One event, four witnesses
The Baptism of Jesus
At the Jordan, John the Baptist baptizes Jesus and heaven testifies over Him. All four Gospels touch this moment: Matthew, Mark, and Luke narrate it directly, and John relays it through the Baptist's own witness.
“Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.”Matthew 3:13
“And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.”Mark 1:9
“Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,”Luke 3:21
“And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.”John 1:32
The event
The event. Jesus comes from Galilee to the Jordan where John is baptizing. In Matthew, John protests that he ought to be baptized by Jesus, not the reverse, and Jesus answers that it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness. As Jesus comes up out of the water the heavens open, the Spirit of God descends like a dove and rests upon Him, and a voice from heaven declares His Sonship. Mark tells the same in his swift, compressed style, and Luke adds that Jesus was praying when heaven opened, a detail that fits Luke's abiding interest in the prayer life of Jesus. John's Gospel does not narrate the baptism as a scene but gives the Baptist's later testimony: he saw the Spirit descend and remain, and he knew by that sign that this was the Son of God who baptizes with the Holy Ghost. Together the accounts set the public beginning of Jesus' ministry under the open heaven and the triple witness of Father, Son, and Spirit.
Read side by side: what is the same, what differs
Read side by side: what is the same, what differs. All four agree on the essentials: John baptizes, the Spirit descends like a dove, and the divine testimony marks Jesus as the beloved Son. The differences are of vantage and detail. Matthew alone records the exchange in which John hesitates and Jesus insists on fulfilling all righteousness, a point that answers the natural question of why the sinless One received a baptism of repentance. Luke alone notes that Jesus was praying, and that the heaven was opened as He prayed. The heavenly voice is reported in the second person in Mark and Luke, "Thou art my beloved Son," and in the third person in Matthew, "This is my beloved Son." This is not a contradiction; it is the ordinary freedom of testimony, one writer reporting the words as addressed to Jesus, another framing them as a declaration to the onlookers, both preserving the same truth. John, writing last and thematically, does not repeat the scene but grounds it in the Baptist's eyewitness claim that the Spirit came down and remained, which for John is the decisive sign. Each account tells the one baptism truly while choosing what its purpose requires.
What it shows of Christ
What it shows of Christ. Here at the threshold of His ministry Jesus is revealed as the Son upon whom the Father's whole delight rests and upon whom the Spirit abides without measure. Matthew shows Him fulfilling all righteousness, the King who will keep every requirement on behalf of His people. Mark plunges us straight into action, the servant stepping into His work under the torn-open heaven. Luke gives us the praying Son, dependent and communing with His Father even at His anointing. John, through the Baptist, presses the point home: this is the One who baptizes with the Holy Ghost, the Lamb of God. The dove, the voice, and the opened heaven together announce that the long silence is broken and God has drawn near in His Son.
Questions people ask
Why does the heavenly voice say "This is my beloved Son" in Matthew but "Thou art my beloved Son" in Mark and Luke?
Because the writers report the same divine testimony from slightly different angles. Matthew frames it as a declaration heard by the bystanders; Mark and Luke report it as words addressed to Jesus. Both are faithful renderings of one utterance, and the meaning is identical: God names Jesus His beloved Son.
Why was the sinless Jesus baptized with a baptism of repentance?
Matthew records Jesus' own answer: to fulfill all righteousness. He was not confessing sin but identifying fully with the people He came to save, standing where sinners stand, and consecrating the beginning of His public obedience.