By lowering Himself to be baptized along with sinners, Jesus shows his followers what they must do to be saved. His Baptism also reveals the gifts of sonship and kingship given to Christians by God through Baptism.
Not needing to be baptized for his own benefit, Jesus humbled Himself and was baptized out of love for man and obedience to God the Father, the same reasons that would lead him to willingly die on the Cross.
Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John, his relative. This baptism by John had been a baptism of repentance but Jesus had no sins to repent of.
The water of Jesus’ Baptism did not cleanse Him. Instead He cleansed the water so that Christian disciples could be baptized in this water after Him so that their sin could be removed.
After being manifested to the people when He was baptized by John, the one who had announced the Lord’s coming, and with God the Father declaring Jesus’ divinity by calling Him his beloved Son, Jesus then began his public ministry.
All three Persons of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are present at this event, emphasizing its significance in the life of Jesus Christ.
Catholics meditate on the Baptism of the Lord in the Jordan River in the First Luminous Mystery of the Rosary.
Connecting the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Ordinary Time, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the Sunday after the Feast of the Epiphany, or on the Monday after Epiphany in the United States.
John hesitated to baptize Jesus:
A clear declaration that God was there:
Revealing his identity and restoring ours:
It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. On coming up out of the water He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him. And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.”
Mark 1: 9-11
Jesus had no sin to be removed:
Jesus allowed Himself to be numbered among sinners:
The Gospels say that Jesus went to John the Baptist by the Jordan River, desiring to receive from him the baptism of repentance. But immediately afterwards, while Jesus was praying, “the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from Heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased”. It is the first public manifestation of Jesus’ messianic identity after the adoration of the Magi. This is why the liturgy brings the Baptism of the Lord closer to the Epiphany with a leap in time of about 30 years: today we see the Child whom the Magi adored as a messianic King consecrated by the Father in the Holy Spirit.
Pope John Paul II, Angelus Address, 11 January 2004
Jesus’ Baptism is linked to his Crucifixion:
Jesus’ Baptism foreshadows his death on the Cross:
Paving the way for the Sacrament of Baptism:
Jesus’ public life begins with his Baptism by John in the Jordan. John preaches “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”. A crowd of sinners – tax collectors and soldiers, Pharisees and Sadducees, and prostitutes- come to be baptized by him. “Then Jesus appears.” The Baptist hesitates, but Jesus insists and receives Baptism. Then the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes upon Jesus and a voice from Heaven proclaims, “This is my beloved Son.” This is the manifestation (“Epiphany”) of Jesus as Messiah of Israel and Son of God.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 535
The Baptism of the Lord is a precious mystery of the Church:
The Jordan River is significant in the history of salvation:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Nuns on a farm:
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