Gospel for Sunday, The Baptism of the Lord

From: Matthew 3:13-17

Jesus is Baptized

[13] Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. [14] John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" [15] But Jesus answered him, "Let is be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. [16] And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; [17] and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
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Commentary:

13. Jesus spent about thirty years (Lk 3:23) in what is normally called the "hidden life". We should marvel at the silence of the Incarnate Word of God during this period. There may be many reasons why he waited so long before beginning his public ministry, but one factor may have been the Jewish custom whereby rabbis did not carry out their function as teachers until they were thirty years old. Whatever the reason, by his long years of work beside St Joseph, our Lord teaches all Christians the sanctifying value of ordinary life and work.

The Baptist prepares the people to receive the Messiah, according to God's plan; and it is only then that Jesus commences his public life.

14. St John's reluctance to baptize Jesus is not surprising since he had given such forthright witness to Him. Jesus did not need to be baptized by John since he had no sin, but he chose to receive this baptism (see the note on v. 15) before beginning to preach, so to teach us to obey all God's commands (he had already subjected himself to circumcision, presentation in the temple and being redeemed as the first-born). God wished Jesus to humble himself even to the extent of submitting to the authority of others.

15. "Righteousness" (or "justice") has a very deep meaning in the Bible; it refers to the plan which God, in his infinite goodness and wisdom, has marked out for man's salvation. Consequently, "to fulfill all righteousness" should be understood as fulfilling God's will and designs. Thus, we could translate "fulfill all righteousness" as: "fulfill everything laid down by God." Jesus comes to receive John's baptism and hence recognizes it as a stage in salvation history--a stage foreseen by God as a final and immediate preparation for the messianic era. The fulfillment of any one of these stages can be called an act of righteousness. Jesus, who has come to fulfill his Father's Will (Jn 4:34), is careful to fulfill that saving plan in all its aspects. See the note on Mt 5:6.

16. Jesus possessed the fullness of the Holy Spirit from the moment of his conception. This is due to the union of the human nature and divine nature in the person of the Word (the dogma of the hypostatic union). Catholic teaching says that in Christ there is only one person (who is divine) but two natures (divine and human). The descent of the Spirit of God spoken of in the text indicates that just as Jesus was solemnly commencing his messianic task, so the Holy Spirit was beginning his action through him. There are very many texts in the Old Testament
which speak of the showing forth of the Holy Spirit in the future Messiah. This sign of the Spirit gave St John the Baptist unmistakable proof of the genuineness of his testimony concerning Christ (cf. Jn 1: 29-34). The mystery of the Holy Trinity is revealed in the baptism of Jesus: the Son is baptized; the Holy Spirit descends on him in the form of a dove; and the voice of the Father gives testimony about his Son. Christians must be baptized in the name of the three divine persons. "If you have sincere piety, the Holy Spirit will descend on you also and you will hear the voice of the Father saying to you from above: 'This was not my son, but now after Baptism he has been made my son'" (St Cyril of Jerusalem, "De Baptismo", 14).

17. Literally, as the RSV points out, "This is my Son, my (or the) beloved". When the _expression "the beloved" goes with "the son", normally it refers to an only son (cf. Gen 16; Jer 6:26; Amos 8:10; Zech 12:10). Repetition of the article and the solemnity of the passage show that, in the language of the Bible, Jesus is not just one more among the adopted sons of God, nor even the greatest of them. Rather, it declares strongly and correctly that Jesus is "the Son of God", the Only-begotten who is totally different from other men because of his divine nature (cf. Mt 7:21; 11:27; 17:5; Jn 3:35; 5:20; 20:17; etc.).

Here we can see the fulfillment of the messianic prophecies, especially Isaiah 42:1, which is applied now to Jesus through the voice of the Father speaking from heaven.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland.

Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.