From: Mark 1:4-5, 7-11
The Ministry of John the Baptist
[7] And he (John the Baptist) preached, saying, “After me comes he who is migh-
tier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
[8] I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus Is Baptized
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Commentary:
4. St John the Baptist presents himself to the people after spending five years in
the desert. He invites the Israelites to prepare for the coming of the Messiah by
doing penance. The figure of St John points to the continuity between the Old
and New Testaments: he is the last of the prophets and the first of the witnesses
to Jesus. Whereas the other prophets announced Jesus from afar, John the Bap-
tist was given the special privilege of actually pointing him out (cf. Jn 1:29; Mt
11:9-11).
The baptism given by the Precursor was not Christian Baptism: it was a peniten-
tial rite; but it prefigured the dispositions needed for Christian Baptism — faith in
Christ, the Messiah, the source of grace, and voluntary detachment from sin.
5. “Confessing their sins”: by seeking John’s baptism a person showed that he
realized he was a sinner: the rite which John performed announced forgiveness
of sins through a change of heart and helped remove obstacles in the way of a
person’s acceptance of the Kingdom (Lk 3:10-14).
This confessing of sin was not the same as the Christian sacrament of Penance.
But it was pleasing to God because it was a sign of interior repentance and the
people performed genuine penitential acts (Mt 3:7-10; Lk 3:7-9). In the Sacra-
ment of Penance, in order to obtain God’s forgiveness one must confess one’s
sins orally. In this connection Bl. John Paul II has said: “And keep in mind that
the teaching of the Council of Trent on the need for confession of all mortal sins
still holds and will always hold (Sess. XIV, Chap. 5 and Can. 7). The norm taught
by St Paul and by the same Council of Trent, according to which the worthy re-
ception of the Eucharist must be preceded by the confession of sins when one
is conscious of mortal sin, is and always will be in force in the Church (Sess.
XIII, Chap. 7 and Can. 11)” (”Address to Penitentiaries of the Four Major Basili-
cas in Rome”, 30 January 1981).
8. “Baptizing with the Holy Spirit” refers to the Baptism Jesus will institute and
shows how it differs from the baptism of John. In John’s baptism, as in the other
rites of the Old Testament, grace was only signified, symbolized. “By the bap-
tism of the New Law, men are baptized inwardly by the Holy Spirit, and this is
accomplished by God alone. But by the baptism of John the body alone was
cleansed by the water” (St. Thomas Aquinas, “Summa Theologiae, III, q. 38, art.
2 ad 1). In Christian Baptism, instituted by our Lord, the baptismal rite not only
signifies grace but is the effective cause of grace, i.e. it confers grace. “Baptism
confers the first sanctifying grace and the supernatural virtues, taking away Origi-
nal Sin and also personal sins if there are any, together with the entire debt of
punishment which the baptized person owes for sin. In addition, Baptism impres-
ses the Christian character in the soul and makes it able to receive the other sa-
craments” (”St. Pius X Catechism”, 295). The effects of Christian Baptism, like
everything to do with the sanctification of souls, are attributed to the Holy Spirit,
the “Sanctifier”. It should be pointed out, however, that like all the “ad extra”
actions of God (i.e. actions external to the intimate life of the Blessed Trinity),
the sanctification of souls is the work of all three Divine Persons.
9. Our Lord’s hidden life takes place (apart form his birth at Bethlehem and the
time he was in Egypt) in Nazareth of Galilee from where he comes to receive
John’s baptism.
Jesus has no need to receive this baptism of conversion. However, it was appro-
priate that he who was going to establish the New Alliance should recognize and
accept the mission of his Precursor by being baptized with his baptism: this
would encourage people to prepare to receive the Baptism which was necessary.
The Fathers comment that our Lord went to receive John’s baptism in order to ful-
fill all righteousness (cf. Mt 3:15), to give us an example of humility, to become
widely known, to have people believe in Him and to give life-giving strength to the
waters of Baptism.
“Ever since the Baptism of Christ in the water, Baptism removes the sins of all”
(St Augustine, “Sermon” 135).
“There are two different periods of time which relate to Baptism—one the period
of its institution by the Redeemer; the other the establishment of the law regar-
ding its reception. [...] The second period to be distinguished, that is, the time
when the law of Baptism was made, also admits of no doubt. Holy writers are
unanimous in saying that after the Resurrection of our Lord, when he gave to his
Apostles the command to go and ‘make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost’ (Mt 28:19) the
law of Baptism became obligatory on all who were to be saved” (”St. Pius V
Catechism”, Part II).
10. The visible presence of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove marks the begin-
ning of Christ’s public ministry. The Holy Spirit will also appear, in the form of
tongues of fire, on the occasion when the Church begins its mission to all the
world on the day of Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:3-21).
The Fathers usually interpret the dove as a symbol of peace and reconciliation
between God and men. It first appears in the account of the flood (Gen 8:10-11)
as a sign that God’s punishment of mankind has come to an end. Its presence
at the beginning of Christ’s public ministry symbolizes the peace and reconci-
liation he will bring.
11. At the very beginning of his public life the mystery of the Holy Trinity is made
manifest: “The Son is baptized, the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove
and the voice of the Father is heard” (St Bede, “In Marci Evangelium expositio,
in loc.”). “The Holy Spirit dwells in him,” the same author goes on, “but not from
the moment of his Baptism, but from the moment he became man.” In other
words, Jesus did not become God’s son at his Baptism; he is the Son of God
from all eternity. Nor did he become the Messiah at this point; he was the Mes-
siah from the moment he became man.
Baptism is the public manifestation of Jesus as Son of God and as Messiah, ra-
tified by the presence of the Blessed Trinity.
“The Holy Spirit descended visibly in bodily form upon Christ when he was bap-
tized so that we may believe him to descend invisibly upon all those who are bap-
tized afterwards” (St Thomas Aquinas, “Summa Theologiae”, III, q. 39, a. 6 and
3).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.