The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 60

round the Bnptist were on the tiptoe of expectation. At this period expectations of some J!;I'eat deliverer were rife both in Gentile lands and among Jewish people, It is not strange, then, that the multitudes who had listened to the instructions of the Baptist reasoned within themselves whether haply John himself were the Christ, He had already, it may be presumed, given a definite answer to the priests and Levites deputed by the Sanhedrin to ascertain his claims. But now he feels called on to make a more public announcement. 1. Transition. All along he never once lost sight of his office as harbinger or herald (KT/porrrrow) calling attention to the coming One. Yet gradually the office of herald was merging in that of the evangelist ; hence the employment of cdff/yy<Al(ero in the parallel passage of Luke, at the eighteenth verse, Ever more and more John seeks to tum attention from himself to Jesus, to whom he acknowledo-es himself as inferior in rank as in office. The meanest slave that brouo-ht his mast;r's sandals, or stooped down in lowliness to undo the latchet that bound them, stood to the mightiest earthly master in a higher relation than John to Jesus; while the work of the latter was proportionately superior. 2. Superiority. The one administered the symbol, the other the thing signified; the one baptized with water, the other with the Spirit; the one was a light as of a lamp (Aoxvor) kindled by, and reflecting, a borrowed light, the other was _th~t central source of light (</J01r); the one was the ~orning star, soon to wane, and W1Shing to wane, before the other, who was the sun himself goincr 0 forth in his strength. "Where is the love the Baptist taught, The sonl unswerving and the fearless tongue P The much-enduring wisdom, sought By lonely prayer the haunted rocks among P Who counts it go.in Hie light ehonld wane, So the whole world to Jesus throng I" J.J.G. Vere. 9-11. Parallel passages: Matt. iii. 13-17 j Luke iii. 21,23. The baptism of our Lord. I. DIFFICULTY. There is something singular, to say the least, in the baptism of our Lord. In that solemn inau!(uration of the Saviour, as he entered on his public ministry, a difficulty is encountered. That difficulty respects the significance of the rite in relation to the spotless Son of God. Water, when applied to the person or used in the way of ablution, is employed as an element of cleansing. But the idea of cleansing necessarily carries along with it the notion of defilement. The thought of pollution, from whatever source derived, or in whatever way contracted, or in whatever it may consist, is inseparably connected with it. Cleansing has as its natural and necessary correlative uncleanness either expressed or implied. II. INAPPLICABLE TO OUR LORD. Yet the Saviour was not only holy, harmless, and undefiled in life; bnt at his birth and in the very nature of his humanity, he was free from every taint and unsullied by the least stain of sin, as it is written, "Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God," or more literally," Therefore also that which is born of thee, being holy, shall be called the Son of God." It is probable that the Baptist felt at once the awkwardnees of his own position, and the incongruity of administering to One so perfectly pure and undefiled a rite which, as the symbol of cleansing, implied a previous condition or natural state of impurity and defilement. IIL THE BAPTIST'S RELUCTANCE. In view of the circumstance just mentioned, as well as of the overwhelming superiority of the Divine applicant, John expressed such extreme lothness to administer the rite. Nay more, that reluctance took the form of a somewhat firm refusal: "But John," we read, "for bad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" The imperfect limcc!,>,.u,v may imply the commencement, that is, began to prevent, or be used de conatu of the endeavour to prevent, while the prepositional element imports activity and earnestness in the effort. It was only after a remonstrance on the part of the Saviour, and after he had pointed out to J obn the propriety of the course, that the Baptist yielded. The reason alleged by our Lord, while it was sufficient to overcome the scruples of the Baptist, is service- &ble to us in inquiring into the nature of the ordinance then administered, True, that OB, L 1-45.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BT. MARK. 57