Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/77

Contributor - Rev. Siebrand Wilts

Title - Jesus' Baptism of Suffering

Topic - Meditation

"I HAVE A BAPTISM TO BE BAPTIZED WITH. AND I AM CONSTRAINED UNTIL IT IS ACCOMPLISHED." Luke 12:50 RSV

Here is one of the most deeply moving sayings in the Gospel. It asserts that Jesus' mission could not have been accomplished except by his suffering and death. He says, "I have a baptism to be baptized with; and I am constrained until it is accomplished." The Greek verb "to baptize" means "to dip", and in its past participle it means "to be submerged". For instance, a spendthrift is said to be submerged in debt. A grief stricken person is said to be submerged in sorrow. The word is regularly used for a ship that has been wrecked and submerged beneath the waves. But above all it is used of a person being submerged in passing through some grim and terrible experience. In this sense, this metaphor of Jesus is very closely related to a metaphor which the Psalmist often used. In Psalm 42: 7 we read, "All thy waves and billows have gone over me". In Psalm 124: 4 we read, "Then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us".

The expression, then, as Jesus used it here, had nothing to do with technical baptism but with the experience he had to pass through. "I have," he said, "a terrible experience through which I must pass; and life is full of constraint until I pass through it and emerge triumphantly from it". The Cross was ever before his eyes. He foresaw clearly his own suffering and death. How different from the Jewish idea of God's King. Jesus did not come with a great army or flying banners, but as the Suffering Servant who gave his life a ransom for many.

As we prepare ourselves during this season of Lent, let us remember especially these words of Jesus and the suffering with which he was baptized so that we might have life and have it abundantly.

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