Jesus was baptized “when all the people were baptized.” The Scriptures seem to emphasize Jesus’ identification with sinners in his baptism by John, which was a baptism of repentance. Jesus, being the sinless one, did not have to repent of sin, but he nevertheless buried himself in the waters of repentance with sinners. He identifies himself as our brother and begins to assume our sin and guilt. Jesus’ baptism was but one aspect of his total participation in our broken and fallen humanity. This participation is continuous with his incarnation, anticipates his death and resurrection, and becomes ours through the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We will explore Mark’s version of Jesus’ baptism in Mark 1:1-12. Immediately after the beautiful scene of Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit propels him into the wilderness. What is going on there? What implications are there for us in this story? The Spirit meets us at the well in the wilderness of our lives. Our study in Mark centers on how Jesus’ baptism is connected to ours and how our baptism propels us into the world as his “anointed ones.”