Today, we celebrate a feast that is commemorated in the first Luminous Mystery of the Rosary. The Luminous Mysteries were popularized by Saint John Paul II, and illustrate the various ways that Christ’s nature and the purpose of his coming were revealed to us. That is, they are luminous mysteries because they shed light on who Christ was and is. I like to think of the Luminous Mysteries as particularly appropriate during the Epiphany part of the year, because as we discovered last week, Epiphany means manifestation; it refers to light being shed on the person of Jesus Christ.
I call this the Epiphany Season. Epiphany was last Sunday, and today, the Baptism of the Lord is the end of the Christmas Season. But the Epiphany goes on in some ways for a while: traditionally until February 2nd, the Presentation of the Lord. So we will see in the readings in this first part of the year, more and more about who Jesus is and what he came to do.
Today we have some wonderful words of Epiphany in today’s Gospel reading. Here, it is God the Father who speaks of his Son:“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.” Talk about a message of Epiphany. Anyone who heard it cannot possibly be in doubt about who Jesus was. It was certainly enough to convince Saint John the Baptist, who later testifies to the “Lamb of God” and proclaims that “He must increase; I must decrease.” (John 3:30)
So, if you stop to think about it, we have come a long way since December 25th. Jesus, the Son of God, has become the son of Mary, and has consecrated the world by his most loving presence. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity has taken on flesh and become one like us in all things but sin. He took that flesh as the lowliest of all: as a baby born to a poor young family in the tiniest, poorest region of a small nation. He has grown up now, and stands ready to take on his ministry – we will hear more about that next week. He begins all this by doing what is a very odd gesture: he receives John’s baptism, which is for the forgiveness of sins.
I say it’s an odd gesture because obviously, Jesus didn’t have sins to be forgiven. So what is this all about? Why would he set foot into waters that could not wash him from anything? Well, traditionally, scholars find two reasons for that. First, by accepting John’s baptism, Jesus identifies himself with sinners, that is, with all of us – the people he came to save. Nowhere in the Gospels did he ever distance himself from sinners, because of his great love for us. This then signifies the beginning of his ministry to sinners: the people he would famously dine with and spend time with, and heal and call to conversion. Secondly, his baptism does something to the water. If the water could not wash him, he could certainly consecrate the water. By our God setting foot in the waters of baptism, he forever sanctifies the water with which all of us sinners are baptized. So his being baptized is an act of mercy for all of us, those he came to save.
The secret to our celebration of the Epiphany is that we must be ready to accept the manifestation of Jesus in our own lives. We have to let him be our king and priest, accepting his death for our salvation. We have to celebrate our own baptism, which has become significant because Christ has gone through it first, long before us, sanctifying the waters. We have to accept and treasure the mercy of sharing in his baptism.
This is Jesus: this is the One with whom the Father was well-pleased; he is the One with whom we are in awe. We are moved to silence before our Christ who came most lovingly to sanctify our way to heaven. That silence can only be appropriately broken by the exclamation of the Father: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased!”