As a teacher of Christian Religious Knowledge, I have on several occasions tried to convincingly explain the importance and the necessity of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus to my curious students in and outside of the classroom.     For most of them, Jesus, being the Lord and God of all creation, did not need to go through the earthly (human) ritual of Baptism like the rest of us.  They support their claim using John the Baptist’s act of hesitation when Jesus approached him for baptism.   In some sense, I am tempted to agree with them. However, we know with certainty that Jesus’ Baptism was not one of repentance or forgiveness of sins since he was sinless from his Incarnation.   In addition, I believe that the totality of Christ’s mission to earth as a human being does not make any more practical and logical (by human standard) sense than his desire to be baptized by John does.

The baptism of the Lord was for a number of reasons.   Firstly, in Matthew (3:13-17), Jesus insisted on being baptized by John because, as he says, “it is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that righteousness demands”.   What is Jesus referring to in this statement?  We shall shortly focus a little bit more on that, but in the meantime, let us see the other reasons why Jesus insisted on going through the rite of Baptism by John.     Secondly, Jesus’ baptism was a theophanic experience.   In other words, at the event, the divine community of the trinity was manifested through the voice of the Father confirming the divinity of Jesus as well as in the Holy Spirit of God descending like a dove.     Thirdly, Jesus’ baptism was an act of great humility and a dramatic spiritual exercise to teach us how to follow him.