The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
“I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?”
Indeed, He has come to you, John, as He has come to us all: Emmanuel—“God with us”—has come, and you must baptize Him. The One who was present at the creation of the world (John 1:2-3) and was there as the Spirit swept over the waters of the formless Earth (Genesis 1:2), has asked that you pour those waters over His head, so that He could begin the recreation of that same world. The First Man was brought up by God from the clay of the Earth (Genesis 2:7), but you, a Son of Adam, will bring the Son of God up from the waters, for the ground is cursed because of Adam’s sin (Genesis 3:17), while the waters are yet clean. You witnessed the heavens opening, and the Spirit of God descending like a dove upon Him, the same Spirit that filled you from your mother’s womb (Luke 1:15); in awe you heard a voice from Heaven declare Jesus as the Beloved Son of God, that all those who are baptized might be so called. At His Mother’s greeting you leaped in your mother’s womb (Luke 1:41); at His arrival on the riverbank you bowed in humility.
All the prophecies have pointed to this moment, John; do not hesitate to fulfill your role! All of humanity from Adam onward awaits your action, to immerse your Lord in the waters of the Jordan, to purify them that a flood of grace may cleanse the world more thoroughly than the flood of Noah. You, John, will unleash that flood, and the waters of your river will no longer flow into the Dead Sea, but will become the headwaters of the very river of everlasting life. You who are clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around your wait (Matthew 3:4); those baptized in the age to come will be clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27) and girded in truth (Ephesians 6:14)! Your food is locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:4), sustenance from the wilds of the Earth, yet by baptizing your Lord He will come to offer His Flesh as True Food, and His Blood as True Drink (John 6:55) for the whole world!
You, the final prophet; He the fulfillment of all prophecy! You, the baptizer; He the baptism! You, the servant, will baptize your Master; your Master will one day wash the feet of His servants (John 13:1-20), that all might be made clean. He stands before you, John, and He asks you to allow this: to permit the baptism of the Sinless One. God, to whom all owe obedience, seeks your allowance! He who has no need has need of you to baptize! The God before Whom you have humbled yourself, humbles Himself before you; shall you refuse Him?
What say you, John? Will you fulfill the very purpose of your being? Will you, by water, prepare the way of the Lord into this world? Will you baptize Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
“Then he allowed him…”