Actually, Jesus was not baptizing people. His disciples were. (John 4:2)
Matthew Henry makes six points about this one verse that can be used a lessons for us today. Even though his work was first published in 1714 it has ample value today. I will begin to go through these points and discuss them as they apply to 21st century believers.
Point 4: If He had baptized some Himself they would have been apt to value themselves upon their being baptized by Jesus, and despised others, and Jesus would not have that to happen.
Wow! Can you imagine having been baptized by Jesus Himself? For the first century believer that would have been the ultimate. Of course, we all know the human traits and habits. It begins when we are small children; “My daddy’s bigger than your daddy” or even “My daddy can beat up your daddy”. We are prone to see our condition in as good a light as possible and having been baptized by anyone other than Jesus would have been less of a baptism. Then, of course, there would be the “unfortunate” ones who were baptized by John (the apostle) or Peter and had to live with the fact of having a lesser baptism. Jesus didn’t want any of that to happen to His children so He didn’t baptize.
Today’s lesson: people have expressed awe over the fact that I heard Greg Laurie preach “back in the day” when the Jesus Movement was just getting started. They are sometimes fascinated by the fact that I used to sit around on the beach listening to the gatherings of believers singing praises around a campfire. Yes, I was there. Does that make me any better having heard Pastor Greg preach back then? Of course not. In fact not long after those days I slid back into drugs. My “Christianity” lasted as long as the fun on the beach lasted. I was still a believer and God was drawing me back to Him the whole time that I was walking away, but my experience with some of the “greats” didn’t make much of a difference.
We also have people today who make a big deal over their denomination affiliation. Or who they know within that denomination. So what if I happen to know Bailey Smith or George Woods personally (I don’t), does that make me any better than anyone else? Of course not.
It’s not about who you know (or who baptized you) but it is all about Who you know. Do you know Jesus personally? That is the one and only tie that makes any difference. If you know Him and have an ongoing relationship with the Savior then your life will change and these other things will become dull in comparison. Were I to become a personal friend of some of the most famous people in the world I would still be me. And my question for these famous ones would be the same as I would ask the humble homeless person; “Do you know Jesus?”
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