Even Jesus was baptized. Jesus did not have any sins to wash away. He was setting an example for those who would follow Him. Jesus told us to baptize people in His name. The reason we are baptised is to be obedient to Jesus’ command and example. It is part of turning to God. There are many symbolic illustrations throughout Scripture that relate to baptism.
Some of these are:
BEING BURIED, reflecting the death of our old nature.  Before we came to Christ we had a sinful self. This means that sin in our lives was very powerful. We could not stop being sinners. When Jesus died our sinful self died with Him. The Holy Spirit performs a “spiritual operation” known as circumcision. Colossians 2:11-12 says, “In him you were also circumcised in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him (Jesus) from the dead.”
As circumcision of the foreskin was a token or sign of the Old Covenant, so water baptism is the token or sign of the New Covenant. The true sign of the new covenant believer is a circumcised heart (Romans 2:28-29). Our old life is really dead. The best thing we can do is to give it a proper burial! Going under the water of baptism is a picture of that burial. It is a symbolic representation of a person being crucified and buried with Christ and then raised up with Him (being born again) to live out our new life in Christ.
Romans 6:4 says, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
BEING WASHED so that we are completely clean. We wash when we are dirty. The dirt is sin and rebellion. When we repent we turn away from sin but we want to get rid of all the dirt that has stuck on us. The blood of Jesus washes away our sin. Baptism also symbolizes that our sins were washed away when we trusted Jesus to forgive our sins.. (See Acts 22:12-16.)
IDENTIFICATION We identify ourselves with Christ.  This is why we invite our friends and family to witness our being baptized in water. We make a stand publicly of our identification with Jesus’ burial and resurrection to new life.
Baptism is an act that people can see. It is an outward sign of an inward happening..