The wondrous days of Christmas and the Christmas Season have wound down. Their perspective on the Mystery of Salvation has been proclaimed and celebrated far and wide. Our presence in the Presence of Him who is born of Mary transitions in this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord to the Man whose mission on our behalf is inaugurated in the waters of the Jordan River.
In the place of trees and lights, cards and wreaths, a couple and their newborn child, shepherds and magi we are confronted with three persons. As the curious crowds and disciples of John the Baptist look on, John sees in Jesus immediately the One for whom he has been waiting, about whom he has been speaking. Jesus sees in John the one who will accept His own submission to the will of the Father, to recognize the call to righteousness in John’s baptism, and to affirm John’s prophetic role.
The third person in this encounter is the Father of Jesus, God the Father who speaks of Jesus. He speaks in a way continuous with what John has said, but also far beyond what John is capable of knowing or saying. This is the beloved Son, in whom the Father is well pleased.
We know the crowd is on the banks of Jordan, watching and listening. It is a moment of fulfillment and of promise. But Jesus will not linger to soak up the adulation likely to come that day. He has an appointment to keep in the desert. He prepares for His mission, blessed on His way as He now is.
Thank you so much to the “crew” who worked carefully and creatively on our church environment for Christmas, the wonderful music, and the youngsters who helped bring it all to life on the Feast of Epiphany. Christmas is always a heart-warming blend of sights and sounds that help our hearts “remember,” as well as access ever more powerfully to the grace of the moment. We are people of the foresight and prophecy of Isaiah, of the memory and faithful account of Matthew, and of the radically changed perspective and heart of Peter regarding the Gentiles.
God’s grace to us this day creates the privilege of knowing the Son, born for us, and going before us into the desert, that we might be saved!