The Theophany of
Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ – The Baptism
We read in Matthew’s
Gospel that John the Baptist is preparing the way for the Lord. He is out in
the desert baptizing people in the Jordan River, calling the people to repent. By telling them to give up their old way of life and live a new way. It
seems that so many people are being drawn by John’s preaching, that even the
Jewish authorities in Jerusalem send agents to find out what is going on, why
are so many people coming to see this John. With the description that we find for John, that he “wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his
waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.” (Matt 3:4) Combined with his
preaching style of not being afraid to call people out, saying such things as, “you
brood of vipers”. (Matt 3:7) This must have been one wild and chaotic seen. Surely,
not what one expected to find or witness in the wilderness.
Into this chaos,
our Lord himself shows up, maybe to give some order and peace to the area. No,
he jumps right into the fire and asks John to baptize him. What shock came over
John, he knew full well who Jesus was, and he did not want to baptize him. John says, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matt
3:14) I think we can all fully understand John’s initial reluctance to comply
with Jesus’ wish. But Jesus would not have it so, he tells John, “Let it be so
now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matt 3:15) I
have always been intrigued by this response from Jesus. What does he mean by
his words, “to fulfill all righteousness”? What is going on here? Pope
Benedict, is his book, Jesus of Nazareth,
offers these words of clarification on the matter, “This reply of Jesus is his way
of acknowledging it is an expression of an unrestricted Yes to God’s will, as
an obedient acceptance of his yoke.” (page 17) I think the Pope hits the nail
on the head for us. At this moment in the Gospel a change comes over Jesus, by
going into the depths of the Jordan, he takes the world’s sin and death upon
himself. He has to do this in order to carry them with him to the Cross, to
fulfill God’s plan to redeem and restore, not just mankind, but the entire
creation at the Resurrection. Peter, in the Book of Acts also sees a similar change in
Jesus at his baptism, “you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea,
beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good
and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” (Acts
10:37-38)
When we turn to
the baptism itself, we can see the Father’s acknowledgement or confirmation of
his faithful Son, the one who is ready to act upon his Father’s plan, no matter
the sacrifice or the cost for himself. Jesus becomes the very person who is going
to “fulfill all righteousness.” Then we are told, “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; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with
whom I am well pleased.” (Matt 3:16-17) With this description we have the whole
picture, the Spirit resting upon the Son, and the Father telling us all, this
is indeed my faithful Son, and I am very pleased with what he is doing. We then have complete confidence that Jesus did not at any time during his life waver from this
plan, but he “loved his own until the end.” (John 13:1) And the Father made this
life of faithfulness even more manifest when he raised his Son from the dead, as
we are reminded of in Romans; that Jesus was “designated Son of God in power
according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.” (Rom
1:4)
How are we then to
understand the description that the, “heavens were opened”, what insight can we
gain from this statement? Here we see why this Feast Day is called the Theophany,
the Trinity itself has been manifest before all people. Not in a dream, not in
some mystical vision, but in the very creation that this God made and formed.
The God of the ages has appeared to his people, to show us before our very
eyes, that he is the only God to be worshiped, served, and adored. Heaven and
earth have been joined together in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. When we
look upon Jesus, we look upon the God of heaven made man. We are not searching
for some secret knowledge of an invisible god, but we have the very truth about
God and man on display before our very eyes. In Jesus, we find not only what is
true about God, but we also find what is true about each one of us. As St. John
says in his Gospel, “No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten Son, who is in
the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” (John 1:18)
Latter on in
Matthew’s Gospel, we have the Resurrected and Glorified Jesus teaching us more
about what true baptism means. There he tells his disciples, “All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and
behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matt 28:18-20) With
this we find out the true link between Jesus’ baptism and our own. Because God
has set us free from the power of Sin and Death, their authority or power over
us, is now given to Jesus; therefore, we are called to share fully in a life of
service and discipleship. One of true faithfulness and obedience to the Father,
as the Son did, thereby, becoming true sons and daughters of God. We do this because
we now have the name of God himself, through our own baptism, written on our transformed
hearts and minds. We are able to accomplish
this through our own growth as disciples, but also helping to form and make new
disciples for Jesus Christ. What becomes the result for this call to disciple building?
God is ever anew made manifest, our lives become a “theophany” of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, daily. We help God continually, “to fulfill all righteousness”
by making his love, mercy, and power, known though each of us. We can all do
this with confidence, because our Lord himself has told us, “I am with you
always”. Let us all daily rejoice and celebrate in this great truth of the Christian
faith, of knowing that God is at work in us.
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