The 10 o’clock service this Sunday marks a holy trifecta. We will witness a baptism at Good Samaritan, have an opportunity to renew our own baptismal vows and, most importantly, observe the feast day for the Baptism of our Lord.

As we prepare for that, ponder this. Jesus was baptized by John in the River Jordan. He later commanded his disciples to go into all the world and baptize. Why then is there nothing in the Bible about Jesus, himself, personally ever baptizing anyone?

One explanation is that Jesus did not want people thinking themselves superior to other believers based on who had baptized them. Someone baptized by Jesus might be tempted to broadcast the fact and feel a little smug around those who were only baptized by, say, Thomas or Thaddaeus. Indeed, in 1 Corinthians, Paul cautions against following only the individual who baptized you and not Christ, himself.

It's true that two verses in John 3 seem to suggest that Jesus did baptize, but by Chapter 4 there’s almost a retraction, saying: it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. An analogy might be that a manager of a lawn service might be said to mow grass even though he doesn’t personally do it; that is what he assigns who work for him to do.

But there is another problem. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, John was still baptizing, and that might have led to comparisons. If Jesus had personally baptized people, it could have led to factionalism. One reason scholars are fairly certain that Jesus really was baptized by John involves a historical principle known as the criterion of embarrassment. This states that a story is probably historical if its events might embarrass the author or subject of the story. It was such a widely-known fact that it had to be included by the Gospel writers. But why would Jesus' baptism by John be considered an embarrassment?

Well, if Jesus was sinless: how could he be “washed” of any sinfulness by John? Father Tom will attempt to explain that on Sunday and how there came to be debate over what is a “proper” baptism. For now, as poet Anne Osdieck suggested, “Let us come up from the water too, into a new life of your Spirit and of your love. And take the grace of our Baptism to everyone on earth.”

May God's grace and blessings guide you always.

~Fr. Tom