NOTES for Mat 3:13-17

Few of us today think about the paradoxical nature of such a Gospel event as the Savior's baptism. What we customarily call baptism was a cleansing washing that freed the one washed from the consequences of a sin he had committed. In the context of what John the Baptist called people to, the washing became something more than simple cleansing; yet even in that case it was still a matter of liberation from sin and of a new conversion, which, according to the prophet's word, everyone needed.

What kind of cleansing and what kind of conversion could the One need who was not subject to sin, the One who brought the Kingdom into the world? What cleansing could be in question here? John himself understands everything perfectly and says to Jesus: You should wash and cleanse me, not I You. Jesus answers him with words that are not very easy to understand: let it be, because in this way we must reveal the fullness of truth. By "the fullness of truth" He means the Kingdom that He brought into the world and that now, with the beginning of His earthly ministry, must be revealed to the world.

Why does this happen through a cleansing washing that He Himself does not need at all, at least not in the sense in which a sinful person needs such a washing? If the washings mentioned in the Old Testament books had been no different from those known to the pagan world from the most ancient times, there would most likely simply be no answer to this question. Before the Savior's coming into the world, they were no longer a magical ritual like pagan washings, but a manifestation of the power of God. Water served only as a physical mediator, a natural conductor of its effects on the person whom God wanted to cleanse from the consequences of the sin he had committed.

The manifestation of the Kingdom is also the manifestation of God's power, and in a fullness that the world had not known before. The cleansing effect of this power now proved qualitatively different, incomparably deeper, so deep that it overcame the consequences of any sin committed by a person, if only the person repented of what he had done, even if the sin had been committed consciously. This was something never seen before, when one could be cleansed only from the consequences of a sin committed involuntarily, through weakness or ignorance.

Jesus calls the cleansing power of the Kingdom, which frees the world from the power of sin, the fullness of truth. The cleansing of the world is the first step toward its transfiguration, which will be completed only when the world becomes an inseparable and organic part of the Kingdom. Without this first step there will be no later steps: sin is incompatible with the Kingdom. The washing of the world, its liberation from sin, begins with the washing of the Savior Himself, when the water with which He washed became a river of living water that opens the Kingdom to the world.

Just before the Baptism, in response to John's attempt to stop Him, Jesus utters mysterious words: "Let it be so now, for thus we must manifest righteousness in all its fullness" (the Synodal translation offers the wording, "for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness"). When it comes to an ordinary person, the connection between the cleansing washing, or "baptism," and righteousness is obvious: according to traditional Jewish ideas of Gospel times, it is precisely the cleansing ritual that frees the sinner from the consequences of the sin he has committed, of course only when this ritual is accompanied by repentance. But Jesus had nothing to repent of and nothing from which to be cleansed. His righteousness was always full and perfect.

The point could evidently only be that this righteousness, previously hidden from the world, should now be manifested to it. Such a manifestation could and had to be connected precisely with what John was calling the people to, namely conversion. Indeed, conversion presupposes not only repentance for the sins committed by the one who is converting. Repentance here is not the goal, but only the means. The goal is the establishment of relations with God, without which there can be no question of any righteousness.

Jesus' conversion, then, was not so much the establishment of such relations, since He had them from the beginning, as their demonstration, a witness to what they should be and what they can give to the one who converts. And then to all who witnessed what was happening there was opened the Kingdom that Jesus brought into the world, because the fullness of relations between God and man is this Kingdom. A Kingdom made accessible to everyone through the ministry and sacrifice of One.

Why is Jesus baptized? He is sinless, and He does not need repentance. Is it to show us an example? But surely not a meaningless one. John the Baptist senses this very strongly, and therefore he "tried to prevent Him."

But this is exactly how Jesus "fulfills all righteousness," bringing righteousness in this world to its fullness, because by entering the water of baptism He makes it able to cleanse us from our sins. In this way He takes them upon Himself and then carries them to the Cross. And John, standing in that water, suddenly receives the possibility, unknown to people until then, of seeing God in the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and of hearing from heaven the revelation of God's good will, revealed in Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God.

The episode of Jesus receiving baptism looks almost like an appendage to the story of John the Baptist, and this emphasizes the outward inconspicuousness of what is being described. It is not hard for us to imagine how many people gathered that day on the bank of the Jordan, but very few among those gathered were able to understand what great event they had witnessed. Yet in this too Jesus' self-emptying was revealed, something the disciples found so hard to comprehend and that remains mysterious for us as well.

Mysterious too are the words Jesus spoke in response to John's hesitation. What was that righteousness that "we," that is, the two of them meeting at the Jordan, had to fulfill? Why did the sinless Jesus have to enter the waters that washed away sins? Of course, in order to take upon Himself the sins of others, and not only the sins of those Jewish people long ago, but the sins of all of us. Yet one cannot escape the feeling that behind Christ's answer there is something more, something that slips past a superficial glance but that the evangelist considered important to convey to us.

What we are meant to see in the depths of Scripture the Lord will reveal to us, for He does not hide what is necessary for salvation and a full spiritual life. John was the first to whom it was revealed that the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus at His baptism. Through John's eyes the evangelist lets us see this too, and we believe: union with Jesus is union with the Spirit of God. And this most important revelation was given to all of us on the day when Jesus came inconspicuously to the bank of the Jordan.

People intuitively expect another person’s favor toward them to be expressed through good things. We try to show one another our goodwill through warm words, attention, and care. We give gifts and assistance, protect others from trouble, comfort them in adversity, and praise them. Accordingly, a person expects goodwill toward them to be expressed in much the same form. We often differ in the forms through which we prefer favor to be shown, and misunderstandings and conflicts arise as a result. But when a person tries to find a universal way to express goodwill toward another, that person speaks words of love. We instinctively try to tell those we love something like, “You are the very best,” regardless of how accurate those words may be.

