16-17 The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.” Matthew 3:17-18
Jesus needed John to baptize Him to complete the work of God’s prophecy concerning the Messiah.
NOTE: The following thoughts have not been researched but came to me this morning as I read this passage more closely. I asked myself why Jesus, the Son of God needed to be baptized. I realized that Jesus did not do any miracles but lived as a normal man until after He was baptized in the Spirit (Holy Spirit). Jesus did not begin His public ministry until after He was baptized. For 30 years at home, Jesus did nothing to distinguish Himself as unique with the exception of being a very bright scholar at the age of 12. Now when Jesus asks John to baptize Him and John refuses, we hear this reply:
15 But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.[f]” So John agreed to baptize him. Matt. 3:15
I hear Jesus saying that He truly showed us the path to salvation and completing His work in this world. We must be baptized (filled) with the Holy Spirit to do the works that He did and that he has called us to do. There’s so much implied here that I cannot even comprehend, but I know the Holy Spirit is the key to doing the work of Jesus here on earth. Even the new believers in Samaria who accepted Jesus had to be baptized into the Holy Spirit.
15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:15-16
Father, I realize You revealed Your plan down to the last and most important detail, the Spirit–filled life. I honestly don’t want to be baptized by Your Spirit to have power to work miracles, but to hear Your voice clearly and to know You more fully. May Your Spirit fill my life today and may I walk in complete obedience one day at a time. Pour out Your Spirit O God upon my life, I pray.
Journey with Joyce 