“This is my Son, whom I love”
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 10:00AM The Baptism of our Lord
By Bishop Michael Hawkins
St. Mark dives right into the account of Jesus’ baptism in his Gospel, always a part of Epiphany, especially as it is celebrated in the East.
While crowds did come to John the Baptist, Mark’s description of Jesus’ baptism, like many paintings of it,
appears much more intimate. It is, dare I say, almost a private baptism, a secret Epiphany.
As the story is told, the emphasis is upon the identifi cation of Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God. When Jesus is baptized, the heavens are opened, the gate and door once closed by sin is opened through Him for all who will follow our Lord into the water and way He sanctifies.
Heaven is torn open because by this One, the veil would be torn in two from top to bottom. The Spirit
descends upon Jesus, witnessed by visible form, for us. He receives the Spirit for us, in His humanity,
that we might receive the Spirit too in our baptism. Finally a voice comes, a voice upon the waters which
owns Jesus as the unique and beloved Son of God.
Now the details of the baptism of Jesus are common in the Gospels, except for the issue of to whom the signs and voice came.
St. Augustine assures us that whether the actual voice was spoken to Jesus, “You are my Son, whom I love”, or to us, “This is my Son, whom I love”, the voice came for our sakes. Yet there is in Mark’s account a particular meaning to Jesus’ baptism we should not neglect. In Mark’s account, what we see, what is revealed to us and for us, is this inner relation of God the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son united in the Holy Spirit.
He gives us a compelling Gospel picture of God the Holy Trinity. God, his Voice and Spirit, as three distinct and interrelated persons in one God. Jesus’ baptism is a Revelation or Epiphany of the Trinity.
While scholars have debated fruitlessly about Jesus’ self-consciousness as Messiah and Son of God in relation to His baptism, what is more to the point is the relation of Christian baptism to the Christian’s awareness and assurance that we are God’s beloved and anointed children.
The feast of the Baptism of our Lord is an occasion not only to recall Jesus’ baptism for us, but our Baptism into Jesus.
The Gospel that reveals who Jesus is also reveals who we may become in and through Him. He is our King, God and Saviour, but He shares that with us so that we enjoy His royalty and understand we are God’s children and His saved people. In baptism, God effectively communicates these gifts to us.
In Jesus Christ, the heavens are opened to us, the Spirit is given and God claims us as His own adopted children. Christian baptism, like our Lord’s, involves both “You are my Son, whom I love” – for in it God assures us of our adoption and His love – and “This is my Son, whom I love” – for in it God publicly declares us to be His own redeemed children. Baptism is both a personal assurance and a public declaration of our status in Jesus Christ.
In baptism we were made members of Christ. Baptized into him, the Royal Messiah, we were born again as the children of God and we were made inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven.
In our baptism, we were brought into very life of the Trinity, adopted by the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ was born for us, baptized for us, died a cruel death for us and rose again for us, taking our place that we might share in His. He emptied Himself of all the privileges and dignity of His own Kingship, Sonship and Innocence, for us and for our salvation.
God has spoken to you in baptism, “You are my Child, whom I love,” and He assures you of His grace in
the Eucharist, that you are truly a living member of Christ’s body, that you belong to that company of His children, and that you are an heir of His Kingdom.
Let this be our boast, let this be our strength, let this be our comfort, assurance, rest, peace and delight, and let this be our aim, that we should be called the children of the living God.
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