The Messiah got baptized!

Picture courtesy of Wallyg

For several days I have been confounded by Matthew 3:

...Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matthew 3:4-7)

..."I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Matthew 3:11)

...Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; (Matthew 3:13-16)

This has given me several questions, including:

• I didn't know that Baptism was an Old Testament (i.e. pre-Christian Church) sacrament. Why was John baptizing folks and why were the Pharasees and Sadducee's trying to jump on the bandwagon?
• Jesus obviously wasn't being baptized for the remission of sins as in v11, so why did it please Him and his Father so greatly for Him to fulfil this form?
• Jesus was not being baptized into the Christian church, so into what was he being baptized?

Well, tonight I've dug through some of the commentaries in my e-Sword and have come up with the following for a beginning...

• According to Albert Barnes' Commentary, baptism (i.e. dipping and sprinkling) is seen throughout the OT, namely in Leviticus 4:6; Leviticus 14:6, Leviticus 14:51; Numbers 19:18; Ruth 2:14; Exodus 12:22; Deuteronomy 33:24; Joshua 3:15; Job 9:31; Leviticus 9:9; 1st Samuel 14:27; 2nd Kings 5:14; 2nd Kings 8:15; Genesis 37:31; and Joshua 3:15.
• It doesn't appear to have been customary to baptize people for cleansing, as John was doing until after the exile, but by John's time it was a common rite.
• Barnes also says that Jesus' baptism was a formal, solemn commissioning of Jesus unto his great mission. It was a point in time where he was set apart form his previous life and commissioned to his task. The form of baptism was chosen for the commissioning to be as solemn and formal and memorable as possible (as in Matthew 3:15).
• John Darby suggests that the act of being baptized demeaned Christ in a way, foreshadowing the way he would be demeaned at the Passion - and that it also signified that Christ was fully one of us because he was doing this thing that only us sinners needed to do.