Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 1:10

"And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens rent asunder, and the Spirit as a dove descending upon him:" — Mark 1:10 (ASV)

Mark seems to suggest that only Jesus saw “heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending,” though he may have been so focusing on Jesus’ experience that he says nothing of John’s. Whatever else the descent of the Spirit on Jesus meant, it clearly indicated his anointing for ministry. Jesus himself claimed this anointing in the synagogue at Nazareth when he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me” .