Baptism of the Lord, Year C
The Very Rev. Iain Luke: January 10, 2010

St James’, Peace River
 

Jesus coming up out of the Jordan. Heaven opened, the Holy Spirit coming down. A voice saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” The whole story of God at work in the world has been leading up this moment, and the whole story flows from it. It's the moment everyone has been waiting for, and it's also a beginning of something brand new.

That's the reason why we tell the story of Jesus' baptism now, as the last element of the Christmas cycle of celebrations. In some ways, of course it was Christmas that was the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New. That's when God made his choice to step on to the stage, to become part of the story himself. And gradually, the ripples spread outward as people came to know and to understand what had happened. At first it was just Mary, and Joseph – then the shepherds, and the wise men and so on, coming to see the child who was God born into the world.

But the baptism of Jesus is a different kind of revelation, a different kind of epiphany. It was the moment when Jesus himself broke through to that intuition of what he was about. By now he's a grownup, but that doesn't mean he knows himself inside out – which of us does?! He likely had some sense that he would have a unique path to tread. I suspect his mother, who “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart”, probably let a few hints drop. But I also see Jesus' spirit beating in time with the pulse of his people, God's people. They had been waiting for a long time, even centuries, waiting to see the truth spoken in Isaiah's words that we heard this morning, God saying to them, “I have called you by name, you are mine... You are precious in my sight and I love you.”

Jesus' story and Israel's story converge on the banks of the Jordan. He comes there, like so many others, wanting to be ready for the day when God would do what God was going to do. And he comes away having seen into an open heaven, having heard the voice of God, and knowing that he doesn't have to wait for God's plan any more. It's happening, and it's him.

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