(JOHN I. 31.)
"Before me, as in darkening glass,
Some glorious outlines pass,
Of love, and truth, and holiness, and power--
I own them thine, O Christ,
And bless Thee in this hour."
F. R. HAVERGAL.
The Herald's Proclamation--The Meeting of John and Jesus--Christ's
Baptism--"It Becometh Us."--"My Beloved Son."
John's life, at this period, was an extraordinary one. By day he
preached to the teeming crowds, or baptized them; by night he would
sleep in some slight booth, or darksome cave. But the conviction grew
always stronger in his soul, that the Messiah was near to come; and
this conviction became a revelation. The Holy Spirit who filled him,
taught him. He began to see the outlines of his Person and work. As
he thought upon Him, beneath the gracious teaching of Him who had sent
him to baptize (John i. 33), the dim characteristics of his glorious
personality glimmered out on the sensitive plate of his inner
consciousness, and he could even describe Him to others, as well as
delineate Him for himself.
He conceived of the coming King, as we have seen, as the Woodman,
laying his axe at the root of the trees; as the Husbandman, fan in hand
to winnow the threshing-floor; as the Baptist, prepared to plunge all
faithful souls in his cleansing fires; as the Ancient of Days, who,
though coming after him in order of time, must be preferred before him
in order of precedence, because He was before him in the eternal glory
of his Being (John i. 15-30).
It was this vision of the Sun before the sunrise, as he viewed it from
the high peak of his own noble character, that induced in the herald
his conspicuous and beautiful humility. He insisted that he was not
worthy to perform the most menial service for Him whose advent he
announced. "I am content," he said in effect, "to be a voice, raised
for a moment to proclaim the King, and soon dying on the desert air,
whilst the person of the crier is unnoticed and unsought for; but I may
not presume to unloose the latchet of his shoes.... There cometh after
me He that is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not
worthy to stoop down and unloose."
John was not only humble in his self-estimate, but also in his modest
appreciation of the results of his work. It was only transient and
preparatory. It was given him to do; but it would soon be done. His
course was a short one, and it would soon be fulfilled (Acts xiii. 25).
His simple mission was to bid the people to believe on Him who should
come after him (xix. 4.) He was the morning star ushering in the day,
but destined to fade in the glory of ruddy dawn, flooding the eastern
sky.
But our impression of the sublime humility of this great soul will
become deeper, as we consider that marvellous scene in which he first
recognised the divine mission and claims of his Kinsman, Jesus of
Nazareth. Consider the meeting between the Sun and the star, and take
it as indicating an experience which must always supervene on the
cleansed and holy soul, which desires and prepares for it.
I. OUR LORD'S ADVENT TO THE JORDAN BANK.--For thirty years the Son of
Man had been about his Father's business in the ordinary routine of a
village carpenter's life. He had found scope enough there for his
marvellously rich and deep nature; reminding us of the philosopher's
garden, which, though only a dingy court in a crowded city, reached
through to the other side of the world on the one hand, and up to the
heaven of God on the other. Often He must have felt the strong
attraction of the great world of men, which He loved; and the wild
winds, as they careered over his village home, must have often borne to
Him the wail of broken hearts, asking Him to hasten to their relief.
On his ear must have struck the voices of Jairuses pleading for their
only daughters; of sisters interceding for their Lazaruses; of halt and
lame and blind entreating that He would come and heal them. But He
waited still, his eye on the dial-plate of the clock, till the time was
fulfilled which had been fixed in the Eternal Council Chamber.
As soon, however, as the rumours of the Baptist's ministry reached Him,
and He knew that the porter had taken up his position at the door of
the sheepfold, ready to admit the true Shepherd (John x. 3), He could
hesitate no longer. The Shechinah cloud was gathering up its fleecy
folds, and poising itself above Him, and moving slowly towards the
scene of the Baptist's ministry; and He had no alternative but to
follow. He must tear Himself away from Nazareth, home, and mother, and
take the road which would end at Calvary. "Then cometh Jesus from
Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him."
