My Good Friends,
Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, and it’s worth starting with the obvious question people have been asking for centuries: Why does Jesus get baptized at all?
John’s baptism was about repentance. It was for people who needed to turn their lives around. So why does the sinless Son of God step into that same muddy Jordan River? And the answer is simple—but not shallow. Jesus doesn’t enter the water because He needs to be cleansed. He enters the water because we do. This moment is not about Jesus changing. It’s about the water changing.
By stepping into the Jordan, Christ sanctifies the waters of the world. From that point on, water is no longer just water. It becomes a place of encounter—where heaven touches earth, where God chooses to act.
And notice what happens. The heavens open. The Spirit descends. The Father speaks.
This is one of the clearest moments in the Gospels where the Trinity reveals itself—not in theory, not in a creed, but in an event. God shows us who He is by what He does. And what does the Father say? “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Not after Jesus has performed a miracle. Not after He’s preached a sermon. Not after the Cross. Before all of it.
Which tells us something important: Jesus is loved not for what He does, but for who He is.
And here’s where this feast turns toward us. Because in our baptism, something very similar happens—whether we remember it or not. The heavens are opened. The Spirit is given. And the Father claims us. You may not have heard a voice from the clouds. Most of us were infants, after all. But the Church dares to say that the same truth spoken over Jesus is spoken over you: You are my beloved child. I delight in you. Not because you’ve earned it. Not because you’ve gotten everything right. But because you belong to Christ.
The Baptism of the Lord marks the end of Christmas, but it also marks the beginning of mission. Jesus comes up out of the water and immediately moves toward the desert, toward ministry, toward the world as it actually is.
Which reminds us: baptism is not a private comfort—it’s a public calling. We are baptized not just from something—sin, death—but for something: to live as sons and daughters who know they are loved and therefore are free to love in return.
So today, as Christmas fades and ordinary time begins, the Church quietly asks us one question: Do you remember who you are? Not your job. Not your failures. Not your worries. But this: You are baptized. You are claimed. You are beloved. And that is where the Christian life always begins.
Peace and All Good,
– Fr. Zack
