Luke 3:15-17;21-22 - The Baptism of Jesus

Luke 3:15As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 21Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

An Early Church Scandal: In the early years of the spread of Christianity, when Luke wrote his gospel, the baptism of Jesus was a well-documented embarrassment. People were trying to share the gospel with their friends and neighbors and this story kept raising uncomfortable questions such as, “If you want me to be baptized for forgiveness of my sins, why did Jesus need to be baptized? What was his sin?” And “If you say that in baptism I will become a child of God, then was it Jesus’ baptism that made him God’s son?” And “If Jesus was the great and sinless Son of God, why would he submit to being baptized by John the Baptist? Doesn’t that mean John was superior to Jesus?” Long arguments were made for simply deleting the story from the scriptures altogether because it was too hard to interpret and was becoming a stumbling block of faith. Even so, the story has captured and captivated Christians throughout the centuries and occurs in similar form in the three synoptic gospels. In Luke, the emphasis is not so much on the baptism itself. Rather, he focuses on the divine encounter that happens in prayer after.  

John the Baptist, a prophet from the priestly family of Zechariah, was a contemporary and cousin of Jesus (about 6 months older). He is reported to have lived some of his adult life as a hermit to prepare himself for his prophetic role. His strange dress, courageous speech, wildly charismatic manner and the common belief that someone great (Messiah) was about to appear to save the people, made him enormously popular. His central message was repentance. He later ran afoul of King Herod’s wife and wound up being beheaded.
Baptism in the time of Jesus was a sign of repentance and washing clean from unrighteousness. Ordinarily, a person was baptized by someone who was spiritually greater in order to become a disciple of that teacher. The fact that John baptized Jesus led many at the time to conclude that John was the one with greater authority. Because their messages were in many ways so similar, there was disagreement and speculation about whether John or Jesus might be the Messiah for which they longed. Luke deals with this speculation with John’s own statement on the subject.

Word Study
Vs. 15 – the people were filled with expectation – There are times when people’s need for a leader who can actually accomplish something becomes almost palpable. This was one of those times. The Hebrew people were fairly twitching with their need for a Savior. It was clear that it was a ripe moment. God was up to something. God was about to answer their calling. They just weren’t sure who God was calling to the special role of Messiah. John was acclaimed and beloved. Maybe it was him, they thought. That hope was what filled them with expectation as they gathered for this mass baptism.
Vs. 16 – John makes clear to the crowds that he is not the Messiah for which they are looking. He is there to help them with repentance and turning toward what God is doing, but they are to look for another to fulfill their Messianic hopes.
Vs. 17 – winnowing fork – Linda McKinnish Bridges in writing about this passage explains this image beautifully. “This common agricultural image was frequently used in the biblical world…The harvested grain is taken the threshing floor and cleaned. Toss a portion of the harvested grain in the air with a winnowing fan, a fork-like shovel, then let the wind do the work. The wind takes control of the process, separating the wheat from the chaff, a mixture of heavy husks and straw. The wheat falls away from the chaff. The chaff is collected and burned, and the wheat remains safely stored in the barn.” (Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 1, p. 239.) This is an image of judgment and sorting. He is saying that when Messiah comes, he will sort this mess out.
Vs. 21 – now when all the people were baptized – Jesus, in Luke, is not singled out. He is apart of a mass baptism, standing in line and waiting his turn like all the others.
Was praying – This is the emphasis in Luke, not on the baptism itself but on this time of prayer afterwards. Prayer was the window to divine encounter.
Heaven was opened – the ancients understood heaven as a kind of set of inverted bowls that were set in place over the earth to protect the earth from the waters of chaos that they held back. The image here is of people looking up and seeing the nearest bowl cracked open. This would have been frightening as it meant that they were both vulnerable to chaos and to a direct experience of God.
Vs. 22 – bodily form like a dove – In the other gospel accounts the image of the dove is metaphorical. In Luke it is physical.
You are my Son…. This message from God comes from Isaiah 42:1 and Psalm 2:7. Those two passages refer to Messiah’s royal and servant roles. The two cannot be separated.

Questions for Personal Reflection
1. If asked to describe yourself, what words would come to your mind? How do you think that God would describe you?

2. By sharing in baptism, Jesus acknowledges the sin and brokenness of the world. Are there areas of your life that you need to offer to Jesus for cleansing today?

3. Jesus immediately turns to God in prayer after his baptism. It is in prayer that he receives his encouragement and mission. How would you rate your prayer life right now? How might you deepen your time with God in prayer?