Sunday, 1/10/16
Today, in celebrating the
Baptism of Jesus we repeat last Sunday’s feast of the Epiphany of the Lord,
with the word epiphany meaning the revealing of a greatness which has long been
hidden. That is what happened at the Baptism of Jesus when the Father’s voice
came from heaven, announcing, ”This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased.”
The scene is precious, with Jesus bare to the waist, and
standing waist deep in the Jordan. I once had my niece paint a watercolor of
Jesus that way, and I tacked it to the blackboard of the room where I was
teaching.
There is a second great Christian truth expressed in the Baptism
of Jesus. In his Letter to the Ephesians St. Paul said he was given the
privilege of announcing God’s secret plan for mankind. He said God secret plan
was to “Sum up all things in Christ.” In other words, God’s plan was to have
all of human history summed up in Jesus.
Just as the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, then spent
forty years in the desert, so Jesus, coming up from the water, was to spend
forty days in the desert. He was re-living Jewish history in miniature.
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