Submersion and Submission

Matthew 3: 13-17

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.

John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented.

And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

At this point in the gospel of Matthew, John the Baptist has already been introduced, and we find him already at the banks of the Jordan, calling sinners to turn, to repent, to be baptized. He is preparing the way for the Messiah. The same story we just heard, when told in the gospel of Mark, does not indicate that John the Baptist knew Jesus had come to the Jordan when he baptized him; only Jesus went in to be baptized with the rest, and that the Spirit of God descended on Jesus as he came out of the water.

But here we are given this pre-baptism dialogue between John and his cousin Jesus. We should note that this Jesus is the one of whom John has been saying to those coming to the water –

 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

After a description like that, we could imagine that John may intend to fall at the feet of Jesus when he first meets him. He may also believe that his work will be done at that point – that baptizing will take on a whole new meaning. Perhaps he thinks he can hand over the reins, and Jesus will take it from there. The Messiah has come, with Holy Spirit, fire, and winnowing fork, to baptize, to clear the threshing floor, gathering wheat and burning the chaff.

But here comes Jesus, expecting John to baptize him. And so of course John protests – I’ve just finished telling the crowd I can’t even carry your sandals – and you come to me for baptism of repentance?  No way, Jesus…… no way.

Jesus’ response is “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” A more specific translation would be “It is required that you and I fulfill God’s will by allowing me to be baptized.”

Many scholars have tried to address the question “ Why would it be God’s will that the Messiah be baptized?” The text doesn’t appear to say that Jesus needed to be cleansed from sin through baptism, since Jesus’ response implies that it’s out of the ordinary, but should still be allowed to fulfill God’s will.  Douglas Hare writes, (read slowly….) “The most likely answer to this question stresses Jesus’ solidarity with sinners. The one who will save his people from their sins, by (ultimately) submitting to a baptism of annihilation (the crucifixion), must consecrate himself here to his vocation, by joining the sinful multitude in the waters of the Jordan. As the one destined to be their lord and king, he accepts the sacrament of the renewal of God’s people. In doing so, however, he takes that first step on the road to Calvary.”

Here we are at the start of Jesus’ ministry. We know that a name for Jesus is God with us. We understand that means God was walking among us in the person of Jesus. Here we see Jesus, from the beginning, acting in solidarity with us, living and moving as we do, not using his authority as God, but joining us as sinners, from our moment of baptism on.

This is the first of many times we encounter Jesus acting from a position of humility. Let’s remember who we are talking about here. This is GOD.

As Troy Miller describes it in one commentary, “At Jesus’ baptism there is an ironic tension, that remains constant throughout his entire earthly ministry. Jesus’ uniqueness is known in and shouted from the heavens—a higher authority, there is not! — but his own baptism and ministry are characterized by a consistent and conscious submission to those for whom he is bringing the gospel.”

Let’s consider this counsciously submissive behavior. Jesus could have blown right past the act of his own baptism. It could have still been a sacrament for us, because Jesus baptized as part of his ministry. But Jesus submits to God, not John, in an act of obedience that reflects his humility and his solidarity with the rest of us sinners, the rest of us poor slobs.

And this is not the only time.

Jesus the boy submits to his parents when they find him and tell him to come home from the temple with them right now!

Jesus rejects the temptations that the devil places in front of him in the wilderness – and they were temptations that could have showed what Jesus was truly capable of. Make no mistake – the tempter was right when he said, if you want to, you can turn these stones into bread, you can throw yourself off the temple and angels will save you. But Jesus, again, performs this act of submission, humility, and obedience to God.

At the last supper, Jesus takes the basin and the towel and, in an extreme act of submission that shocked his disciples, he kneels and washes their feet. And just like John, when the disciples protest, Jesus makes it clear that this is the will of God – unless I wash your feet, you will have no part in me, he says to Peter.

And then of course the ultimate act of submission, the ultimate act of solidarity with us as sinners was Christ’s obedience to the point of death on the cross, all to save us from our own sin, something we could never do on our own.

This is the paradox that was so shocking to those who knew Jesus. This is the scandal – that God almighty, who deserves all honor and glory and praise, came here among us not just as a human being, but as a human being emptied of all hubris, all pride, all competitiveness. It makes me wonder if that is a big part of what it means to be without sin.

We can now see why Paul wrote to the Philippians these words:

“3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.  4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6          who, though he was in the form of God,

                        did not regard equality with God

                        as something to be exploited,

7          but emptied himself,

                        taking the form of a slave,

                        being born in human likeness.

            And being found in human form,

8                      he humbled himself

                        and became obedient to the point of death—

                        even death on a cross.

 9             Therefore God also highly exalted him

                        and gave him the name

                        that is above every name,

10       so that at the name of Jesus

                        every knee should bend,

                        in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11       and every tongue should confess

                        that Jesus Christ is Lord,

                        to the glory of God the Father."

Brothers and sisters, if Jesus could do this, why can we not? This competitive world tries to keep us in the mode of needing to prove ourselves, to competing with one another, pushing to be the best, to show how we are at the top of the pecking order, driving us to be one-upping each other about, well, everything – our titles, our salaries, our children’s grades or degrees, about achievements and successes of all kinds. The way our denomination does things compared to that other one. The way our church does things compared to the one down the road.  The size of that congregation across the road.

What would it be like if we took on the path of submission, not bothering to consider ourselves as better or more worthy than anyone else? How might that change the way we see one another, across the pew, across the campuses, across the Detroit area, across the world?

One day this past week, when I was driving on US 23, heading to M-59, there was one pretty clear right lane and the one on the left that was a bit more dicey. There was a steady stream of traffic in the right lane going 45-50 miles an hour, and sometimes we’d catch up to someone going a bit slower, and we’d all slow down behind them. And of course before long you would see someone go flying past on the left, and then when they found the inevitable patch of ice, they would slow down, turn on their signal, and humbly seek for space to come back into the right lane. You could almost see them realizing that was fast enough, and they’d better get back in line.

Jesus shows us that it’s ok to be humble – in fact, it’s best. To be obedient enough to fulfill God’s will, we will need to get back in line, to do the things that speak for humility,  and to not worry about where we land, because God will take care of that for us.

If you think about it, where else but the church are you able to give up that competitive drive, and just rest in the loving care of God? Where else but the church are you encouraged to be your humble self, and that you are loved just the way you are? If we cannot let down our defenses here in the church, the body of Jesus Christ, and let our broken selves minister to the other broken selves that find their way here, where else will this ever happen?

As we consider the meaning of Jesus’ baptism today, and as we pause to remember our own baptisms, let us remember that by going down into the water of baptism and reemerging, we participate in Jesus’ death and resurrection. In Baptism, we die to what separates us from God and are raised to newness of life in Christ. 

By our submersion in the waters of baptism, we follow Jesus into submission and obedience to the will of God, emptying ourselves of the hubris that the world encourages, and taking on the humility of the Messiah himself.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.