Tradition locates the scene of John's baptism as near Jericho, where
the water is shallow and the river opens out into large lagoons. But
some, inferring that Nazareth was within a day's journey of this
notable spot, place it nearer the southern end of the Lake of Galilee.
It may have been in the late afternoon when Jesus arrived. An
expression made use of by the evangelist Luke might seem to suggest
that all the people had been baptized for that day at least (Luke iii.
21); so that perhaps the crowds had dispersed, and the great prophet
was alone with one or two of those young disciples of whom we have
spoken. Or, Jesus may have arrived when the Jordan banks were alive
with the eager multitudes. But, in either case, a sudden and
remarkable change passed over the Baptist's face as he beheld his
Kinsman standing there.
Picture that remarkable scene. The arrowy stream, rushing down from
the Lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea; the rugged banks; the shadowy
forests; the erect, sinewy form of the Baptist; and Jesus of Nazareth,
as depicted by the olden traditions, with auburn hair, searching blue
eye, strong, sweet face, and all the beauty of his young manhood. At
the sight of Him, note how the high look on the Baptist's face lowers;
how his figure stoops in involuntary obeisance; how the voice that was
wont to ring out its messages in accents of uncompromising decision
falters and trembles!
John said, "I knew Him not" (John i. 31); but this need not be
interpreted as indicating that he had no acquaintance whatever with his
blameless relative. Such may have been the case, of course, since
John's life had been spent apart from the haunts of men. It is more
natural to suppose that the cousins had often met, as boys and
afterwards. But the Baptist had never realized that Jesus was the
Messiah whose advent he was sent to announce. He had not recognised
his high descent and claims. It had never occurred to him that this
simple village Carpenter, so closely related to himself, whose course
of life was apparently so absolutely ordinary and commonplace, could be
He of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write. In this sense
John could truly say, "I knew Him not."
But John knew enough of Him to be aware of his guileless, blameless
life. The story of his tender love for Mary; of his devotion to the
interests of his brothers and sisters; of his undefiled purity, of his
long vigils on the mountains till the morning called Him back to his
toils; of his deep acquaintance with Scripture; of his speech about the
Father--had reached the Baptist's ears. He had come to entertain the
profoundest respect amounting to veneration for his Kinsman; and, as He
presented Himself for baptism, John felt that there was a whole heaven
of difference between Him and all others. These publicans and sinners,
these Pharisees and scribes, these soldiers and common people--had
every need to repent, confess, and be forgiven; but there was surely no
such need for Him, who had been always, and by general acknowledgment,
"holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." "I have need,"
said he, "to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?" (Matt. iii.
14).
There may have been, besides, an indescribable presentiment that stole
over that lofty nature--like that knowledge of good men and bad which
is often given to noble women. He knew men; his eagle eye had searched
their hearts, as he had heard them confess their sins; and at a glance
he could tell what was in them. A connoisseur of souls was he. Among
all the pearls that had passed through his hands--some goodly ones
among them--none had seemed so rare and pure as this; it was a pearl of
great price, for which a man might be prepared to part with all he
possessed, if only to obtain it. There was an indefinable majesty, a
moral glory, a tender grace, an ineffable attractiveness in this Man,
which was immediately appreciated by the greatest of woman-born,
because of his own intrinsic nobility and greatness of soul. It needed
a Baptist to recognise the Christ. He who had never quailed before
monarch or people, directly he came in contact with Christ, cast the
crown of his manhood at his feet, and shrank away. The eagle that had
soared unhindered in mid-heaven seemed transfixed by a sudden dart, and
fell suddenly, with a strange, low cry, at the feet of its Creator. "I
have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?"
II. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRIST'S BAPTISM.--"Suffer it to be so now:
for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness"--with such words
our Lord overruled the objections of his loyal and faithful Forerunner.
