This coming Sunday in the Baptism of the Lord. John contrasts his baptism with that of Jesus. 

“I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire…….

The point is not that one baptism is with water, the other in the Holy Spirit and fire (the early church also baptized in water from the beginning), but that John’s baptism is only in water, that is, a ritual sign expressing outwardly what the person must express inwardly. 

The baptism of Jesus will be definitive: it will be an act of God bringing salvation (Holy Spirit) and judgment (fire). The image of fire is expanded by reference to the process of separating wheat from chaff. A “winnowing fan” or shovel tosses the mixture into the air; the heavier kernels of wheat fall to the floor, while the chaff blows away for later burning (Isa 21:10).

Culpepper (“Luke”, New Interpreter’s Bible, 85-6) offers the following:

“What is the relationship between Spirit and fire in this saying? The following interpretations have been advanced: (1) fire describes the inflaming purifying work of the Spirit; (2) the repentant will receive the Spirit, while the unrepentant will experience the judgment of fire; (3) since the Greek term for “Spirit” can also mean “wind,” the meaning is that Jesus’ baptism will bring the judgment in a mighty wind and fire; (4) as might be implicit in the first option, “Spirit” or “wind” and “fire” reflect the Christian interpretation of the Pentecost experience; or (5) John saw in Spirit and fire the means of eschatological purification: the refiner’s fire for the repentant and destruction for the unrepentant. The last combines elements of (2) and (3) and fits both the historical context of John’s preaching and the literary context in which the saying about winnowing follows. Luke, of course, may have seen the fulfillment of this saying at Pentecost in ways John could not have imagined.”

In v.18 we are told that John preached “good news.” This is part of the Lucan transition to move from the ministry of John to that of Jesus.  We can assume John preached about the soon-to-come arrival of the Messiah as part of that “good news.”  Craddock (Luke, Interpretation Commentaries, 49) offers this wonderful summary: “When repentance and forgiveness are available, judgment is good news (v. 18). The primary aim is to save the wheat, not to burn the chaff.” John offers hope and new life for the tax collectors, the soldiers, and all sinners. We all can be gathered by Jesus into his kingdom.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

We read that “the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.” Only Luke includes the phrase “in bodily form”. Jensen (Preaching Luke’s Gospel) makes the point that “Bodily descent has the character of permanence. The Spirit not only descended upon Jesus; the Spirit of God came in bodily form and it will remain upon Jesus.”  He makes a contrast between Jesus and Israel’s Judges in the time before the Kings. The Spirit of God descended on them but only descended temporarily. 

The descent of the Spirit on Jesus can not be understood separately from Luke 4:18-19 where Jesus quotes Isaiah 61:1-2 

“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who mourn”

The descent of the Spirit upon Jesus was an anointing (and empowering) for his ministry on earth. At the same time, prior to this event at Nazareth, we are told: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned form the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil” (4:1-2a). At the end of the temptation, we are told, “Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee” (4:14a). Did Jesus’ “power” for his ministry come just from the descent of the Holy Spirit or from his successful battle with the devil in the wilderness? The answer is probably “both”. If we want to experience the power of the Spirit, it may mean that we have to do more than pray. We may have to enter into the battle with Satan — evil forces wherever they may be in our communities or within us.

Craddock (Luke, Interpretation Commentaries, p.52) writes: “The coming of the Holy Spirit does not make Jesus the Son of God; Luke has told us who Jesus is from the time of the annunciation. The Holy Spirit comes to empower Jesus for his ministry. He will soon be led by the Spirit into the desert (4:1), and then he will return ‘in the power of the spirit into Galilee’ (4:14).”  Both the temptation story and the Isaiah quote indicate that Jesus’ Spirit-led ministry is to battle and defeat evil in whatever form it appears. And, that Spirit-led ministry continues after the ascension through “all flesh” upon whom God has now poured the Spirit.

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Image credit: Baptism of Christ |Pietro Perugino, 1482 | Sistine Chapel, Vatican City | PD-US