The days of the Christmas Season reach their fulfillment in this great day. The prophecy proclaimed by John as he called the people to repentance of their sins is the final prophecy – the Lord, Jesus who presents himself to John in the Jordan is now the prophetic truth in flesh.
Just as John’s ministry with every fiber of his being would lead to his arrest and ultimate martyrdom, so the ministry of Jesus, Priest, Prophet and King would lead to his arrest and crucifixion. I try to imagine the intensity with which these two men must have looked into each other’s eyes as John proclaimed his unworthiness to baptize the long-awaited One, and as Jesus insisted that he must do so. If John had leapt in his mother’s womb the day Mary and Elizabeth greeted each other, how much more must he be nearly jumping out of his skin as they met, spoke, and embraced in the water of the Jordan River!
Today ’s passage from Luke’s Gospel is more focused on the confirmation of John’s prophecy and the true nature of Jesus which all heard from the voice that spoke to them from above. The Spirit of God visibly descends and hearts leap with the knowledge of what God proclaims, addressing the Son but in a way that is to be heard and treasured by all. What John had gone into the wilderness to prepare to proclaim, and what Jesus had gone into the desert to prepare to reveal in his life, ministry, death, and resurrection transforms John and the Jordan River. God makes it not a measure of wine to save a wedding host from embarrassment but into a sign of the living waters that will become our source of grace and new and eternal life.
Please God, let our hearts beat faster, let our hunger and thirst be above all for you, so that our every hunger and thirst in this life will not lead us away from you!