Many have speculated about what Jesus did before he burst on the scene as an adult preacher. Some have Jesus travelling far and wide, from England to India. Others have him staying local and working as a carpenter. All this is speculation and legend. What we do know is that a would-be preacher/healer had to wait until they were thirty before they could have a public ministry. Whatever Jesus got up to before his first public appearance, it prepared him for an incredibly profound and mature moment. 

The first time the crowds saw Jesus, they did not see him commanding the stage or dazzling them with miracles. Instead they saw a humble and unassuming man submitting himself to the ministry of another man – John the Baptist. Through his baptism, Jesus was aligning himself with the hopes and prayers of the crowds who were longing for a new beginning – a new focus for faith, a new understanding of God, a new direction for religion. Jesus aligned himself with all who were tired of the abusive and burdensome exercising of power, and who longed for the Kingdom of God. And Jesus did this by allowing John to lower him under the waters of the river Jordan, and to lift him up into a new world. As we contemplate this act of submission, soon it dawns on us that this was a sign of the mastery Jesus had over communication. In a simple act Jesus had preached the most eloquent of sermons and had performed the most amazing of miracles. In one act, Jesus had shown the supremacy of the very alternative life people were longing for. His action is a precursor of his teaching where he would declare ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.’ It is no wonder that immediately after his baptism, the Holy Spirit was seen to rest on Jesus as his Father declared, ‘You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’

In months to come, as we journey with Jesus through the Gospel stories, we would do well to remember Jesus’ baptism and its message. And then, as we attempt to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, at every step Jesus’ baptism reminds us to always start with some act of humility.