Jesus was baptized out of obedience to God. He did not need to be baptized—He was without sin—but, in order to connect with our humanity, He went through the action of declaring His intention to serve God. Baptism is the moment we declare publicly that we will live our lives in accordance to God’s will. We declare that we will put off human cravings and walk out the life of God. In this way, we can leave our mark on the world.

For more on Jesus’ baptism, check out whatsyourmark.org.