5.19 - Did Jesus Really DO THAT? (Part 8)

Did Jesus really get baptized?
When Jesus comes to John to be baptized, his response is "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" This is likely similar to our initial response to Jesus' baptism – why is the perfect and blameless Messiah being baptized? In this final episode of Season 5, we dig into why Jesus' reply is "Let it be so now..."

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Paul and Noah both preach and teach with the Cedar Park church of Christ in Cedar Park, TX. You can visit our site at: https://www.cedarparkchurchofchrist.org/

Transcript

5.19 - Did Jesus Realyl DO THAT_ (Part 8)
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Paul: [00:00:00] Well, back in the studio and this may be one final time in season five, but we are still in season five. Did Jesus really, and we've been talking about some things that Jesus really did. I mean, last week, Noah I don't know the feedback necessarily that we continue to get and we'll get from that, but that's something for people to continue to look at in John two about the miracle, the first of Jesus miracles and the water to the wine there.

What that was. Intending to signify. We're going through now in a different gospel in Matthew three. And we're going to see something in Matthew's gospel. Did Jesus really, and I think we want to see something. I'm just going to start reading Noah, if that's okay with you, but I'm glad you're here with me in the studio.

Noah: Go for it. 

Paul: All right. So Matthew's gospel chapter three, I'm using the English standard version again, for those that are listening and following along Matthew three, let's just pick up in verse 13 as Matthew records that Jesus came, Matthew three, 13 from Galilee to the Jordan [00:01:00] to John to be baptized.

And John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me? Pause. That's, that's John's way of saying to Jesus that this, we should reverse this here because Jesus, you need to be baptizing me. Why are Jesus, you coming to me saying, John baptized me. And so Jesus answer, I like this.

We need to focus on this. In verse 15 of Matthew 3, Jesus answers him and says, Let it be so for now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. And it says, Then John consented. He agreed. And so, when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up out of 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. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. [00:02:00] So Noah, did Jesus really get baptized? I can't escape this in the text. He absolutely was baptized. 

Noah: Yes, he was. And I think that answers the question record episode here, only two minutes long.

I'll just wipe my hands. We're good. You can't do that because 

Paul: we got some questions here. What? Yeah. 

Noah: Yeah. So we, we read this and I think And it's just, it's kind of challenging for us to work through once we start to think about it, because we're explicitly told, okay, John, here we are pre pre the, you know, before the cross and all of this, we've got John the Baptist and he's baptizing people with a message of repentance for them to confess.

And so that's what other people were doing then. And then here in the 21st century, or really just this side of the cross, what is what I should say. We're baptized for the remission of sins for forgiveness. So why was [00:03:00] Jesus being baptized? Because if, if John was. Baptizing a baptism of repentance and confession and Jesus is the messiah who's blameless and perfect Why is he going to be baptized and I think automatically we should feel Okay, feeling confused at that because john the baptist was confused about it.

He he balked at the idea He's like, whoa, whoa, like like you mentioned just a moment ago this is not the, this doesn't seem to be the right order of things. So, I think it's, it is normal for us to, to kind of scratch our heads when we're reading this, going, Okay, I don't know. What purpose did this serve for Jesus to, to get baptized in this way?

That's, that's a reasonable question to ask. And I think it's even validated by Jesus here because he acknowledges, he seems to acknowledge John's protest. He says, let it be so for now. You know, there, to me, there's, there's a message in that of, you don't get it [00:04:00] and that's okay. You just need to do what I tell you to do here.

Paul: You know, and don't, don't just run past that. You know, cause I think there's some relevance there. It's not necessary to connect it to our point in this podcast. Okay. He got baptized. Why? And I think a scripture answers that for us. It's first 15, but don't push past the fact that John is confused. And Jesus says to John, it needs to be so, and John's response was, it just says he consented.

Noah: Yeah. 

Paul: Clearly you have John saying, if you say it needs to be so, it's going to be so. 

Noah: Right. 

Paul: No pushback from me. Right. There's a lot of good lessons in that. I just didn't want us to push past it. But verse 15 is our answer. 

Noah: Right. If we really, again, if we want this to be a record breaking link for our podcast, here's the answer.

Why did Jesus get baptized? He tells John it was to fulfill all righteousness. [00:05:00] Yeah. Yeah. Now, Paul, you can tell us what that means. 

Paul: You bet. I mean, I got all the answers to this because it's, you know, even though there's a lot of minds out there that are much better than mine who have all, almost all that I've seen agreed, this is a difficult context.

