Baptism of Jesus

This Sunday, January 11, we celebrate Jesus’ baptism. The Revised Common Lectionary provides a quick shift. Just last week, Jesus was still a baby with the magi coming to offer gifts of frankincense, myrrh and gold. This week, he’s an adult, having grown up, been taught, and now ready to commit his life to the revelation of the kingdom of God. It’s interesting to think of those years that aren’t covered so much in the Bible. What was Jesus like as a child? How was his wisdom manifest in the world even then?

This year (Year A in the lectionary), we look at Jesus’ baptism in the Gospel of Matthew. John the Baptist doesn’t even want to baptize Jesus: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  It is significant, therefore, that even before Jesus’ ministry begins, he presents himself in humility. He goes under the water and re-emerges, named and claimed as God’s beloved.

We’ll be talking a lot about belovedness on Sunday. What if each person in the world knew themselves as named and claimed as beloved of God? What if they knew this deeply, in their heart. Would the world change? On Sunday, the baptismal font will be front and centre, and there will be an opportunity to run your fingers through the holy water in it, a reminder that you too are named and claimed as beloved. That you too have a ministry. 

In the meantime, read Matthew 3:1 to 17, and ponder the following:

1.      Does your understanding of Jesus match John the Baptist’s description of ‘the one who is coming?’

2.      Do you consider yourself beloved?

Image: “Baptism in the River Jordan during Pilgrimage,”from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library