Rev Gav
What was going on at Jesus’ baptism?
“Now when all the people were baptised and when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'” (Luke 3.21-22)
The story of the baptism of Jesus is framed against the backdrop of one of Luke’s primary concerns, which is to demonstrate that Jesus is ‘the Christ’. No, ‘Christ’ is not Jesus’ surname but means ‘the anointed one.’ It is a title that comes from the Jewish belief that an ‘anointed one’ or Messiah would be sent by God to restore the fortunes of the shattered and scattered nation of Israel.
Therefore, when Jesus was baptised by John, and then afterwards, two things happened described with two sentences:
Firstly, while Jesus, “was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.”
Secondly, “a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
So, we have the coming or anointing of the Holy Spirit and we have the voice of God. Let’s deal with the second sentence first.
The phrase ‘heaven was opened’ is a way of saying that, in a specific moment of space and time, there was an overlap or intersection between heaven and earth. The voice then said something extraordinary. There was no doubt in people’s minds that the Messiah would be sent by God and that God’s anointing would rest upon them, but the voice from heaven says, “You are my Son” In other words, this person, Jesus, is more than simply an anointed human being, but has kinship with God. Then, the voice says something very interesting, “You are my Beloved and with you I am well pleased,” but other early manuscripts of Luke’s gospel actually have the phrase, “Today I have begotten you, with you I am well pleased.”
This last phrase is lifted directly from Psalm 2 which is a poem of God’s promises to his Anointed one. Read or listen to this:
Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and his anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord has them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear;
with trembling kiss his feet,
or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Happy are all who take refuge in him.
There can be no doubt that Luke wants the reader to make the connection between the Jesus who has just been baptised and God’s Anointed One described in Psalm 2.
But there’s another connection too. The baptism of Jesus, the voice, and the descending of the Holy Spirit all signify a new phase of ministry for Jesus. This is the moment when, with the Father’s blessing and the Spirit’s anointing, Jesus begins his ministry. Remember in a recent message how I explained that when God speaks, creation happens, and how John’s gospel and Genesis were linked? Well, we see it here. In Genesis, in the creation account, God speaks then says of what he has created as being very good. And here we have God speaking, declaring Jesus as his beloved and begotten Son, and then saying how pleased he is with him, or how ‘good’ Jesus is.
Wow, who knew so much could be packed into one sentence!
So, now to the first sentence, the spirit descending on Jesus in bodily form like a dove. Now, most Bible scholars understand the descending of the dove as a piece of symbolism for the Spirit, but it was in bodily form or it appeared like a dove, but why a dove?
Firstly, the word ‘dove’ in this sentence is a word which, “applies to a group of birds that we would probably simply describe as pigeons. Throughout the ages, artists have taught us to imagine a rather refined looking pure white bird,” (Cross, 2025) but this is not in the text! The pigeon is “a common bird, not a special one, and one considered an appropriate sacrifice to show remorse for sin.” (Cross, 2025). There is clearly more going on here!
Secondly, think about this. The gospel writers were writing in direct opposition to the cult of Caesar, who claimed divine status, declared himself as the Son of God, and who said he was ‘the good news’. What bird in ancient Rome was a symbol of imperial power, representing courage, strength, and immortality? What gilded bird donned the end of the staffs of Roman legions? What bird was emblazoned on Roman coins? The eagle.
On the day of Jesus’ baptism, God the Holy Spirit chose to be represented, not by an eagle, but by a pigeon, a common sacrificial animal. This communicates not just that Jesus was anointed by the Spirit, but also about who Jesus was — his very nature — what he came to do and how he would do it.
We can sanitise our Bibles quite easily. It is much nicer to render this descending bird at Jesus’ baptism as a white dove, and then read into it the symbolism of purity and innocence. Yet, Jesus was commissioned with a pigeon, an ordinary bird.
Why? Because the mission of Jesus was to identify with us and bear our sins in his own person. The way of Jesus, the Christ, is not a grand, holy highway adorned with Gold. No, the way of Christ is a way of the poor, the marginalised, the hurting, and the broken. It is the way of the common and the ordinary, and a humble and lowly path.
If you are feeling low or unworthy, undeserving or inadequate, downtrodden, drained, or debilitated, then remember what your God is like, for this is your God.
Amen.
References
Simon Cross, January 2025, Progressive reflections on the lectionary #48, https://simonjcross.substack.com/p/progressive-reflections-on-the-lectionary-675