Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Matt. 3:13-18; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:32-34).

The 4 Evangelists, with Saint Matthew having the most detail of this event had recorded Christ’s Baptism.

“Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee…” Evangelist Mark adds that it is specifically from Nazareth of Galilee. Apparently, it was in the 15^th year of Tiberius’s rule when, according to Saint Luke, Jesus turned 30 — the required age to be a teacher of the faith. Saint Matthew writes that John refuses to baptise Jesus saying: “I need to be baptized by You, and are you coming to me?” But according to John’s Gospel, the Baptist did not know Christ before His baptism (John 1:33), until such time as he saw the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descend upon Him. There is no contradiction here. Before baptism, John did not recognise Jesus as the Messiah. However, when He came to him requesting to be baptised, being a prophet who penetrated people’s hearts, John immediately felt His holiness, purity and His eternal pre-eminence over him. He could not but exclaim: “I need to be baptised by you…” When he saw the Holy Spirit ascending on Jesus, he became finally assured that before him was the Messiah-Christ.

“For thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness” — responded Jesus Christ to the Baptist (Matt. 3:15); this meant that Lord Jesus Christ, as a Man and Head of a new humanity — regenerated by Him — had to show by His own example, the essentiality of all of God’s determinations. However, “when He had been baptised, Jesus came up immediately from the water” (Matt. 3:16), because being sinless, He had no need to confess, as was the case with all the others being baptised — while they remained in the water. Saint Luke relates (3:21) that after baptism, “He prayed” — undoubtedly so as His Heavenly Father would bless the beginning of His earthly ministry.

“The heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.” Inasmuch as the aim of the miracle was to reveal to the people the Son of God in Jesus (Who up to this time, dwelt in anonymity), according to the text, John “saw” the Holy Spirit, and of course the Baptised Himself, as well as those present. That is why our Church sings on the feast day of Christ’s Baptism (also called Theophany): “Thou hast appeared this day to the whole world.”

As John declares, God’s Spirit not only descended on Jesus, but “He remained upon Him” (John 1:32).

The voice of God the Father: “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17, Mark 1:11 and Luke 3:22), were indicators to John and those present of the Divine entitlement of the One Baptised as Son of God — in a personal sense, the One and Only Son — upon Whom, the grace of God the Father abides eternally. Together with this, the words were the Heavenly Father’s answer to His Divine Son’s prayer, asking for a blessing on the great endeavour of serving, for the sake of humanity’s salvation.

Our Church celebrates the Baptism of Christ on the 6^th of January, naming it the feast of Theophany, because this event revealed the whole Trinity to the people: God the Father - the voice from the heavens, God the Son — baptism by John in the river Jordan, God the Holy Spirit — the ascension upon Jesus Christ in the form of a dove.