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This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Ben Cline, Gary Schick and Johnathan Hernandez.

Gary Schick
Well, here's the question guys, "In Matthew 3:15, what did Jesus mean when he said 'permit it to be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Jonathan, what do you think?

Jonathan Hernandez
Yeah, so this portion of scripture is talking when Jesus walks up to John the Baptist and asks him to baptize him. And we all know that John's like, "Wait, what? Shouldn't you be doing this to me?" And so, you know, we get into this verse where Jesus says, "permit it to be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." And so as we look at this, I look at it as, so this is the completing of every righteous requirement. This is what Jesus is basically saying. "I've come to complete all these things," and we see that on the cross, "but here I'm fulfilling the the cleansing of the lamb." Cause He's the lamb that dies for us, the sacrificial lamb. So He was a sacrificial lamb, this is the cleansing of Him in that sense the Lamb's supposed to be spotless, blemish. And obviously we know that Jesus, you know, has no sin. So the baptism that John is baptizing with is that repentance. And we would ask, "Okay well, why is Jesus being baptized when He has nothing to repent of?" Right? He's already clean, He's already spotless, but He's taking these on for us, you know? And ultimately He'll die on the cross for our sins. So this is how I see it, as that was the fulfillment of every righteous requirement leading up towards that cross.

Ben Cline
Yeah, again it's important, like Jonathan did, to look at the context of that verse. And just to understand that Jesus definitely did not have to be baptized. He didn't need the baptism of John, because again He didn't have anything to repent for. Jesus was perfect and he didn't have any sin but, you know, you think of this as a time of transition too. Where people had been following John the Baptist and they'd been following his teaching and he had been teaching them about two things. He had been teaching them about repentance, and then the second thing was very closely tied to that. They were, you know, repenting in anticipation for the coming Messiah, and now this time of transition, they're transitioning from following John and his teaching to following Jesus and His teaching. This really was the launch of the public ministry of Jesus into the world and He would be teaching sinners about Himself.

Ben Cline
And so when you think about Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist, again, He really had no need of the baptism of repentance. But it was a way for Him to identify with the sinners that He came to save. And it really was a beautiful picture as well, just the baptism that happened that day. There were really a couple of cool things that I think came out of that. You know, number one: that being baptized by John the Baptist was, you know, I think a validation of John's teaching and his ministry. And then also you see in that baptism, a picture of the three persons of the Godhead who are involved. You know, Jesus being baptized in water, He was picturing his death, burial, and resurrection. And then, you see the Holy Spirit's presence there with the dove just showing His presence of truth and His presence of peace throughout the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. And then the Father also coming in and they could audibly hear His voice and saying that He was pleased with His Son and also loving Him through that sacrifice that He would be making. So just some thoughts. I mean, I'm not sure if, you know, I answered this particular question, but there's some thoughts that I think relate back to that question.

Gary Schick
Well and, you know, one thing that I was thinking was, as we look at this verse, and I think you guys did a great job with it. We look at it in the context of what comes before and after. And so I'm just gonna pause here and read the passage from Matthew, starting at verse 13. It says, "then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan, to John to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him saying, 'I need to be baptized by you and you come to me?' But Jesus answered him, 'Let it be so; for thus, it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness,' then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized immediately, He went up from the water and behold, the heavens were open to Him and He saw the spirit of God, descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, 'this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased." And so, just to kind of recap what you both said. Number one: John got it right with his question, "I need to be baptized by you Jesus, cause you're the sinless one," you know? And so Jesus is not coming for the washing wave of His sins, just like He didn't go to the cross for His sins. But He is, from the baptism to the cross identifying with, actually it starts at the conception when He identifies with us and our humanity. But now, He is really identifying His mission. He's come to be identified with the sins of the world, even though they are not His. And to walk in this life in a public way, and at the same time, as He is identified with us, the Holy Spirit and the Father---the other two aspects of the Triune God---identify with Him publicly. The Spirit descends upon Him, and the voice from heaven, "Here is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." And so at his first public identification with us in our humanity, the Father and the Spirit publicly announce His divinity. And as you pointed out so well, the whole mission is encapsulated. And even right down now, you know, to our baptism, which is different than the baptism of John. It was, you know, repentance and preparation for the Messiah. And here He is now, ours looks back on Him and celebrates. You know, everything we do in baptism, no matter what your background is on that, it's still really about the same thing. It's about Jesus. It's about the washing away that He came to do, that we receive by faith in Him and just how totally exciting that is!