The next window we see on the south side of our church is a window which depicts John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. As we examine this window, we might ask several questions. Who was John the Baptist? Why was he baptizing? Why would Jesus—our perfect God—want to be baptized? Was John’s baptism the same as the Sacrament of Baptism which Jesus instituted? We might even ask why John is wearing animal skins.
First of all, let us see what we can learn about John the Baptist. We might recall that the first time we hear about him is in Luke 1, where we are introduced to his father Zechariah, a priest of Judah. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were “both righteous” and “blameless”. (Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God, too, saw each of us as righteous and blameless?) They were an older couple and had never been blessed with children, but when Zechariah was in the temple offering incense to God while many people were outside uniting their prayers with his, suddenly an angel appeared to him. The angel announced, “I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God; and I was sent to speak to you…” Frightened yet attentive, Zechariah learned that his prayers had been heard. What had Zechariah been praying for? He was so far along in years that it is perhaps questionable that he was praying for a son, yet Zechariah had great faith in God. As a priest of Israel, he certainly must have prayed for his country and world. Whether Zechariah prayed for one or two or all three of the above, God was about to answer his prayers. He and Elizabeth would have a son, and Gabriel says that that son, John, “will be great before the Lord…he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah. “Wow! Imagine what a dad might feel and think upon hearing these words!
The next time we hear about John is when Mary goes to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth, who is expecting the baby Gabriel promised. Just as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, “the baby leaped in her womb…for joy.” At this moment Elizabeth is made aware that Mary, too is with child, and Elizabeth exclaims, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of you womb! And why is this granted me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Thus we see that already John is doing what the Lord has called him to do. After John is born, his father says, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High: for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people…”
John grows up and prepares for his mission by spending time in the wilderness. Then “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar” (27or 29 A.D.) John goes “into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. (Luke 3:2-3) Matthew tells us that John was prophesied by Isaiah, who spoke of, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.” (Matt 3:3)
Remember that Gabriel said that John would have the “spirit and power of Elijah”? John reminds his people of the prophet Elijah, who “wore a garment of haircloth, with a girdle of leather about his loins.” (2 Kings 1:8) Matthew says, “Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather girdle around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.”(3:4-5) Matthew adds that “Jerusalem and all Judea and the entire region about the Jordan” went out to hear John preach and to be baptized by him. (Matt. 3:5-6)
John baptizes people in the Jordan River, and thus—symbolically—they turn away from their sinful lives and their sins are washed away (forgiven). John’s baptism, however, did not have the power of the Sacrament of Baptism. It did not actually cleanse souls of sin as the Sacrament of Baptism does. The sacrament not only bestows God’s forgiveness for all previous sins: it also gives sanctifying grace. Our Catechism tells us that this grace “heals our human nature wounded by sin by giving us a share in the divine life of the Trinity.” It also helps us to resist temptations to sin and thus to be more holy and Christ like.
If John’s baptism was meant to help people reform their lives in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, why then did Jesus want to be baptized? After all, He was the Messiah. He had committed no sins, so he did not need to have sins symbolically washed away. Even John saw no need for Jesus to be baptized. He said to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me? (Matt. 3:14)
Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matt. 3:15)
Our Catechism tells us that with this baptism Jesus accepts the role of “God’s suffering servant. He allows Himself to be numbered among sinners; He is already the ‘Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.’ Already He is anticipating the ‘baptism of His death’” (CCC 536)
As a Jewish boy and man, Jesus had already obeyed all of God’s commands. He had been circumcised, presented at the temple, and redeemed as the firstborn. Now, at the age of which, according to Jewish custom, rabbis began to carry out their function as teachers, Jesus was about to begin His public life. To fulfill all righteousness means to do everything that will fulfill all of God’s will and designs for salvation. So Jesus was baptized to fulfill God’s saving plan in all its aspects as a final preparation for beginning His public mission. Saint Thomas Aquinas says there was another reason, as well, for Jesus to be baptized by John in the presence of so many witnesses. He says, “When He attained to the perfect age… when the time came for Him to teach, to work miracles, and to draw men to Himself, then it was fitting for His Godhead to be attested to from on high by the Father’s testimony, so that His teaching might be the more credible.”
Our window depicts this moment. Notice the dove—the symbol of the Holy Spirit—descending from above? From the moment of His conception, Jesus was fully God and fully man. (He was one divine person, but He had two natures—one divine and one human.) Thus He and the Holy Spirit were always totally united, but the descent of the Holy Spirit indicates that now the Holy Spirit was beginning His action through Jesus.
It is in this moment that John hears “A voice from heaven, saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Thus the mystery of the Holy Trinity is revealed, and Jesus is declared the divine, only-begotten Son of God.
Let’s see. Have we answered all of the questions posed when we began our consideration of this window? Well, our first question was, “Who was John the Baptist?” We know he was Jesus’ kinsman, we know his mission was to prepare the people for coming of the Messiah, we know that he baptized people as a symbolic way of washing their sins away, and we know he led a simple life of penance. There are a few more things we could add. He was humble. At one point he says that he is not even worthy to unite Jesus’ sandal, and he tells his followers that Jesus “must increase, but I must decrease.” John loved God and the truth so much that he was not ashamed to shout the truth in the streets of Israel. He honestly and courageously warned people that they needed to prepare themselves spiritually to meet their Lord by changing their hearts, reforming their lives, and doing penance for their sins. Good advice for us even today, isn’t it? Want to know more about what happened to John? Read Luke 3, Marks 6, and Matthew 14.
Want to know more about Jesus’ baptism by John or about the Sacrament of Baptism? Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church 535-537 or see pages 758-759 in the index.
