the Spirit resting on him like a dove. Jesus experiences the universal and eternal truth that God is everywhere, that he is in God and that God is in him. It is said that the mercy seat between the two cherubim was where God pronounced forgiveness of sin. I suggest that sin we recover from is thinking that we separate from God or each other.  

What Jesus baptism mean for us? Jesus’ baptism summarises a breakthrough in human consciousness, a new understanding that he is the son of God, he is the light of the world. Jesus’ identity is that he is the son of God. Jesus’ mission is to share his identity with us. Like Jesus, we too are sons and daughters of God. Jesus is the light of the world but his message to each of us is clear: “you are the light of the world”. Jesus became what we are (human) so that we could become what he is (divine). The discovery of our true identity is God within. In baptism Jesus discovers his inner Christ. In baptism we discover our inner Christ, our union in the Divine, we discover the life-giving water that is the limitless nourishment for our life’s journey. Jesus is the destiny of our human evolution, a person from the future to which we are all moving. I like the image of the Ark of the Covenant and suggest we adopt it as a symbol of who we are for others. Like the ark of the covenant we are thing of human beauty covered in pure gold. Inside the ark are the tablets representing that we belong to God and God belongs to us. Like the ark the centre of who we are is God’s mercy seat we every breath reminds us that we are in the breath of God’s love, always one with God. Inside the Ark is manna, a symbol of God’s sustenance. Likewise inside each of us is our inner Christ, our true identity which is the limitless sustenance for our journey. Our baptism means that we are the ark in God’s world, manifestations of God’s presence, reminding those around us that God is near, God is real, God is within. One of the ways that I live out being an ark is through praying Bodhisattva’s prayer for humanity: 

May I be a guard for those who need protection
A guide for those on the path
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood
May I be a lamp in the darkness
A resting place for the weary
A healing medicine for all who are sick
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings
May I bring sustenance and awakening
Enduring like the earth and sky
Until all beings are freed from sorrow
And all are awakened.