About this print

Baptism of Jesus, Matthew 3:17

John cups the river in his hands and lets it run over the bowed head of Jesus, while the dove comes down in a shaft of light and the Father's words are written across the sky.

John, Jesus and the Jordan

The two men stand waist-deep in pale blue water. On the left, John the Baptist, lean and bearded, wears a ragged garment of brown camel hair tied with a red sash. He leans forward with both hands held over Jesus, and a thin stream of water falls from them onto his hair.

Jesus, in a simple white robe, kneels in the river with his head lowered and his hands joined in front of him. Ripples ring out around them. Above, the clouds part and a white dove hangs in a column of warm light, wings outstretched. Soft green shrubs and sandy rocks line the bank. The caption, in brown script, is the voice from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

What does Matthew 3:17 mean?

Just before this, John had tried to refuse. He was baptizing crowds who confessed their sins, and he told Jesus that he himself needed baptizing instead. Jesus insisted, saying it was fitting to fulfill all righteousness. In other words, he chose to stand in the water with ordinary sinners rather than above them, and the heavenly voice answers that choice.

The sentence is woven from two older texts. “My Son” recalls Psalm 2, where God speaks to his anointed king. “In whom I am well pleased” echoes Isaiah 42, which introduces the Servant of the Lord who will bring justice to the nations and on whom God puts his Spirit. Before Jesus has preached a single sermon, the Father names him as both King and Servant, and says he is loved.

The same words sound again on the mountain of the Transfiguration in Matthew 17, with an added command: hear ye him. For Christians, the Baptism of Jesus is not about his need for forgiveness; it is the moment his public work begins, and the pattern for every baptism since, where a person comes up out of the water and is claimed as God's own.

Marking a baptism, at any age

Because Jesus was a grown man in the Jordan, this print speaks with particular force to adults being baptized or received into a church, and to believers baptized by immersion. Pastors sometimes give it to new members after the service.

It is equally at home as a christening present for a baby, with a date written on the back of the frame, or in a church hallway near the font. The earthy browns and soft blues fit a study, a guest room or a living room without feeling heavy.

The verse just before it is painted on its own: only the dove above a quiet river, with no figures at all. Read Matthew 3 and what it means