John was of the same lineage as Christ, if not better. His father was a priest: his mother was the cousin of Mary. He was raised not in Galilee, where no prophet ever came from, but in the hill country of Judah: his preaching was causing a revival among the Jews, where all factions were repenting.

So they wondered if he was the king to come, the Messiah, for they read the latter prophets and considered that the time of their liberation was upon them. John had courage: he was prepared to confront the sins of rulers, even at the cost of being imprisoned, or his death.

But John said he was not that one. And when Jesus himself was baptized, the heavens opened, and Christ was proclaimed the Christ publicly. These events did not happen in a corner: they were public.

As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

(Luke 3:15-22 ESV)

I am still unsure why Jesus needed to be baptized. In another gospel, John says that he should be the one being baptized: Jeses says it needs to happen so that righteousness can be complete. I am still unsure what that means. Jesus was without sin: John who Jesus described as the greatest prophet that had come and would come, was aware he fell short. But then I remember a comment at Elspeth’s yesterday.

On the direct interpersonal interactions: if you swim in a sewer you stink. And those who need to be saved live in that darn sewer: our Lord dived right in, and told us to follow his example, so we could save others. But in doing this you will feel dirty.

At times physically: I have been in houses so dirty that I have come home and put antiseptic (Dettol) in the bath and basically sheep dipped myself until I feel clean.

I wonder if Christ was literally modeling this. Knowing that even the gentlest and noblest of us are repugnant, for we all have sin: we all struggle with our evil habits, we all are imperfect, we all cause pain to one another.

And it reminds me to talk, again, to my sons about baptism. The season for this in our congregation is Lent, but they need to make that call when they are ready. And both have high stake examinations in October and November. Perhaps it would be wiser to pray now, and talk later.