Holy Boldness

their need, expectation, and hope. 9.

The baptism of Jesus was the crowning event of His private life. Jesus had come into greater clarity of his calling and deeper humility in His approach. If there was any hint of presumption or immaturity or dare we say independence revealed during his first visit to the temple, here it was gone without a trace. Jesus was humble and submitted fully to the need of the people for a savior who could identify with them. He was not the initiator but the recipient of John’s ministry. He was in the inferior position and identifies with the desperate need of the nation for a change of heart. In this act, Jesus becomes one with the people not only in the flesh but in the soul. 10. Finally, the baptism of Jesus was a public event but in an instant, it became intensely personal. It is clear that in being baptized, Jesus was not only submitting to God in a corporate sense, but He was also stepping into His personal vocation in a singular sense and God’s verbal response sanctioned it all. (16) And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; (17) and behold, a voice from heaven said, «This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” The divine response at Jesus’ baptism is too remarkable not to stop and ponder the depth of what was happening. Here was something momentous. Significantly, it involved all three members of the Trinity in one divine moment. Jesus’ baptism represented something extremely significant to the Father. It is safe to say that Jesus’ baptism alone did not merit this reaction but that it was the culmination of a life lived in submission to the purpose of God. Jesus’ baptism was a threshold, a graduation, a launching pad moment in which Jesus stepped out of pri vate life and into the public eye. But more importantly, the text implies that a major right of passage leading to extraordinary authority had just been consummated. With the baptism came three significant events in immediate succession: 1. The heavens were opened to Him. Matthew 3:16-17

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