Subconsciously, we expect something similar from Almighty God. That is why it is so important for us today to hear the heavenly Father’s words about Jesus Christ: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The Creator’s boundless goodness and the whole power of His love are given to us in Jesus Christ, because nothing other than the person of the Son of God can contain this love.

Jesus comes to John... Is it not astonishing that He comes Himself, and not John to Him? But this is His way: from now on He will always and everywhere come to everyone Himself. Always the First and always unrecognized, though expected.

They recognize one another... A special language, the language of love for Scripture, a language filled with Scripture and made up of the words of Scripture. "I will ponder the way that is blameless: when will You come to me?" (Ps 100:2) is not only a question, but the prayer and expectation of many years of John's life, of many generations of the righteous. Jesus' answer is saturated with the words of the Psalms. "His righteousness is upon children's children, upon those who keep His covenant and remember His commandments to do them" (Ps 102:17-18). And: "Blessed are those who keep justice and do righteousness at all times!" (Ps 105:3). And also: "The foundation of Your word is truth, and every judgment of Your righteousness endures forever" (Ps 119:160). Finally, the words of blessing from Deuteronomy: "...he chose for himself the first portion of the land; there the ruler's portion was reserved, and he came with the heads of the people and carried out the righteousness of the Lord and His judgments with Israel" (33:21). The "first portion of the land" is Jesus Himself. The Most High chose Him for a special ministry, unheard-of and unrepeatable. From now on He is a stumbling stone until the end of time. But John did not stumble and fall: recognizing the Messiah in Him, he decreases to the end, giving Him everything, even his beloved disciples. They, John, the future evangelist and apostle of love, and Andrew, immediately bring Simon, then Philip and Nathanael.

The core of the community of future disciples took shape within a few days, immediately after the Baptism. Who else was capable of such an unheard-of generous gift? Should we not hear in many of Jesus' parables about gifts an allusion to John? This also sounds in Jesus' words about the widow's mite: "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all these put in gifts to God out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood she had" (Luke 21:3-4). Jesus receives this gift from John, as He also receives the gift of Baptism, because it is fitting for Him to "fulfill righteousness," entrusted to Him by the Heavenly Father: to give people Heaven on Earth, to lead them into the Kingdom of Heaven. From this time on He will announce this, preach it, and teach it in many parables. And very soon the moment will come when He will offer absolutely everyone entrance into this Kingdom as the New Covenant, concluded in His Blood.

He Himself is the Door into the Kingdom of Heaven.
He Himself is the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven.
He Himself is the Truth, that is, the essence of future life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
He Himself is the Life, that is, the Kingdom of Heaven itself.

But tragic and terrible is His question addressed to us: "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8).

There can be little doubt that both John the Baptist’s preaching and his very presence made an indelible impression on his contemporaries. In his appearance and way of life, he resembled the prophets of old (v. 4). If, however, historians are right in supposing that John the Baptist was connected with the Essene movement—more precisely, with the Qumran community on the shore of the Dead Sea—his striking appearance as an ascetic and desert dweller should not surprise us. His preaching was far more interesting and important. John evidently called people to public remorse for their sins, to turning to God—called ‘repentance’ in the Russian Synodal translation—and to washing, the traditional means of cleansing from defilement, including that caused by a sin committed: according to the same traditional understanding, sin always defiles a person (vv. 2, 6). Yet there was also something unusual in his preaching. He evidently called everyone to turn to God, to remorse, and to washing, not only those for whom, according to that same traditional understanding, these were necessary. The Jewish religious rules of the time required washing when a particular sin had been committed or when defilement had occurred for some other reason. It was also required of those who embraced Judaism and entered the Synagogue. There were Jewish communities that were not entirely orthodox, including the Essenes, whose members were convinced that a person was defiled not only by a particular sin, but, so to speak, by life itself, so that in their view purificatory washing was constantly necessary. Members of such communities generally washed several times a day. At first glance, John may seem to be calling for the same thing. It is not surprising that the Pharisees and Sadducees, who held more traditional views, apparently underwent washing—called ‘baptism’ in the Russian Synodal translation—if they did so at all, more for form’s sake and as a precaution, without really understanding why it was necessary. This was what aroused John’s anger (vv. 7–10). But on reading more carefully, we can see that John goes beyond the teaching of washing as continuous purification. He understands as well as the Essenes that traditional purification is not enough. But it has been revealed to him that the ultimate and definitive purification will be accomplished by the Messiah-Christ Himself, and that it will no longer resemble any purificatory rites available to a human being, even one who, like John himself, acts in God’s name (vv. 11–12). This is not surprising: with Christ, the Kingdom also enters the world, and in it there is and can be no place for any sin or impurity. Until now, people have sought purity and freedom from sin as an unattainable ideal. Now that Christ is coming into the world, the ideal becomes attainable, but not through human strength: through God’s action. And no religiosity in itself can replace this action of God.

When we read about the bewilderment and indignation of John the Baptist, who did not want to let Jesus be baptized in the Jordan, it becomes clear to us: John recognized Him. Participation in this baptism was supposed to testify that a person confesses his sinfulness to God, admits that he is not right; and now in the river stands the One who is right before God.

Yet Jesus still receives baptism, which means that God has another righteousness besides rightness before Himself. This is the righteousness of love, which is "fulfilled" when the righteous One decides to share life with the unrighteous, the sinless One with sinners. This may be incomprehensible and unpleasant; it may contradict our ideas about justice, but Christ enters the water together with everyone, and it turns out that the Father's beloved Son is one of us.