Jesus somehow came to realize that baptism was what God the Father desired for him—to fulfill “all righteousness.” Perhaps this meant publicly aligning himself with John’s ministry. Perhaps before he began his own ministry, he wanted, in a sense, to pay tribute to that of his cousin, as a way of underlining his solidarity with the Baptist’s message. Jesus may also have wanted to perform a public ritual to inaugurate his own ministry.
But there is another possibility, which is that Jesus decided to enter even more deeply into the human condition. Though sinless, Jesus participates in the ritual that others are performing as well. He participates in this movement of repentance and conversion not because he needs it, but because it aligns him with those around him, with those anticipating the reign of God, with the community of believers. It’s an act of solidarity, a human act from the Son of God who casts his lot with the people of the time. It has less to do with his original sin, which he does not carry, than identifying with those who carry that sin, as George and I experienced at the Jordan. The divine is fully immersing himself, literally in this case, in our humanity.
--Fr. James Martin,
Gospel Reflection (Facebook),
January 12, 2020
Image source: The Baptism of Christ, icon found at the Monastery of St. Antony at the Red Sea (Monastic Visions, Yale UP), https://copticliterature.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/two-important-books-on-the-beauty-of-coptic-wall-paintings-at-the-monastery-of-saint-antony-and-the-monastery-of-saint-paul-at-the-red-sea-egypt/
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