Mark
moved the facts in his Gospel very quickly, and
would briefly describe details that are given more fully by the other Synoptic Gospels.
We will also notice that words like
straightaway and immediately appear frequently. That’s because Mark’s focus was
the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he would rather deal with the crux of
the matter. Here in these verses he proceeded to narrate the baptism of our
Lord.
Verse
9 tells us that from Nazareth of Galilee, Jesus came to John the Baptist and
was baptized by him in the Jordan River. Three
distinct events took place when He came out of the water. Firstly, the heavens opened
up. To be precise, verse 10 says, “He saw the heavens was opening…” up to
Jesus. From that point on wherever Jesus went, the heavens opened before Him. Secondly,
the Holy Spirit, like a dove, descended and alighted on Him. In other words,
the Lord was empowered by the Holy Spirit for the mission before Him. And thirdly,
God the Father spoke from heaven, saying to Jesus, “You are My beloved Son, in
You I am well-pleased.” This was a personal message to the Lord.
Christ went through the baptism to show His identification
with us sinners and to signify the beginning of His earthly mission. Whatever
happened at His baptism indicated to us that Jesus was God’s beloved Son, and He
was on a God-given and empowered mission here on earth.
In just three verses we are introduced to the God we worship,
the blessed Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. More
importantly, we see Jesus our Lord, the Messiah, and the Anointed One of God. As
the heavens was opening to Him, It is now also opening to us through Him. Beloved,
we all have the rich resources of heaven! Let’s stay connected to Christ.
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