
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’ Baptism prefigured his Death and Resurrection. Allowing Himself to go under the water signified that He would allow Himself to die, and his coming back out of the water anticipates his Resurrection.
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.
Jesus had no sin to be removed:
Jesus did not need to be baptized:
Paving the way for the Sacrament of Baptism:
After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, Heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from Heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.”
Luke 3: 21-22
John hesitated to baptize Jesus:
Jesus’ Baptism is linked to his Crucifixion:
Jesus’ Baptism foreshadows his death on the Cross:
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
A clear declaration that God was there:
Revealing his identity and restoring ours:
The Baptism of the Lord is a precious mystery of the Church:
What happened that was so important at Jesus’ Baptism that led all the Evangelists to recount it? We find the answer in the words Jesus utters, shortly afterwards, in the synagogue of Nazareth, clearly referring to the event in the Jordan: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed Me.” In the Jordan, God the Father “anointed with the Holy Spirit”; that is, He consecrated Jesus as King, Prophet and Priest. Indeed, in the Old Testament, kings, prophets and priests were anointed with perfumed oil. In the case of Christ, instead of physical oil, there is the spiritual oil that is the Holy Spirit; instead of the symbol there is the reality: there is the Spirit Himself Who descends upon Jesus. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit ever since the first moment of his Incarnation. However, this was a “personal grace”, incommunicable; now, instead, with this anointment, He receives the fullness of the gift of the Spirit, but for his mission which, as the head, He will communicate to his body, which is the Church, and to every one of us.
Pope Francis, General Audience, 21 August 2024
The Jordan River is significant in the history of salvation:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Led to God by science:
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