Baptism of the Lord

by Fr. Michael D. Accinni Reinhardt, MA, Mdiv, MS  |  01/12/2025  |  This Sunday's Reading

Through the liturgy of the church, we are brought into intimacy with the Lord.

Catholic worship always brings us to the real person of Christ and to His Passion. It should bring us to a sacramental point, to closeness, to a moment in which the Lord looks at us and we at Him, when He washes us, touches us and feeds us. This, to be honest, is the thing that brought me back to the Catholic faith, the belief that Jesus is truly present in the church, that He is sacramentally present.

Step back and look at how the church’s liturgy has been guiding us these past several weeks. In Advent we watched and prepared for the coming of Christ, and then we experienced His birth at Christmas. God took flesh to begin His work of salvation within the intimacies of a holy family. Then we see how the Kng of all kings and the King of the universe, this child born for us is the God-king, that this small thing is bigger than all things. Then we come to this Sunday and to the baptism of Jesus. In this feast, that follows the Epiphany, we are, brought to a sacramental moment. We contemplate how Jesus humbles himself to receive baptism, the baptism we share together with Him. This is the moment, we are brought intimately into contact with this Christ we’ve been looking for and whom we’ve worshipped with angels, shepherds, and kings. By this act of baptism, Jesus united us with Himself in the sacrament of baptism and He would later command His disciples to give this sacrament to those who believe in Him. This is the beginning of our union with Christ. Advent and Christmas have brought us to this moment of intimacy, this moment of sacramental union, and we learn the true fact that in baptism, as the Catechism simply puts it, “we become members of Christ” (CCC 1213). Christmas touches us first in baptism and then in the sacramental life born from it. The Mass carries us into intimacy with Jesus, because in the Mass, the liturgy explains the sacramental union to us and it’s a sacramental union that changes us. Baptism is our rebirth and adoption, enabling us to call God our Father. Through baptism, we can walk in a newness of life and in baptism we have the realization of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. When we think about the Trinity revealed at Jesus’ baptism, we are reminded that our own baptism also connects us to this loving relationship. We are invited to share in the life of the Trinity and to spread God’s love to others. Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are united in love and mission, we are called to live in love and to serve others in our daily lives.

Another way to think about this is to pay attention to the words of the Father, the voice from heaven heard at Jesus’s baptism. “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased’ (Lk 3:22). These words bear two truths about Christ which become, through baptism, two truths about us. The first truth is royal, that Christ is Son and King, the heir of David. The second truth is sacrificial; in these words, Jesus is figured as the mysterious servant that Isaiah prophesied, who will both suffer and bring justice. That is, Christ in His baptism is declared by the Father to be both king and servant, which is, what we’re supposed to be by means of the grace of baptism, kings and servants, all of us. That is who Jesus is, and it’s what we are too. The gospel for the Baptism of the Lord also emphasizes John the Baptist’s proclamation of the coming Messiah and His role as the forerunner preparing the way for Jesus’ ministry. The presence of the Holy Spirit is prominent in this passage, as the Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove, signifying His anointing and empowerment for His ministry. The voice from heaven affirms Jesus as the beloved Son of God, expressing the divine confirmation of His identity and mission. John the Baptist’s message of repentance and his call to bear fruits of righteousness resonate throughout the passage, highlighting the importance of turning away from sin and living a life aligned with God’s will. The three aspects of Jesus’s baptism is also our baptismal identity: priest, prophet, and king. As priests, we are called to intercede for others in prayer. As prophets, we are called to speak God’s words. As kings, we are called to prepare our lives and direct others towards the kingdom of God.