John did not understand. We also have difficulty. Why did Jesus demand that John baptize Him?
John’s objection to baptizing Jesus was exactly what we would expect: “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” (Matt. 3:14). John was the sinner who needed to be washed, Jesus the spotless Lamb of God. John, not Jesus, needed the salvation baptism signifies. John was the lesser, not worthy to carry Jesus’ sandals; Jesus was mightier, the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt. 3:11). Jesus was the Son of God, John the greatest of the Old Testament prophets but still a man like ourselves and less than the least in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 11:11). It seems inappropriate that John should be the baptizer and Jesus the baptized and not vice versa.
Jesus explained it to John when he said, “Thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15). But this explanation is itself difficult for us to understand. What does “fulfill all righteousness” mean? How could baptism by John, which John himself compared unfavorably with baptism with the Holy Spirit, accomplish it?
At least one part of our problem is that we think too narrowly about baptism. We understand it as a sign of the washing away of sins and leave it at that. But the Scriptures teach us that the significance of baptism is much greater than that. In a previous article (click here to see it) I pointed out that Christian baptism also signifies anointing with the Holy Spirit. When John baptized Jesus, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove. The Holy Spirit equipped Him to fulfill all righteousness for His people.
The Scriptures also teach us that baptism is a sign of union with Christ, so that baptism into Christ means baptism into His death and being crucified and buried with Him (Rom. 6:3–6). Or, to use Jesus’ own explanation, being baptized means being united with Jesus in suffering. “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?… You will indeed… be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with” (Matt. 20:22, 23). Jesus’s baptism was a sign of His suffering. When Jesus submitted to baptism, He submitted to it as the one who emptied Himself to be made like His brethren in all things, to suffer and be tempted as we are. It was only thus that He could become the risen and exalted savior.
If Jesus had to be baptized into suffering by His temptations and death, then it is certainly possible for us to understand His submitting to a baptism with water by John. By it He signified His willingness to do the work the Father had given Him to do: to fulfill all righteousness. The sign administered to Him could not wash away our sins on Him any more than the sign by itself administered to us can wash away sin. But just as our baptism is a sign and seal of the promise of forgiveness and cleansing, so Jesus’ baptism was a sign and seal that His baptism into suffering accomplishes (fulfills!) our forgiveness and cleansing. Jesus’ baptism is, in fact, a sign that He is our righteousness.
Therefore also, after Jesus’ baptism the Father proclaimed, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matt. 3:17). By His baptism, Jesus was submitting to the Father’s will and accomplishing the Father’s eternal purpose of righteousness for us. His Father was indeed well-pleased with Him.