This question is a big question! Whether you’re teaching about baptism as a practice in the church, or you’ve come to it in one of the gospels, it is clear that a lot of the reasons we would get baptised cannot be the reasons Jesus got baptised. There isn’t space to cover everything about baptism here, but we’ll answer the question by talking about some of the reasons Christians get baptised, why these reasons don’t apply to Jesus and how they relate to why Jesus did it.
What is baptism for?
Death, burial and resurrection: Baptism is mostly something the church does to show that someone has become a Christian. Once someone has trusted in Jesus to forgive them and chosen to follow him, they get baptised. This is a way of showing everybody that they’re with Jesus now: just as Jesus died, was buried and rose again, someone being baptised goes under the water, stays for a moment and then comes up again. This shows everyone that we’re one with Jesus now; dead to our old lives and sins and having a new start in a new life with Jesus. (See Romans 6:3-4 for what Paul says about this)
Washing away of sins: There’s another reason why water is used to baptise people and that’s because we also use it for washing. When John the Baptist baptised people in the river Jordan it was to show that they’d repented. Repenting means to turn away from our sin and turn back to God. It’s to show that you haven’t obeyed him in the past but will, with the Spirit’s help, obey him in the future. (You can see this in Matthew 3:1-12 where John the Baptist preaches. Verses 2, 5-6 and 11 make it the most clear.) Being ‘washed’ in the water during baptism shows that, because Jesus was punished for our sins on the cross, our sins have been washed off us and we can be clean and right before the perfectly clean and holy God.
(We’ve been talking mostly about the kind of baptism where you go into a lot of water and then come out again, sometimes because of technical difficulties or tradition people will simply have some water poured or sprinkled on their head. This still represents all the same things.)
What’s different about Jesus’ baptism?
No death, burial and resurrection yet: Jesus can’t have been baptised to show that he was now one with Jesus; because he already is! Baptism didn’t start to show us being joined with Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection until after he’d already done those things. Jesus was baptised years before he would die and people would make the associations between how baptism works and his salvation.
No sin to wash away: The Bible is very clear that Jesus was tempted, that there were bad choices he could make and that they looked good to him, but that he never gave into temptation, he always did as his Father wanted and made good choices. (Hebrews 4:15 tells us this and Peter who knew him very well for three years says this about him in 1 Peter 2:22). Because he is completely God as well as being completely human, he is the only human who has ever been sinless. So, Jesus didn’t need baptism to show that his sins were washed away because he didn’t have any sin to be washed away.
So why does Jesus get baptised?
John the Baptist recognises that Jesus has come from God and that he doesn’t need to repent so he says: ‘I need to be baptised by you why do you come to me?’ John is asking the same question which we’re asking now. Fortunately Matthew wrote done Jesus’ reply “Let it be so now, it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” When we look closer into Jesus’ answer we can see three reasons why he got baptised:
A new start: Jesus was getting baptised just before the Spirit would lead him into the wilderness where he would be tempted by the devil and then after that he would start teaching about God’s kingdom. Jesus says about John baptising him “Let it be so now” because this is the right time for him to be baptised. Although he doesn’t need to die to a sinful life he is about to have a new start as a teacher and miracle worker. Like Christians being baptised today, Jesus’ baptism also showed others that it was a new start for him.
In obedience: When Jesus is baptised it is out of obedience to God. Like the other people who heard John and got baptised, Jesus wants to demonstrate to others that he has turned to God and is following him whole heartedly. The difference being that Jesus was never turned away from God in the first place; he dudn’t have any sin to wash away. In being baptiised he fulfils all righteousness, by doing everything that is necessary to be right with God and obedient to him. (If you want a more in depth look at this Jonathan Pennington’s article explains this well)
An example: Since Jesus was baptised to fulfil all righteousness then Christians should be too. And in this, as in everything else that Christians do, we’re not asked to do anything that Jesus hasn’t done himself. When we’re baptised we follow in his example, doing what he did, showing what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
(We’ve talked a lot about baptism being something that ‘shows’ others what we believe. There are some places however where being a Christian is really dangerous, in places like that a baptism might be done in secret in the middle of the night, in a river far away from others, or in a very cold weather when not many people are outside. Even though fewer people will see these baptisms, just other believers and maybe not many of them, these are still important in showing God, the church and the person being baptised what has changed inside them.)