Epiphany I

Epiphany I
The Baptism of Jesus "This is the beloved."

The great theme of Epiphany season is God made manifest.

God does not prove his existence. God reveals his love. He reveals his love in the same way human beings attempt to communicate love. Love is made manifest in relationship.

The essence of the Christian faith is a personal relationship with God in Christ. Every thing else about the Christian faith: the church, the Bible, the sacraments, service to others, proceeds from this relationship and helps to build this relationship.

Jesus’ baptism in the river Jordan by his cousin John, the last of the prophets, is the way God the Father chose publically to introduce Jesus Christ as His only begotten Son.

John’s baptism was a symbol of repentance and preparation. John called people to recognize their separation from God and to make a conscious choice to seek reunification with God. But, Jesus never separated from God.

John called the people to prepare their hearts, and minds and will to receive the Messiah, God’s anointed one. But, Jesus was the Messiah.

Why then did Jesus seek out John and enter the waters to receive baptism?
The apostle Matthew quotes John asking the very same question. Jesus replies with the answer: to fulfill all righteousness. As the rightful King of Israel Jesus led by example. He didn’t need John’s baptism. He chose to accept the baptism to tell the people: I will not ask you to do anything I will not do.

The reality of God is in the relationship God establishes with us in Jesus Christ.
As the one who came to seal the breach between divinity and humanity in his own person, by his life, death and resurrection, Jesus entered the waters of baptism to teach and to lead by example. Jesus came to save. That is the meaning of his name. He came to save all humanity from separation, sin and death. The symbol Jesus forms by his baptism in the river Jordan is the symbol of the suffering servant who not only identifies with the separation, sin and death of humanity but immerses himself in that separation, sin and death.

Baptism is a symbol of going under the water to die to the old way of living and emerging into the air to take the first new breath of a new way of living.

Jesus’ baptism is a foretaste of his sacrifice on the cross. Sacramental baptism is now the symbol and the reality of a soul that is buried with Christ in his death and raised with Christ is his resurrection.

What Jesus offers to all people everywhere is not just fire insurance for the future. What Jesus offers all people everywhere is a new life here and now. That new life is eternal life. It is a new way of thinking, feeling, and making choices.

It sets the soul on a new path in life. It recreates the soul into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. It initiates a process of personal transformation, which the Church calls sanctification, that begins with baptism and never ends.
It never ends because it is a living, growing, transforming relationship with the co-eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Our Heavenly Father, the first person of the Trinity, spoke audibly to the crowds on the river banks that day Jesus received John’s baptism. He spoke to all who were present and announced: You are my Son, the Beloved. At the same time the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, took visible form and appeared to descend on Jesus.

In this image we see the One God in three persons, the Holy and Eternal Trinity. And, we see the essence of the divine nature is an eternal relationship of love.
The Father just doesn’t call Jesus a beloved son, or my beloved. He calls Jesus "The Beloved." The Beloved is the co-eternal expression of love that defines the very nature and being of the divine.

God the Father is the one who eternally loves. God the Son is the one who is eternally the Beloved. God the Holy Spirit is the co-eternal resplendent glory of that love that has no beginning and has no end.

All who are baptized into Christ are reunited to the Father by the divine presence of the Holy Spirit. As we unite our souls to Christ we share in his divine image and likeness. We become the beloved of the Beloved. We enter into the relationship that reveals God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To be in Christ is to be immersed in the steadfast holy and eternal love of the Trinity.

To be baptized into Christ is to be set free from slavery to fear into the freedom of faith.
To be baptized into Christ is to be set free from the slavery of self will into the freedom of divine will.
To be baptized into Christ is to be set free from the slavery of pride and its dark underside, despair, into the freedom of joy.

Jesus accepted John’s baptism to show us the way. Jesus is the way, the new way of living by grace through faith.
Jesus accepted John’s baptism to show us the truth. Jesus is the truth that we can live in the hope that God is with us.
Jesus accepted John’s baptism to show us the life. Jesus is the life whom God the Father calls: The Beloved. In Jesus life is the unfolding and manifestation of divine love in human relationships.

In Jesus, God reveals that the primary relationship that gives meaning and purpose to all other relationships is our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. As we unite our souls to Jesus in the waters of baptism we reunite to the Beloved. As we immerse our souls in the blessed sacrament of the altar we immerse our mind, heart and will in the eternal Presence of the Beloved.

That immersion into the eternal Presence of the Beloved is God’s invitation to a new way of living. As we learn to make choices from the place of steadfast holy love we discern where we need to make changes in our lives. These changes may be difficult at times. But, the choice to live from the place of steadfast holy love always brings greater meaning and purpose to our lives.

The choice to cultivate the personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ is the reality of God’s existence. So many modern secular people look for the proof of God’s existence n the fulfillment of human desires. They say, if God is real then God will give me what I want. Others want proof of God’s existence in rational categories of human logic. The say: if God exists then God must demonstrate that existence in the way I have been trained to think about the universe.

God does not prove his existence. God makes manifest his presence.
God made manifest is Jesus Christ rising from the waters of John’s baptism.
God made manifest is the Holy Spirit taking visible form to embrace Jesus in the waters of creation.
God made manifest is our Heavenly Father who declares to Jesus so all the world may hear: you are my Son, the Beloved. The Beloved is the co-eternal God of God, light of light, very God of very God. Begotten, not made.

In the reading of this event today the Holy Spirit is speaking to each of us. If you have never embraced the gift of God in Jesus Christ, make a real choice to embrace the real presence of the Beloved here and now.

If you have accepted Jesus as your personal lord and savior, use this moment in time to make a real choice to say to God: I want to immerse my mind, my heart, my will in the new life of the Beloved. Where is my next step in sanctification? What is my next choice in personal transformation? What do I need to give up? Where do I need to make a change? How can I live more fully and completely and joyfully in Jesus Christ?

Luke records for us the action of the Holy Spirit and the voice of our heavenly Father as God in three persons manifests himself to us in Jesus Christ, the co-eternal Son, the co-eternal Beloved. God continues to manifest His divine presence to all people everywhere as He calls to into a new way of living in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.