Today's feast, The Baptism of the Lord, at first seems very strange to me in my still-very-ignorant state regarding my knowledge and understanding of the faith. Why did Our Lord need to be baptised in the first place? This used to puzzle me, when I actually stopped to think about it, that is.Surely Jesus was without sin and therefore had no need of this act to cleanse him of non-existent sins?
There are many reasons for this, I have discovered.
It is another manifestation or epiphany of Our Lord and the whole of the Trinity is involved - God the Father in his words, 'This is my beloved . . .' ; the Holy Spirit in the form of the dove; and of course the second person of the Trinity, Jesus himself.
Jesus descended into the River Jordan to sanctify its waters and give them the power to baptise others less perfect than himself; the power of true baptism which would remove all the sins of the world.
What happened at the Baptism of the Lord is symbolic of what happens when we ourselves were baptised.
We too receive the Holy Spirit at Baptism; we too become 'beloved' of God the Father as his adopted children. Just as the heavens opened on that day on the banks of the River Jordan, so the heavens are opened to us though the sacrament of Baptism.
After his baptism, Jesus prayed just as we too need to pray, often and regularly, to avoid falling into sin.
I still have an awful lot to learn, but I'm getting there, I hope. Thinking about my faith and looking into it for posts on this blog is proving very beneficial for me.
Another thing worth mentioning is that today marks the end of the season of Christmas and the beginning of Ordinary Time . . . though quite what's Ordinary about it, I have yet to find out!
According to the note in our Diocesan Directory, Ordinary Time refers to the 33 or 34 weeks which celebrate no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ. Instead, we celebrate the mystery of Christ in all its fullness . . . . It doesn't sound very 'Ordinary' to me!
2 comments:
You're so right. Jesus did not need to be baptised because He was without sin.
So why do it? Was it to validate/certify the good works that John the Baptist had started? To show publicly that he is doing God's work.
Was it also an opportunity, as you say, for the Holy Trinity to be there for all to see. God in Heaven, Jesus and the Holy Spirit as a dove.
The people of the time would have found it too difficult to understand and fathom out the Holy Trinity. Many have the same difficulty today. So a dove, often seen as a symbol of Peace, would have been appropriate to somehow explain to the people of the time the Holy Trinity.
Thank you for this marvellous post.
God bless you.
Thank you Victor. Yes, it was also to validate the good works begun by John the Baptist By preaching repentence, John helped bring people to a state of penitence, ready to confess their sins and prepared for the true baptism of Christ. At least that's the way I understand it.
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