"Why did Jesus insist on being baptized?"

Crisis Magazine ^ | January 12, 2013 | Carl E. Olson

[NYer]

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for January 13, 2013, the Baptism of the Lord | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Is 42:1-4, 6-7 or Is 40:1-5, 9-11
• Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10 or Ps 104:1b-2, 3-4, 24-25, 27-28, 29-30
• Acts 10:34-38 or Or Ti 2:11-14; 3:4-7
• Lk 3:15-16, 21-22

If baptism is necessary for the forgiveness of sins, why did Jesus insist on being baptized by his cousin, John? And if baptism, as St. Peter wrote, “now saves you … through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 3:21), why would the Messiah deem it appropriate, even necessary, to be baptized? What, was the point of the Lord’s baptism in the Jordan River?

These and related questions fascinated and perplexed many of the early Church fathers and theologians. The baptism of Christ, writes Fr. Kilian McDonnell, O.S.B., in his study of the topic, The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan: The Trinitarian and Cosmic Order of Salvation (The Liturgical Press, 1996), “was widely discussed in all the currents of theological reflection” in the early Church, “without doubt partly because of the problems it posed.” From this discussion emerged many helpful theological insights.

St. Justin Martyr (d. 165), one of the first great apologists, addressed the baptism in his Dialogue with Trypho. He emphasized that the Son had no need to be baptized—just as he had no need to be born, to suffer, or die—but did so in order to reveal himself to mankind; the baptism, in other words, was the messianic manifestation, a sign for the Church first, and then the world. When Jesus came to the waters, St. Justin wrote, “He was deemed a carpenter,” but the proclamation of the Father and the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove showed him to be far more than a mere worker of wood.

In his famous work, Against Heresies, St. Irenaeus (d. c. 202) focused on the participation of those who believe in Christ in the anointing of the Savior. The connection between the baptism and anointing—itself an essential Messianic concept—is already evident in the New Testament, as heard in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles: “…how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.” This same anointing, St. Irenaeus wrote, is given to those who are baptized into Christ. The Holy Spirit, having descended upon the Son, has become “accustomed in fellowship with Him to dwell in the human race, to rest with human beings, and to dwell in the workmanship of God, working the will of the Father in them, and renewing them from their old habits into the newness of Christ.”

Others delved into the mystery and meaning of the Jordan River, which was already, at the time of Christ, the site of many key events in the history of Israel. St. Hippolytus (d. c. 236) referred to “the Grand Jordan”; Origen (d. 254) wrote that just as “no one is good, except the one only God, the Father,” likewise “no river is good except the Jordan.” St. Gregory of Nyssa (d. c. 394), in his treatise, On the Baptism of Jesus, wrote, “For Jordan alone of rivers, receiving in itself the first-fruits of sanctification and benediction, conveyed in its channel to the whole world, as it were from some fount in the type afforded by itself, the grace of Baptism.” Just as Joshua had entered the Promised Land by crossing the Jordan, Jesus opened the way to heaven by entering and dividing the same waters.

St. Ephrem (d. 373) wrote a beautiful hymn in which he connected the baptism of Jesus with the womb of Mary and the sacrament of the Eucharist: “See, Fire and Spirit in the womb that bore you! See, Fire and Spirit in the river where you were baptized! Fire and Spirit in our Baptism; in the Bread and the Cup, Fire and Holy Spirit!” Christ, the Light of the World, dwelt first in the womb of the Virgin—who was thus “baptized” by her Son—and then in the womb of the Jordan; he emerged from both as the Incarnate Word, the Savior of mankind. Those who are baptized thus become the children of Mary and partakers of the body, blood, soul, and divinity of her Son.

[steve86]

I won’t touch ‘em. Counterfeit addition like gold plating on tungsten.

[Uri’el-2012]

There were jars of water for purification of the guests at the wedding at Cana, also. Jesus had these jars filled with water and then turned them into wine.

For all those who have wondered why Yah'shua changed water into wine
when He could have just gone poof; the answer lies in NUMBERS 19.

The water that Yah'shua changed was not the water we think of,
it was not drinking water.
It was the water of purification as detailed in NUMBERS 19.

The water of purification was used to remove sin under the old covenant.
By the act of changing the water of purification into wine, Yah'shua
ended the OT means of removing sin.
This is the beginning of the New covenant as outlined in JEREMIAH 31:31

Yah'shua by this miracle pointed to His power to remove sin.

Yah'shua demonstrated that He was greater than the ashes of the Red Heifer.

Later He would become the Pesach Lamb,
removing sin forever to all who would look to Him and call on His NAME:
Yah'shua (YHvH is my salvation) for salvation.

"And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even." Numbers 19:19 The clean person was to sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. The third day and the seventh day are the same day. The third day is measured from the time of Jesus; and the seventh day is measured from Adam. Jesus stated that He would be glorified on the Third Day, Luke 13:32. On the Seventh Day Christ will be glorified in the midst of His people, Matthew 17:1. If we are to walk into God's 3rd day, His 7th day of creation, we must allow God's water of separation to be Spiritually sprinkled upon every unclean area that still remains in our lives. If the "water of separation" is not Spiritually applied to the uncleanness in our lives, then Jesus will not be glorified in our lives. Those who are not cleansed of their uncleanness will not become part of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb when Jesus is glorified in the midst of His people.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach

[SuziQ]

Why do you consider them counterfeit? Do they take focus OFF Jesus? No, they kead us to meditate on the LIFE of Jesus, His public ministry, and the miracles He performed. I think they make a wonderful addition to the Rosary. The Joyful Mysteries cover Jesus’s Birth and early life, the Luminous Mysteries cover His life and ministry, the Sorrowful Mysteries detail his suffering and death, and the Glorious Mysteries have us meditate on his Resurrection and Ascension, and His honoring of His Blessed Mother.