MYTHOS
To my readers the idea that Jesus baptism was a myth may seem a stretch. Couldn't Jesus have been baptized by John the Baptizer? Couldn't he have experienced a vision in which he heard God declaring him to be God's Son in whom God is pleased and see the Spirit descend you him like a dove? Yes, all of this could have happened, but what becomes mythic, in my opinion, is the interpretation that has been assigned to this story.
The story of Jesus' baptism is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels. What all three gospels attest to is that John the Baptizer is "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord.'" [Isaiah 40:3] The Gospel of Mark is the earliest Gospel and gives us a description of John the Baptizer and the statement that the one coming after him is greater than him, that John is unworthy to untie the straps of his sandal, and that he only baptizes with water but Jesus will baptize with fire. This claim by John is basically recorded in all four gospels.
What strikes me defining this story as a myth is the lack of a credible explanation as to why Jesus sought the baptism of John. The Gospel of Matthew subtly noted there is a problem with Jesus seeking to be baptized by John; in that, by the time the Gospel of Matthew was written, Jesus was understood to have known he was the Son of God before he approached John. If that was the case, why then bother to be baptized?
Matthew, gives a typical Matthean answer in the form of a conversation between Jesus and John: "Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?' Jesus replied, 'Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.' Then John consented." Matthew 3:13-15. [Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®]
The author of Matthew is hard pressed to find a prophetic reference that Jesus is fulfilling (Matthew's usual mode for explaining why Jesus does something) so Matthew resorts to the vague explanation that Jesus is seeking baptism by John to "fulfill all righteousness," which Matthew apparently thought was a sufficient enough answer because there is no prophetic connection for Jesus doing so, which begs an explanation as to what Jesus means by "to fulfil all righteousness," but Matthew doesn't bother with trying to explain it.
The Gospel of Luke has Jesus receiving his vision after his baptism while he is praying, but otherwise stays close to the basic script. What is interesting in Luke is that John the Baptizer's preaching style and his condemnation of hypocrisy is very similar to Jesus' style. In fact, Luke reports that John's preaching was so effective that both tax collectors and soldiers came to him for baptism. Herein lies another problem. If John was such an effective preacher to draw a diverse following, couldn't he be considered the Messiah? The Gospel of Luke records that people did in fact wonder if John was the promised Messiah. John denies that he is, making the same claim that he is unworthy to untie the sandals of the one coming after him, ect..
The Gospel of John, however, presents a different story in which John the Baptizer plays a bigger role; a story in which Jesus isn't baptized by John. The author of John has John the Baptizer saying the same things the other Gospels do but within the context of a different narrative that occurs over three days. In John's narrative [John 1], John the Baptizer is being questioned by the priests and Levites from Jerusalem if he is the messiah and later by the pharisees who question why he baptizes if he isn't the Messiah or Elijah or some prophet.
On the second day, as Jesus approaches, John the Baptizer says:
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” [Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®]
On the third day, Jesus passes by and John tells his disciples, "Behold the Lamb of God." As a result, two of John's disciples leave him and start following Jesus. This is where the story of Jesus' baptism becomes mythic.
As with Jesus' birth, the Gospel of John's influence on the meaning of Jesus' baptism is what defines its significance. Jesus is not only the Messiah, but he is the sacrificial lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world. The prominence of John the Baptizer in all of these stories is not that he baptized Jesus, but rather it suggests there is something going on behind the scenes that requires the reader of these Gospels to underscore that John the Baptizer is not the Messiah.
Perhaps the biggest give-away is that John the Baptizer did not drop everything and follow Jesus as two of his disciples did. Matthew 11:1-2 tells us that while in John is in prison, he sends his disciples to Jesus in order to ask if Jesus is the Messiah or if they should look for someone else. I think the most nagging question is if John the Baptizer believed Jesus was the Messiah, why he didn't follow him?
What is telling is the fact that to this day there remains a religious group in the Middle East that claims John the Baptizer is the greatest prophet of all, the Mandaeans. According to gthe Encyclopedia Britannica, Mandaeans believe that Jesus was a false Messiah. This explains the need for a mythic telling of Jesus' baptism to clearly make the distinction between Jesus and John the Baptizer by having John deny his being the Messiah. The Gospel of John gives an interesting twist to the story of Jesus' baptism by stating it was John the Baptizer who saw the Spirit of God descend on Jesus. For the Mandaeans, this must come across as a slap in the face.
As with Jesus' birth story, Christians cannot understand the story of Jesus' baptism without the Gospel of John's mythic interpretation of it. Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world is entrenched in the Christian mind and worship. It's likely that most do not notice that Jesus wasn't actually baptized in the Gospel's account because the baptism story of Jesus blends all four gospels accounts of it, into one narrative. That John the Baptizer sees Jesus approaching John doesn't mean John baptized Jesus. In fact, Jesus as depicted in the Gospel of John knows he is the Son of God the moment he steps onto the human stage.
MEANING
Does this myth convey any truth about Jesus? For Christians it does. It's clear intent is to establish that Jesus is the Messiah at the start of his ministry and that John the Baptizer wasn't. This may seem like water under the bridge to the modern Christian, but it was likely a hot issue the early Church. That John the Baptizer wasn't a disciple of Jesus and has a following after both his and Jesus' death cast a shadow of doubt on Jesus being the Messiah.
In Brian Muraresku's book, "The Immortality Key," he quotes the archeologist overseeing the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries in Greece, Kalliope Paangeli, who makes this interesting observation regarding the Pagan Continuation Hypothesis, "Whatever they (the Christians) cannot extinguish... they keep. It's a very clever technique." [Muraresku, Brian, The Immortality Key, St. Martin Press Group, 120 Broadway, New York, New York,] This seems applicable to the Gospels treatment of John the Baptizer, given the confrontational questions by John the Baptizer's disciples. The Gospels literally turn John into "the voice of one crying in the wilderness."
Ironically, since the days of the early Church Christians continue to utilize the baptismal format of John as the baptism of Jesus. Grant it, a baptism with fire would be hard to facilitate and is understood metaphorically. In application there is little difference between the two. In meaning, it symbolizes the start of every Christians ministry to follow in Jesus' footsteps and continue his ministry.
If one looks past the notion of Jesus being the only begotten Son of God as promoted in the Gospel of John, the Baptism of Jesus and his vision of being declared God's Son in whom God is well pleased, if true about Jesus, is true about us also. As children of God, we too are well pleasing in God's sight and in the divisive world we are currently living that is something we need to embrace.
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Until next time, stay faithful.
Norm
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