Sometimes I wonder if Christianity has shrunken the magnificence of the Holy Spirit’s appearance at Jesus baptism in our neat (but lovely) pictures of doves. I have wondered if the phrase ‘like a dove’ means with the gracefulness and lightness of its movement in flight – rather than the physical form of an actual dove… Luke does say ‘bodily form’, but the event was ASTOUNDING and this picture made me think of these verses…
Mark says it like this: Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, HE SAW HEAVEN BEING TORN OPEN and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
Luke says it like this: Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, HEAVEN WAS OPENED and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Mathew says it like this: As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and HE SAW the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.