This is the first recorded utterance of Christ, after a silence of more
than twenty years; the first also of his public ministry: it demands
our passing notice. He does not say, "I have need to be baptized of
thee"; nor does He say, "Thou hast no need to be baptized of Me." He
does not stay to explain why the greater should be baptized by the
less: or why a rite which confessed sin was required for one who was
absolutely sinless. It is enough to appeal to the Baptist as his
associate in a joint necessary act, becoming to them both as part of
the Divine procedure, and therefore claiming their common obedience.
"Thus it becometh us (you and me) to fulfil all righteousness."
In his baptism, our Lord acknowledged the divine authority of the
Forerunner. As the last and greatest of the prophets, who was to close
the Old Testament era, for "the law and the prophets prophesied until
John"; as the representative of Elijah the prophet, before the great
and notable day of the Lord could come; as the porter of the Jewish
fold--John occupied a unique position, and it was out of deference to
his appointment by the Father, and as an acknowledgment of his office,
that Jesus sought baptism at his hands.
John's baptism, moreover, was the inauguration of the Kingdom of
Heaven. In it the material made way for the spiritual. The old
system, which gave special privileges to the children of Abraham, was
in the act of passing away, confessing that God could raise up children
to Abraham from the stones at the water's edge; and demanding that
those who would enter the Kingdom must be born from above, of water and
of the Spirit. It was the outward and visible sign that Judaism was
unavailing for the deepest needs of the spirit of man, and that a new
and more spiritual system was about to take its place, and Christ said,
in effect, "I, too, though King, obey the law of the Kingdom, and bow
my head, that, by the same sign as the smallest of my subjects, I may
pass forward to my throne."
There was probably a deeper reason still. That Jordan water, flowing
downwards to the Dead Sea, was symbolical. In the purity of its
origin, amid the snows of Hermon, and in the beauty of its earlier
course, it was an emblem of man's original constitution, when the
Creator made him in His own image and pronounced him very good; but in
these sullied and troubled waters hurrying on to the Sea of
Death--waters in which thousands of sinners had confessed their sins,
with tears and sighs--how apt an emblem was there of the history of our
race, contaminated by the evil that is in the world through lust, and
meriting the wages of sin--death! With that race, in its sin and
degradation, our Lord now formally identified Himself. His baptism was
his formal identification with our fallen and sinful race, though He
knew no sin for Himself, and could challenge the minutest inspection of
his enemies: "Which of you convinceth Me of sin?"
Was He baptized because He needed to repent, or to confess his sins?
Nay, verily! He was as pure as the bosom of God, from which He came;
as pure as the fire that shone above them in the orb of day; as pure as
the snows on Mount Hermon, rearing itself like a vision of clouds on
the horizon: but He needed to be made sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. When the paschal lamb had been chosen by
the head of a Jewish household, it was customary to take it, three days
before it would be offered, to the priest, to have it sealed with the
Temple seal; so our Lord, three years before his death, must be set
apart and sealed by the direct act of the Holy Spirit, through the
mediation of John the Baptist. "Him hath God the Father sealed."
"It becometh us"--I like that word, _becometh_. If the Divine Lord
thought so much about what was becoming, surely we may. It should
not be a question with us, merely as to what may be forbidden or
harmful, what may or may not be practised and permitted by our
fellow-Christians, or even whether there are distinct prohibitions in
the Bible that bar the way--but if a certain course is becoming. "Need
I pass through that rite?" _It is becoming_. "Need I perform that
lowly act?" _It is becoming_. "Need I renounce my liberty of action in
that respect?" _It would be very becoming_. And whenever some
hesitant soul, timid and nervous to the last degree, dares to step out,
and do what it believes to be the right thing because it is becoming,
Jesus comes to it, enlinks his arm, and says, "Thou art not alone in
this. Thou and I stand together here. It becomes us to fill up to its
full measure all righteousness." Ah, soul, thou shalt never step forth
on a difficult and untrodden path without hearing his footfall behind
thee, and becoming aware that in every act of righteousness Christ
identifies Himself, saying, "Thus it becometh _us_ to fulfil all
righteousness."
