Baptism of the Lord: Why Jesus was baptized if he was without sin

On the first weekend of Ordinary Time the readings for Mass focused on the Baptism of the Lord.  I attended the Mass where Father Anto preached.  He asked a few questions about what baptism is and what it does.  A few answers were that it wipes away original sin and it is the Sacrament that initiates us into the Church.  In the Luke’s Gospel John the Baptist baptizes Jesus in the Jordon River.   Why was Jesus baptized?  Baptism removes original sin and Jesus was human like us in all things except he was without sin.  Father Anto went back to look to the Old Testament, Joshua chapters 3-4, to get some background on this.  He discussed that Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt and the journey to the Promised Land. Most of us are familiar with the parting of the Red Sea where Moses leads the people, but there is another parting of water that provides dry ground for the Israelites to cross the Jordon River into the Promised Land.  This journey traveling on foot usually takes 11 days, but this journey lasted 40 years!  There’s a lot more to their journey and why it took so long, but the point Father Anto was getting to was from the book Joshua where the priest carrying the ark of the covenant were leading the 1.5 million Israelites across the Jordon to the Promised Land.   The priests, one from each of the tribes of Israel, carrying the Ark of the Covenant preceded the people and when their feet touched the Jordon River the waters dried up allowing the people to cross over.  The sacrifice of the priests allowed all the people to make this journey.  Can you imagine how much it took for the priests to hold up the Ark for all this time?   The sacrifice of the priests carrying the Ark points to the baptism of Jesus in the Jordon and the sacrifice he made for us to enter into the Promised Land.  Jesus did not need baptism to remove original sin, but in his humanity was baptized like all of us, and his divinity gave us the gift of Eternal life through baptism by his sacrifice.   The Old Testament revealed to the Apostles about Jesus mission and ministry and helps us to understand our faith as well.  Father Anto used the baptismal font as the image of crossing over the river of dying to our old self and rising into new life through Jesus Christ.  May Jesus' Baptism help you to rise to new life in Christ.