Spiritual Corner - John’s Baptism and the Sacrament of Baptism

Before Jesus’ public preaching, John began to prepare for the arrival of the Messiah. He cried out in the wilderness, calling for repentance, and baptising people in the Jordan River.

John’s baptism is “the baptism of repentance”. The practice at that time was that people came before John to admit their sins, repent and make resolutions to change over, then receive his baptism. The core of this baptism lies in human repentance. It is not a sacrament in itself, and it will not remove people’s sins.

Jesus came to the Jordan River to ask for John’s baptism, but John refused to do so because Jesus was the Messiah and was without sin, therefore he had no need to be baptized. However, Jesus asked to be baptised for he wanted to be one of the sinners so as to bear their sins, sacrifice himself on the cross and reconcile the sinners with the Heavenly Father. As foretold by the prophet Isaiah, he would bear the sins of all, become the mediator for the criminals, sacrifice his own life, and be regarded as one of the criminals. (Isaiah 53:12). Therefore, Jesus was not a bystander, but had become one of us by shouldering the sins of all mankind.

The baptism of Jesus prefigures Christian baptism. The difference is that in our baptism, it is Jesus who is personally baptizing us and personally forgiving all our sins. Through baptism, we can become the children of the Father again.

What happened after Jesus’ baptism will also happen at our baptism. When the priest is baptizing us in the name of the Holy Trinity, it is God the Son who is baptizing us through the priest’s hand, granting us the Holy Spirit, then God the Father says to us, “You are the children whom I love.”

Yours,
Fr. Matthew Wang