Baptism of our Lord

Baptism is central to Christian faith, and for Anglicans a Gospel Sacrament—an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual reality. Every Christian, regardless of how or when, ought to be baptized. This should come as no surprise.

What may come as a surprise, however, is that Jesus himself was baptized. It wasn’t just something Jesus commanded his followers to do, but an experience he underwent as well. As familiar as we may be with the Gospel accounts, the fact that Jesus submitted himself to baptism may still strike us as odd.

The plot thickens even more when we consider that the baptism Jesus submitted himself to was John’s baptism, which is described as accompanying “repentance”, in conjunction with people “confessing their sins”, and as the means by which to “flee from the coming wrath”.

It doesn’t take much pondering to realize that this doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of what the New Testament says about Jesus—that he was God’s virgin-born, sinless, perfectly obedient Son, fully pleasing to the Father, who pre-existed as divine but laid aside his glory to take on flesh. 

Yet at the very beginning of Jesus’s public ministry, he walked into the Jordan River to be baptized by John.

So, why did Jesus need to be baptized? That’s a question we’ll explore Sunday.

First Sunday of Christmas

Historically, Christmas is both a day and a season. Christmas Day begins “Christmastide”, the twelve days of Christmas concluding January 6th with Epiphany, a Christian feast day celebrating the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the world, symbolized by the visitation of the Magi.

God with us

This fourth Sunday in Advent we find ourselves brought into one of the profoundest mysteries of our faith: Emmanuel—God with us. This simple phrase captures the heart of Christianity—that the infinite, eternal God chose to draw near to us, and gladly so. Sunday's readings from Isaiah, Psalm 24, Romans, and Matthew all converge on this extraordinary truth from different perspectives.

Just think for a moment what these words mean: God with us. Not God distant from us. Not God observing us from afar. Not God, arms crossed, waiting for us to reach him. But God with us—present, intimate, and weaving the fabric of our existence.

The Way

Last week we explored how the context for repentance is the in-breaking movement of the Kingdom of Heaven to which we turn and join.  We step out into the “way of the Lord.”  This coming Sunday is Joy Sunday, or “Gaudete” as it's sometimes called, which comes from the Latin word for “rejoice.”  We'll be reading from Isaiah 35, which also uses the metaphor of the “way” to provide context for our joy.

Like repentance, joy has context.  Joy is framed within Israel's movement from the desert of exile to liberation in Zion.  To get there, she travels along the “Way of Holiness” that God establishes and protects.  At the end of the journey, everlasting joy awaits her.  

There are some surprises along the Way, of course.  So on Sunday we'll look at the map, consider the starting point and the destination, and take in the scenery.  

I look forward to rejoicing with you!