A Catechetical Hymn Text on Jesus’ Baptism
In anticipation of the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord (which falls on January 11 this year), I’m well pleased to share “Ye Belovèd, Sing the Story,” a catechetical hymn text on the baptism of Jesus.
Some time in the last few months, it occurred to me that I didn’t fully understand why Jesus was baptized. He had no sins for which he needed forgiveness, and his own explanation about “fulfilling all righteousness” didn’t exactly clear it up for me. This hymn is intended to provide some clarity and assurance regarding Jesus’ baptism and what it means for us.
Why was Jesus baptized?
As I aim to show in the hymn, Jesus was baptized not for his own sake but ours. He had no need of baptism because, though he bore the likeness of sinful flesh, he had no sin. As St. John Chrysostom puts it, “Christ was not a sinner, yet did he take a sinful nature.”1 And in his baptism, he plunged that nature, the “Old Adam,” into the waters that he might redeem it. That redemption would find its ultimate fulfillment in his death and resurrection, which Jesus described as his “baptism” (Matthew 20:22, Mark 10:38, Luke 12:50).
Another idea common among the church fathers is that Jesus’ baptism sanctified the waters of baptism for us. You can almost think of it in terms of a Russian reversal joke: when Jesus gets baptized, the water becomes clean. This can offer us some assurance of the efficacy of our own baptisms. Because Jesus himself went into the waters before us, we can be confident that something actually happens to us in our own baptisms. In them, we truly receive “death to sin and new birth to righteousness, through union with Christ in his death and resurrection.”2
Finally, when we consider what’s really happening in Jesus’ baptism, we don’t just find Jesus in our place, but ourselves in his. As the Spirit descends on Jesus, so also does the Spirit now come to dwell with us. As the Father declares Jesus to be his eternally begotten Son, so also does he declare that we are his adopted sons and daughters. As the Father loves and delights in Jesus, so also does he love and delight in us.
About the hymn
This hymn has three verses in trochaic 8.7.8.7.D. In normal speak, that means each verse has eight lines which alternate between eight syllables and seven syllables. Trochaic means that the first syllable in each foot (or, group of syllables) is accented. Think DUM-da, instead of da-DUM.
In this recording, I sing the text to BEECHER by John Zundel, best known for its pairing with “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.” I love that tune and think it’s a nice pairing with the text, but I’m sure many other tunes could work just as well. Should you wish to sing it at your church, you have my full permission to use any (public domain) tune you like.
Let me know what you think in the comments on Youtube or Facebook, or by sending me an email at contact@johncaddellmusic.com. I would love to hear your thoughts!
8.7.8.7.D
1. Ye belovèd, sing the story:
Christ was baptized for our sake.
He, the sinless King of glory,
Did the sinner’s station take.
Unto life, by life’s true giver,
Hath the door been opened wide.
By his washing in that river
He the waters sanctified.
2. As from water he ascended,
Heaven opened up above
And the Spirit there descended,
Lighting on him as a dove.
Could this be the Son eternal?
Is this the Anointed One?
Answers then the voice supernal:
“This is my belovèd Son.”
3. Now, O Father tenderhearted,
Seated o’er the firmament,
Let us know the grace imparted
In this holy sacrament.
We who plunge beneath those waters
Christ’s own name and seal do bear,
And, as thine own sons and daughters,
His belovedness do share.
- Quoted in Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologicae, emphasis mine ↩︎
- From the catechism of the ACNA, To Be a Christian, question 127, p. 57 ↩︎