I don't have all the answers. Yeah. You know, it's interesting though, I think you and I were talking about this before we came into the studio and came on the air that, that this is, if I'm understanding. This is the only time that this, this language is being used where you've got fulfill connected to righteousness, to fulfill all righteousness, it's the only time it's been used.

That ought to tell us something. But again, to fulfill permitted at this time for in this way, it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. So the question comes up is, okay, what does he mean by fulfill? And how is that term connected to Jesus and what he's doing? He's asking John to do, [00:06:00] baptize him.

I think the bigger question is, how is righteousness being used in this context? Again, to fulfill all righteousness and, and we know how we define, we know how the Apostle Paul defines righteousness. The Apostle John, we clearly get that. So I would at least submit. That this term righteousness is best understood, not in terms of some conformity to a legal requirement, but an act of submission and obedience to what you what's being said needs to needs to be done here.

Noah: Yeah. Yeah. We definitely see the, the, the submission in Jesus's attitude and in his approach. And we'll talk about that, I think a little bit more when we talk about. The spirit coming down and the, and the voice from heaven speaking, this is my beloved son. We're going to get into that dynamic of, of Jesus's submission [00:07:00] here and how that fulfills our righteousness.

But also it, it also got another perspective on, on the direction that that phrase can be taken is, This is necessary to fulfill God's plan for righteousness, for the, for, for making people to, to bring righteousness and to bring salvation, to bring God's goodness and righteousness to bear on the situation.

But I, I do think that it's, it's useful to compare some of the other gospel accounts of this, because I think that also can help us kind of flesh out. What's going on here? John chapter one has a really interesting part in it where Jesus is coming towards John the Baptist. And in verse 29, John the Baptist says, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

This is he of whom I said after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. Verse 31, I myself did not know him, but for this [00:08:00] purpose, I came baptizing with water. Why? That he might be revealed to Israel. And then verse 32 says, And John bore witness, I saw the Spirit descend. And he talks about what he saw when he baptized Jesus.

So it's interesting. John's referred to as a witness. He bears witness to who Jesus is. But he also says, This is why I came baptizing, so that he could be revealed. The reason I'm out here doing this teaching and calling people to repentance and preparing the way is so that he would be recognized. There were lots of people who were being baptized by John, and there were many more who were out there who didn't believe John.

Some of them were penitent and some of them weren't, but they came out to see John. And many people were baptized, but only one person that was baptized, Did the spirit come down in the form of dove? 

Paul: Yes, 

Noah: only one person received the approval of heaven This is my [00:09:00] beloved son and therefore only one received the witness of john.

This is he of whom I spoke This is the the lamb who takes away the sins of the world John's whole purpose was to point to jesus and this baptism of Jesus was, was a marking point when that all kind of came together in one moment. 

Paul: Yes, a hundred percent agree. So this baptism here, it did not have a place in the life of Jesus with regards to him needing to repent, to confess sin.

None of that's, true. relevant to Jesus, but it did have a place, a very important, prominent place in the timing of this to a revealing of God's purpose and plan. And, and I'm, I'm connecting that to what you said, because if, if, if you need to just pause, rewind and go back and hear what Noah said for that two minutes there, that's fine.

It was very, very good because this is what I missed. [00:10:00] The text tells us here in Matthew 3 15 that it's necessary. Jesus says, John, it must be done. At this time, so timing, timing at this time, and then he says, it is fitting for us. He doesn't say just for Jesus to fulfill all righteousness, and he doesn't say just for John to fulfill all righteousness.

He says it's fitting, it's proper for us. So what you had said about what John has been saying about Jesus, what John understood about his ministry and purpose as a preparer to prepare the way for the Jesus who is the Christ. Amen. I must decrease so that he, Jesus must increase. And now Jesus is saying to him at this time, timing is everything.

It's necessary because John, you and I, we're going to fulfill all righteousness. So yes, Jesus comes out of the water. Then we see what we see John saying about the spirit [00:11:00] descending and we hear what we hear the father pronounces This is my son. I am well pleased in him and with him But there's this is all connected to an us at this time fulfilling all righteousness so that fulfilling all righteousness and And my mind has to do with the demonstration of Jesus saying, I'm committing myself and will commit myself to just doing the will of my Father and accomplishing that and the timing of this.

Is relevant to me demonstrating and me being declared to be who I am and what my mission is going to be all about. 

Noah: Yes, it 100 percent has to do with the mission of Jesus. In fact I, I don't think it's insignificant after this, Jesus goes into the wilderness for 40 days and he's tempted by Satan. And then he [00:12:00] comes out of the wilderness and we're told in Luke chapter four, he comes to Nazareth.

