Reflections on the Gospels from a Justice Perspective written for St. Andrew's Episcopal Church by members of the congregation

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Matthew 3:13-17: The Baptism of Jesus

This is a puzzling story at first sight. What has happened to John the Baptist? Earlier in the same chapter of Matthew, he was fiercely denouncing the Pharisees and Sadducees as a brood of vipers and demanding repentance from everyone, but here he meekly submits to Jesus, confessing his own unworthiness to baptize him. Stranger yet, Jesus (the only human being who truly doesn’t need baptism, since he is completely sinless) quietly insists on having John baptize him nonetheless, and John consents to do it.

One point being made here, I think, is that John and Jesus represent two completely different ways of dealing with sinners. John (like most people in our own culture) tries to make distinctions, treating the worst sinners most harshly, ordinary sinners less so, and putting the sinless one in a completely different category. But Jesus refuses to cooperate with this system of moral judgments. As theologian Jennifer McBride points out, “he begins his public ministry by being baptized with sinners,” and he remains identified with sinners right down to the end, standing in solidarity with them (and us) instead of claiming the position of superior righteousness that was his due.

Jesus’s refusal to separate himself from sinners scandalized many of his contemporaries, as the Gospels demonstrate, but for us it is a great gift. His inclusive, non-judgmental love frees us both from the fear of damnation and from the need to make moral distinctions among our neighbors, so that we can simply love them all (as Jesus does) rather than trying to judge what each of them “deserves.” Thanks be to God!

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