Identifying with sinners

I've just finishing studying Matthew 3, the story of John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus. Why did Jesus choose to be baptized? One writer says that there's a difference between the purpose of the baptism and the result. The purpose was "to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15) But it is the result that I want to focus on.

The result of Jesus' baptism is so that He could indentify Himself with sinners, those whom He came to save. At the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus would make the ultimate sacrifice, dying on the cross for the sins of all, past, present and future. But way back at the beginning of His earthly ministry, three years earlier, He began the process which would end with His death.

John's baptism was a purification rite, which symbolized that people needed to repent and be cleansed. Obviously Jesus did not need to do this. But everyone one else in history would need to. This was Jesus' humility at work, acting AS IF He were in need of such a cleansing.

I take comfort from this. Jesus has chosen to identify with me in my sin. Th sin is that which we most often like to keep hidden. That is the part Jesus came to identify with. GOd knows my sin is heinous in His Eyes. But I have a Savior and a Lord who came to save me from such as this