He, he comes out of the wilderness. Comes to Nazareth, and he begins to teach. He goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stands up to read in Luke chapter 4, verse 17, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me.

To proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty, those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

And he began to say to them today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Wow. 

Paul: That, that's, that is of great relevance, Noah, that you're bringing into the picture [00:13:00] Isaiah. Because the text does, Jesus is reading it, it's pointing to Him, it's telling us something about Him, who He was, what His mission was, and then ultimately, if you just stay in Isaiah, we know it as Isaiah 53.

11 and 12, just some of that in Isaiah 53, 11 and 12, just some of that. My righteous servant will justify many, he will bear their iniquities. He poured out his life unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many. This is my son, I'm pleased in him. And he, to fulfill all righteousness, yeah, he needed to be baptized.

And to fulfill all righteousness, he absolutely committed himself to doing the Father's will. Right. And the Father says, you are to be baptized by John. 

Noah: Right. The, the baptism of Jesus really marked the beginning of the [00:14:00] ministry of Jesus here on Earth in a very tangible way. He, he received the witness of both God and man.

In his baptism, God, the spirit of God came down and God said, this is the one John, the man pointed at him and said, I am a witness. This is the one he has been anointed with the spirit. He has come to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor as Isaiah prophesied about in Isaiah 61. And as, as you referenced from Isaiah 53, He's fulfilling all righteousness.

He's, he is here to do the work of the Lord as prophesied to fulfill all of the good and righteous things that God has had in store for his people. And then it also marked him as being in the role of son. And that really comes back to what you mentioned earlier in the podcast about the submission aspect of it.

That he is, the father says, this is [00:15:00] my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And the son in baptism is submitting to the father. And baptism just visibly demonstrates that he is, he's going through that. He's choosing to submit. In that way. 

Paul: Well, you know, clearly, at least for me, this fulfill all righteousness, this text in Matthew 3.

15 as it relates to Jesus being baptized, it is one of the most difficult for me in all the New Testament. Certainly in the Gospels and I, I try to, I mean, I try to keep things as simple as I can. For me, it doesn't make me right. I agree with everything you have said. I just break it down to, he's identifying Jesus as a son of God at the beginning of his ministry.

And it's an early visible demonstration of Jesus total dedication and carrying out heaven's plan. Yeah. And John says, okay. I will consent Jesus. You say it must be, I will consent. And Jesus happily [00:16:00] committed himself to doing the father's will. 

Noah: Yeah. Yeah. We, we, when we read this event, we just, we can't skim past it.

We can't skip over it. Like everything else that Jesus did, there was a purpose to this and we have to take time to sit and recognize that purpose. You've, we've both mentioned his perfect submission. I mean, if nothing else, if we walk away from this with nothing else, then recognizing Jesus perfect submission and how that needs to be imitated and mirrored in our lives, Jesus submitted to the Father in this way, He committed to the Father in this way, what should we do?

I mean, that's, that's the low hanging fruit, but that is a, that is a thought that is always worth spending time on. What does my submission and my commitment to the Father look like? 

Paul: Amen, amen. You know, what do you do [00:17:00] about the person that says, Well, okay, I'm going to be baptized because Jesus was baptized.

End of story.

You didn't know I was going to go there. 

Noah: No, no, I didn't. Well, I, I think like like you said last week, John, John chapter two we sometimes miss the main point of what's going on because there's a lot of noise about some specifics of the situation. I think this is one where that can happen too. Where the, the topic of baptism, which can be hotly debated in different circles, sometimes comes into play, right?

And what we miss is this is not about, this is not about our baptism and the necessity of our baptism. Now, That is a worthwhile discussion, just like the discussions, the noise from last week are worthwhile discussions, but that's not what this passage is about. This passage is a demonstration of Jesus's perfect submission to the father.

And yes, when we are baptized, we are [00:18:00] also demonstrating submission to, to Jesus and to the father. But if we come into this passage, Simply to try to make the point, well, this is why I get baptized. Well, then I think we're, we're really not dealing with the, the true meaning of what's going on here, recognizing this is the, this is the anointing of the Messiah.

This is the, the heralding of the one to come the, the, the savior of Israel. 

Paul: Yeah, I agree with that. This is, you know, I, I guess there's a sensitivity to me. Yeah. As a teacher and preacher, and I think you would agree with this, that we have, we have a very, James tells us we have a high accountability. as teachers.

