The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

The Baptism of Jesus

Word of his teaching came to Nazareth, and Jesus was curious to go and listen to him. He set off for the Jordan, where he heard that John was preaching. Christ went as well, but the two brothers travelled separately. When they reached the river bank they joined the crowd waiting to be immersed in the water, and watched as the people went down one by one to join the Baptist where he stood waist-deep, wearing the rough camel-hair cloak that was his only garment.

When it was Jesus’s turn, John held up his hand in refusal.

‘It should be you who baptise me,’ he said.

Christ, watching from the bank as he waited for his turn, heard his words with astonishment.

‘No,’ replied Jesus, ‘I’ve come to you. Just do it in the proper way.’

So John held him, and plunged him under the water and lifted him up again.

At that moment Christ saw a dove fly above them and settle in a tree. It might have been an omen. Christ wondered what it might mean, and imagined what a voice might say if it spoke from heaven and told him.