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3:13 This scene marks the beginning of Jesus’ public life. Having traveled from Galilee, Jesus joins the crowd of repentant sinners to be baptized by John at the Jordan.
3:14 While Mark and Luke also narrate this event, only Matthew records the interchange between John and Jesus that precedes Christ’s baptism (3:14–15). John objects to Jesus being baptized, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” John acknowledges his subordinate role in relation to Christ—something he already spoke of in 3:11. If John’s baptism is only “with water” and “for repentance,” John views himself as needing to be baptized by the one who “will baptize with the holy Spirit and fire.” Understandably, John—who views himself merely as the forerunner—is uncomfortable with the strange reversal of roles in which the one who is “mightier” than he joins the sinners at the Jordan River and submits to his preparatory baptism of repentance.
3:15 Nevertheless, Jesus tells John, “Allow it now.” Although this appears to be an inversion of their proper roles, it should be permitted, Jesus explains, because “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” In Matthew’s Gospel, the word righteousness often refers to the proper moral conduct of the Christian disciple being obedient to God’s will, but it also can refer to God’s saving plan (see 5:8). Both meanings may be intended here since Jesus speaks of fulfilling all righteousness. The word fulfill is used sixteen times in Matthew’s Gospel and in almost every case it refers to the fulfillment of Scripture. Thus Jesus being baptized by John is fitting not simply because it is God’s will for this instance, but because it also fulfills an aspect of God’s saving plan. As we will see, Christ’s baptism becomes the occasion for his anointing as the Messiah-king and the confirmation of his divine sonship (3:16–17).
3:16 So far in Matthew’s Gospel, an angel, the magi, and John the Baptist have confirmed Christ’s identity and mission. Now the heavens open, and we encounter God’s own, unmediated revelation about Jesus.
Matthew first notes that the heavens were opened. This phrase dramatically describes a unique revelation being given, as if the heavenly world were being unveiled to those on earth. Here, the phrase introduces God’s own direct revelation about Jesus. So far in Matthew’s Gospel, an angel, the magi, and John the Baptist have confirmed Christ’s identity and mission. Now the heavens open, and we encounter God’s own, unmediated revelation about Jesus.
The Spirit coming on Jesus represents his anointing as Israel’s Messiah. The Spirit descending like a dove recalls Noah’s dove that signaled the end of the flood and the beginning of the new world (). It also recalls the Spirit of God over the waters of creation in , where the Hebrew text describes the Spirit as “hovering” or “fluttering” over the waters like a bird. With these images from Genesis in the background, Matthew suggests that this event at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry—his ministry whereby he will redeem humanity—marks the beginning of a new world, a new creation.
The Spirit descending like a dove recalls Noah’s dove that signaled the end of the flood and the beginning of the new world (). It also recalls the Spirit of God over the waters of creation in , where the Hebrew text describes the Spirit as “hovering” or “fluttering” over the waters like a bird. With these images from Genesis in the background, Matthew suggests that this event at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry—his ministry whereby he will redeem humanity—marks the beginning of a new world, a new creation.
Reflection and Application (3:13–17)
First, the Father’s voice echoes —the first verse of a series of “songs” about a figure called the Lord’s servant in . This servant will restore Israel and bring salvation to the ends of the earth (), accomplishing this through suffering as he offers his life for sin (). Isaiah foretold that God would be pleased with his servant and would put his Spirit upon him:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
Upon whom I have put my spirit. ()
With the Spirit descending on Jesus and God speaking of him as the one “with whom I am well pleased,” Jesus is clearly revealed as the servant foretold by Isaiah.
Second, the “beloved son” recalls Isaac, the only individual person described as a beloved son in the Old Testament ( LXX). Isaac was to be offered as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah (; recognized as the temple mount in Jerusalem: ) like the beloved son Jesus, who will be offered as a sacrifice for sin in Jerusalem.
A third allusion may be found in the echoing of . In that royal psalm, God addressed the newly enthroned king, saying, “You are my son; this day I have begotten you.” Similarly, God proclaims Jesus as “my Son” at the beginning of his own kingly mission.
Reflection and Application (3:13–17)
Why is Jesus baptized? He is sinless and has nothing of which to repent. He does not need to be baptized. Nevertheless, at the beginning of his public ministry Jesus dramatically demonstrates his solidarity with sinful Israel by going into the same waters that the repentant crowds have been entering. In this way Jesus shows that he has come to unite himself with sinners, and he foreshadows how he will bear the sins of humanity at the climax of his mission on the cross.
Living Tradition
Christ’s Baptism
St. Cyril of Jerusalem reflects the Patristic tradition of seeing the story of Noah and the flood as prefiguring Jesus and his baptism. As the dove of Noah’s ark signified the renewed peace between God and man, so the dove descending on Christ points to the reconciliation he will bring about between God and all humanity. “Just as salvation came in the time of Noah by the wood and the water, and there was the beginning of a new creation, and as the dove came back to Noah in the evening with an olive branch, so, they say, the Holy Spirit came down on the true Noah, the Author of the new creation, when the spiritual dove came down upon Him at His baptism to show that He is the One Who, by the wood of the cross, confers salvation on believers, and Who, toward the evening, by His death, gave the world the grace of salvation.”
According to the Catechism, Jesus “allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ Already he is anticipating the ‘baptism’ of his bloody death” (Catechism 536). In this sense, Jesus and John act in accord with the Father’s plan and “fulfill all righteousness.” Looking at Christ’s baptism in light of the cross and resurrection, Christians can see that “Jesus loaded the burden of all mankind’s guilt upon his shoulders; he bore it down into the depths of the Jordan. He inaugurated his public activity by stepping into the place of sinners. His inaugural gesture is an anticipation of the Cross.”
Mitch, C., & Sri, E. (2010). The Gospel of Matthew (pp. 69–72). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.