A friend suggests that the Lord Jesus was here referring to the sublime
prophecy of Daniel ix. 24. That He might make an end of sin and bring
in everlasting righteousness, it was essential that the Lamb of God
should confess the sins of the people as his own (see Psa. lxix. 5).
This was his first step on his journey to the Cross, every step of
which was in fulfilment of all righteousness, in order that He might
bring in everlasting righteousness.
"Then he suffered Him." Some things we have to _do_ for Christ, and
some to _bear_ for Him. Active virtues are great; but the passive ones
are rarer and cost more, especially for strong natures like the
Baptist's. But, in all our human life, there is nothing more
attractive than when a strong man yields to another, accepts a deeper
interpretation of duty than he had perceived, and is prepared to set
aside his strong convictions of propriety before the tender pleadings
of a still, soft voice. Yield to Christ, dear heart. Suffer Him to
have his way. Take his yoke, and be meek and lowly of heart--so shalt
thou find rest.
III. THE DESIGNATION OF THE MESSIAH.--It is not to be supposed that
the designation of Jesus as the Christ was given to any but John. It
was apparently a private sign given to him, as the Forerunner and
Herald, through which he might be authoritatively informed as to the
identity of the Messiah. To say nothing of the impossibility of
ordinary and unanointed eyes beholding the descent of the Holy Spirit,
John's own statements seem to point clearly in this direction. He
says, "I knew Him not" (_i.e._, as Son of God), "but He that sent me to
baptize with water, He said unto me, 'Upon whomsoever thou shalt see
the Spirit descending, and abiding upon Him, the same is He that
baptizeth with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen, and have borne
witness that this is the Son of God" (John i. 32-34). The same thought
appears from putting a perfectly legitimate construction on the words
of the first evangelist: "Lo, the heavens were opened unto him"
(_i.e._, the Baptist), "and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a
dove, and coming upon Him" (Matt. iii. 16).
What a theophany was here! As the Man of Nazareth emerged from the
water, the sign for which John had been eagerly waiting and looking was
granted. He had believed he would see it, but had never thought to see
it granted to one so near akin to himself. We never expect the great
God to come to us! And the exclamation, Lo, indicates his startled
surprise. He saw far away into the blue vault, which had opened into
depth after depth of golden glory. The vail was rent to admit of the
coming forth of the Divine Spirit, who seemed to descend in visible
shape--as a dove might, with gentle, fluttering motion--and to alight
on the head of the Holy One, who stood there fresh from his baptism.
The stress of the narrator, as he told the story afterwards, was that
the Spirit not only came, but _abode_. Here was the miracle of
miracles, that He should be willing to _abide_ in any human temple, who
for so many ages had wandered restlessly over the deluge of human sin,
seeking a resting-place, but finding none. Here, at least, was an ark
into which this second Noah might pull in the fluttering dove, unable
to feed, like the raven, on corruption and death.
The voice of God from heaven proclaimed that Jesus of Nazareth was his
beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased; and the Baptist could have no
further doubt that the Desire of all Nations, the Lord whom his people
sought, the Messenger of the Covenant, had suddenly come to his temple
to act as a refiner's fire and as fullers' soap. "John bare witness,
saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven;
and it abode upon Him." "John beareth witness of Him and crieth" (John
i. 15, 32).
How much that designation meant to Christ! It was his Pentecost, his
consecration and dedication to his life-work; from thenceforth, in a
new and special sense, the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, and He was
anointed to preach. But it was still more to the Baptist. He knew
that his mission was nearly fulfilled, that his office was ended. He
had opened the gate to the true Shepherd, and must now soon consign to
Him all charge of the flock. Jesus must increase, while he decreased.
He that was from heaven was above all; as for himself, he was of the
earth, and spake of the earth. The Sun had risen, and the day-star
began to wane.