Q. Yo! Quick question...
A. Shoot!
Q. Yesterday's post you said we were celebrating the feast of the Baptism of Jesus.
A. Yes... And with it the end of the Church's Christmas season.
Q. Ok. So my question has to do with Jesus being baptised... So if I remember correctly from my Catechism classes in high school, Baptism is a Sacrament that basically washes away our sins.
A. Correct.
Q. So why would Jesus need to be baptised? I thought he was sinless.
A. Fortunately for both of us your question was first asked 2,000 years ago. By John the Baptist. To Jesus.
John asked Him (Mt 3:14) why He came to be baptised when it was Jesus himself who should have been doing the baptising.
Jesus' reply - that also answers your question - is He did it to “fulfil all that uprightness demands” (Mt 3:15). Basically, Jesus was setting us an example in two things.
The first is what one African bishop from 1,700 years ago mentioned in his preaching "He deigned to be baptized of John that the servants might see with what readiness they ought to run to the baptism of the Lord, when He did not refuse to be baptized of His servant." In a sense about the importance of baptism for any Christian.
The second is about an attitude for every Christian, a certain self-emptying, humility or obedience. "Our Lord voluntarily submitted himself to the baptism of St John, intended for sinners, in order to “fulfil all righteousness”. Jesus’ gesture is a manifestation of his self-emptying."
Think about it this way: almost 30 years earlier, His mother, Mary most pure, that teenage virgin the angel Gabriel had referred to as "full of grace" had herself fulfilled what the Law of Moses demanded and presented herself for purification at the Temple (in the same ceremony where they presented Jesus in the Temple); a purification she did not need. Now the Son undergoes a baptism that he doesn’t need.
One recent saint comments “Think, she Mary Immaculate, submits to the Law as if she were defiled. And you foolish child, will you not learn to fulfil the holy Law of God, regardless of any personal sacrifice?”
Tafakari hayo!
11thJanuary 2016