“Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’” (Matthew 3:13-15)
The distinctive feature of our Lord, God and Savior is humility. If the entire scenario of the Nativity from the embarrassment of His mother’s pregnancy to the rude treatment at the inn of Bethlehem, the birth, flight and return to Galilee is not ample evidence of the way the Holy Trinity chose to make the Son of God manifest, here again in His first formal appearance our Lord Jesus identifies with the sinners repenting through immersion in the Jordan. Notice what His cousin John thinks about it. St. John himself recognized the Lord for who He was—a role reversal was in order; however, Jesus insisted that He be baptized, even though He was sinless. He had nothing to repent. Follow the theme of humility through the gospels: He cautions His followers when invited to a dinner to take the lowest seat rather than to clamor for higher places. He points to the Pharisees who relished being called with titles and treated with honor. He does not proclaim Himself to be the Messiah, but asks, “Who do men say that I am?” [Matthew 16:15] He asks the one whom He healed not to speak about it. He never imposes Himself on anybody but rather stands outside the doors of our hearts and awaits for the enlightenment to come from within the souls of all created in God’s image, so that by free will, not compulsion, will a person realize who He is and welcome Him.
So it is that He takes the precious life-giving element of water, which St. John utilized for cleansing and purification of human souls, elevating the status of water to the means of our salvation. St. John could only bathe the exterior as a symbol of transformation from the filth of ego-driven selfishness and all that proceeds out of alienation and disobedience to the will of the Almighty. Baptism into Christ is the only way of identity with the life, death, resurrection and eternal life of our Savior. We are immersed in the humility of Him who condescended to empty Himself from the Holy Trinity to appear on earth as a human being. In the words of St. Paul: “Made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross” (Philippians 2:7).
When we are invited to repentance for our sins, contrition and humility, forgiveness of others without even judging their intentions or motivations, searching for ways to put others first and learn to enjoy the ministry of service, rejecting praise and adulation as detrimental to the health of our souls, we are doing no more than what our Lord Jesus had done. To follow His example is formidable. In a society of greed and deceit, populated by those with the me-first attitude, true Christians must be humble without being duped or used by those who would exploit the gentle, tender and forgiving, while at the same time making use of the spiritual gift of discernment. The pure in heart are able to see with the eye of the Spirit the genuine from the con artist, the honest person from the deceiver.
In the words of the great St. John Climacus: “Let us strive with all our might to reach that summit of humility, or let us at least climb onto her shoulders. And if this is too much for us, let us at least not tumble out of her arms, since after such a tumble a person will scarcely receive any kind of everlasting gift.” [Step 25]