Matthew 3:13

ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰορδάνην. Probably at “Ænon near to Salim” (John 3:23), a day’s journey from Nazareth, ‘close to the passage of the Jordan near Succoth and far away from that near Jericho.’ Sinai and Palestine, p. 311. Cp. also John 1:28, where the correct reading is: ταῦτα ἐν Βηθανίᾳ ἐγένετο πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, ὅπου ἦν ὁ Ἰωάννης βαπτίζων. Lt. Conder (Tent Work in Palestine, II. 67) states that ‘Bathania was the well-known form used in the time of Christ of the old name Bashan.’ He adds that the name Abârah is given by the natives to one of the main fords ‘where the Jalûd river, flowing down the Valley of Jezreel, and by Beisân (Bethshean) debouches into the Jordan.’ This accounts for the reading ‘Bethabara,’ and probably fixes the site.

τοῦ βαπτισθῆναι. For construction see note, ch. Matthew 2:13. Jesus who is the pattern of the New life submits to the baptism which is a symbol of the New life (μετάνοια). He who has power to forgive sins seems to seek through baptism forgiveness of sins. But in truth by submitting to baptism Jesus shows the true efficacy of the rite. He who is most truly man declares what man may become through baptism—clothed and endued with the Holy Spirit, and touched by the fire of zeal and purity.

There is no hint in the Gospel narratives of that beautiful companionship and intercourse in childhood between Jesus and the Baptist with which Art has familiarised us. See John 1:31, a passage which tends to an opposite conclusion.