Our Gospel reading for this first full week of Lent brings us to two important events that occurred right at the start of Jesus’ ministry - His baptism, and then immediately following, His temptation in the wilderness. Mark’s Gospel moves along at a fairly quick pace, and he doesn’t dwell on these two for more than a few verses each. But as they are important occurrences in Jesus’ life, let’s take a closer look.
Mark begins his Gospel by introducing John the Baptist, whose ministry was to announce the coming of the Messiah, and he also preached a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4). Before Jesus began His ministry, the first thing He did was go to where John the Baptist was preaching, and He was baptized by him (vs. 9-10). But wait! Why would the sinless Son of God want or need to be baptized by John, as his was a baptism of repentance? Jesus had never committed any sins that He needed to repent of, nor have sins that needed forgiveness! Why did He submit to being baptized?
One major reason that Jesus was baptized was because He had come to earth to save sinners, and by doing this He was identifying with those He came to save. Though He had never sinned, and did not need a baptism of repentance, He did so on behalf of sinful mankind. Jesus was confessing sins on their behalf, identifying with our humanness and sin, yet remaining without sin.
Another reason that Jesus was baptized was to provide an example to us in being obedient to what the Father tells us. He didn’t argue with God, saying that since He had never sinned, why should He be baptized for the remission of sins. He obeyed, and we should also.
By His baptism, Jesus was showing support to John the Baptist and his ministry. The Pharisees and religious leaders all had questions for John, but didn’t really accept his preaching, message, or baptism. However, Jesus, the Messiah, did support John and his ministry. This baptism pictured Jesus’ death and resurrection, and it marked His first public identification with those whose sins He would bear. Right after the baptism of Jesus, God gave a public affirmation of His Messiahship by testimony directly from heaven (vs. 11).
Immediately following His baptism, Jesus headed into the wilderness to the east of the Jordan River, and there He was tempted by Satan (vs. 12-13). Mark did not go into the details that either Matthew or Luke did about the temptations, but there are still important lessons we can learn. It was during His temptation there in the wilderness that Jesus confronted Satan and took the first steps towards overthrowing his evil kingdom.
Sometimes people feel guilty when they face temptation, as if they need to confess that as being sinful. However, temptation, on its own, is not a sin. It becomes a sin when we give in. Jesus was tempted by Satan, as we read in the Scriptures, yet He did not give in to those temptations, and remained the sinless Son of God. God never tempts anyone (James 1:13), but sometimes He allows Satan to tempt His people.
Through temptation, God can strengthen our character and teach us valuable lessons. Jesus also went through this to further identify with mankind, which He came to save. Jesus gave us an example to follow when tempted. He is a Helper who fully knows what we need, because He went through the same experience, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:16).
Though we may not think of these two events in the life of Jesus as showing His love for us, they do. They show His willingness to completely identify with mankind, and give us an example to follow. Let us praise the Lord for His great love for us, in coming to earth to save us from our sins!
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