1Start
Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John, and John tried to talk him out of it (Matthew 3:13–14).
2Read Together
John knew Jesus had no sins to wash away. He said, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” (Matthew 3:14).
Matthew 3:13–16 · King James Version
13Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. 16And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
3What It Teaches
Jesus answered, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). Suffer it means allow it. The sinless Son of God obeyed every commandment his Father gave.
Nephi saw this event in vision and explained it. Jesus was baptized to show his humility and his obedience to the Father, and to show us the gate we must enter (2 Nephi 31:5–9). If he needed baptism, Nephi reasoned, we need it even more.
Jesus “went up straightway out of the water” (Matthew 3:16). He had gone down into the water and come up out of it. Baptism by immersion is a picture of burial and new life (Romans 6:4).
John had authority from God to baptize, given to him when he was eight days old (Doctrine and Covenants 84:27–28). The same ordinance is done today by the same authority, restored in 1829.
4Talk About It
Jesus was baptized even though he had never sinned. What does that teach about why baptism matters, and what do you remember or look forward to about your own?