We just do James 

Noah: 3. 

Paul: And so here, I need to be careful. I, I can't make a text. I shouldn't try to make a text, say or teach what it was never designed to say or teach. In order to prove what is a valid point, what I think is proved and revealed to [00:19:00] us in other texts of scripture, because So, when I try to make, whether it's John 2, whether it's Matthew 3 with Jesus baptism, we're talking about Jesus baptism today.

If I try to make a context or a text say what it was not intended to say, to push a point that I think is a necessary thing to be discussed, baptism, our baptism in water for the remission of sins, a repentance that takes place of our sins, confessing those sins. Then I can lose an audience. People can say, well, wait, I don't know if I can trust you because you're, you're taking a context, you're taking a text and making it say what it wasn't intended to say.

So how do I know you're not doing that? When X two 38. Or how do I know you're not doing that with some other text of scripture in the book of Acts? And, and I wouldn't want someone, I wouldn't want to lose credibility. I'm not saying everybody's, everybody's dishonest with the text who disagrees with me.

That's not my point. I'm just saying, I don't want to lose credibility with [00:20:00] someone who says, I don't know if I can trust you and pay attention to you. Cause how do I know you're not doing that? Stretching this text over here. 

Noah: Right, right. And along those lines, there's certainly a sense in which we can look at this passage and we can say, okay you know, John was there to point to Jesus, right?

He was there to proclaim and to witness this is him, this is the anointed one of God, and we can We see that he, he, him baptizing Jesus was a part of that pointing. And we could then say, well, our baptism as well points to Jesus. Our, our baptism is this, is a sign that, that points to Jesus and says, we're dying with him.

And we could look at what, you know acts in the epistles have to say about that, but even that discussion is not really. At the core of what's happening here. What we see here is Jesus came with a purpose. He came to fulfill that purpose. And in this, [00:21:00] in this time in perfect submission to the father and at the right time, as you mentioned before, he he went through this, he submitted to this.

In order to be witnessed and identified as The anointed one of Isaiah 61 anointed with the spirit and ready to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor to the people of Israel. 

Paul: Yeah. Amen. And he did it. Yes. Clearly the father had revealed to him at some point in time, he was very aware that this was something that needed to be done.

He needed to do it. He consented. He committed happily that attitude disposition. Let this mind be in you right which was also in Christ Jesus 

Noah: So for the last time did Jesus really do that? He was baptized. Yes Yes. Yes, he was so after 19 episodes if I'm counting correctly, we [00:22:00] are wrapping up season 5 did Jesus really Say that did Jesus really do that?

I know that I have benefited from these discussions. There have been challenging passages and challenging thoughts throughout. It is always worth the time to take a closer look at the life and teaching of Jesus. There is nothing but good to learn from the master teacher. 

Paul: Yeah. It's if Jesus has to focus.

Man, you can't get any better than that. That's right. And we call ourselves, we say we're a people of Christ. We say we're following Christ. We say we want to live like Christ. As long as Christ is the focus and we study the life of Jesus, I'm not saying that's the only thing, like the words in red, is the only thing in the New Testament that we need to pay attention to.

But when we're talking about Jesus, you don't get any better than that. Amen. 

Noah: So for those listening, thank you for joining us on this journey in season five and the larger journey of the Stan Strong podcast. Join us again [00:23:00] next week. We ask you come back next week and join us as we reveal our plans for where we're going in the Stan Strong podcast here on out.

And I think it's only fitting Paul that as we close out season five, we go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer and pray about what we've studied and where we're going. So if you would be willing to do that for us now, I would appreciate that. Sure, sure. 

Paul: Well, let's pray. God, we humble ourselves and we just commit everything to you.

You are a God and our father, we trust you. We acknowledge you as the true and living God. You know everything about us. Your plan is perfect. Your wisdom is superior. Your power is unmatched. God, you do all things well. You are good. We commit all of this to you and we humble ourselves in service before you.

We're so thankful for Jesus and for. The life that He lived, but ultimately, Father, the death that He died for us, [00:24:00] because of us, in doing Your will that provides for us redemption, forgiveness of our sins, salvation, eternal life. Thank You for Jesus, the hope that we have in Him. Father, for those that are listening today, for those that follow us.

In this podcast, who are in need of you, in need of mercy and favor and grace. Father, we pray that you will measure that out in your time as you see fit according to your will and not ours. Thank you for loving us, for setting us free through your son, Jesus. We pray and ask all of this in the name of Jesus.

Amen.