John said that he needed to be baptized by Jesus. No doubt he was right. And he and his family recognized Who they were seeing. So there is an understanding by those “in the know” that this man was not a man like any other (at the least). Thus, for Jesus to be baptized was necessary to follow the pattern already set down. It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t already have the Spirit of God (otherwise His debating with the theologians of the day at 12 years of age was a mere act of human genius expressing itself…and his response just one of arrogance and self-importance), but rather that there was something that Jesus – in the form of a man – had to go through. Hebrews 5:8 says He had to learn obedience. That doesn’t mean He sinned (otherwise Hebrews contradicts itself – 4:15), but rather that He was submitted to earthly masters and outward forms for a time so that there would be no deviation from what was laid down in the Old Testament. Not that Jesus necessarily needed the overt ceremony, but that the anointing was necessary to inaugurate His open, earthly ministry. A lot like they would have anointed kings as a public declaration.

That’s what I see going on there.

The verse that comes to mind is Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees in John 8:58. At the moment, that’s the only example I can find of Him basically saying that He is God (or at least on some sort of par with God) other than maybe John 14:9.

The statements in John 8 seem to make it clear that Jesus, on some level, is NOT what any other human is or will be.