God Comes in History to Change Us

BLESSED AND HAPPY FEAST DAY!

The Christmas season culminates in the celebration of "the Baptism of Jesus," known in the early Church (and still in the Byzantine tradition) as the Theophany. The mystery of the Trinity is revealed as the Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove and the Father's voice is heard (theophany means the "appearance of God").

We see this event portrayed and written in images in the basic structure of the icon of Jesus's baptism. Let us note a few other details: Jesus is immersed in the waters, not for his own purification (he doesn't need it, obviously) but to consecrate the waters of the world by contact with his body and to begin the restoration of all creation as the New Adam. Jesus is naked (sometimes, as here, portrayed with a loincloth), which symbolizes the restoration of Adam's innocence before the Fall. Strange beasts and humanish forms under his feet symbolize the demons defeated by Jesus. John the Baptist gazes not at Jesus but at the Holy Spirit, corresponding to his own testimony in John 1:32-34. Angels wait upon the shore in adoration and in readiness to serve Jesus who is the Lord of all creation.

This is brief reading of the icon above. As we reflect on the important symbolism here, however, let us not be led to think that this is nothing more than a clever and imaginative mythological story. This imagery conveys the truth about a real event that happened to a real man, Jesus. This man is the answer to the human search for the Mystery that sustains everything and gives ultimate meaning to life.

God has answered the question of our hearts by entering our history as a man, giving His life to us, and accompanying us on the journey to our destiny, to live in the glory of His love forever. Christians receive the sacrament of baptism from Jesus, through His ministers, because God's love for the world and for every human person is not abstract, distant, cold and inaccessible. God has touched us in Jesus, our brother. His love enters our history and changes us.

Let us be grateful for our baptism, or—for those who do not yet know Him—ardently seek this encounter with the Mystery who heals and saves and brings the heart to fulfillment, this touch of God who has come to meet every person on their journey, and who will begin to draw to Himself whoever opens their heart and asks for the truth and beauty of life.

Wash Me, and Make Me Clean

‎"Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow" (Isaiah 1:16-17).

Jesus, I beg You, wash me.

Make me clean.

Draw me away from evil.

Teach me to do good.

Awaken my soul to seek justice and truth,

and to stand on the side of those who suffer.

Jesus, wash me; make me clean.

Enable me to say "yes" every day

to the truth about life.

Enable me to adhere to Your will,

trusting that Your will is Your perfect wisdom,

and Your inexhaustible goodness,

and Your ineffably tender care for me.

Jesus, wash me; make me clean.

Enable me to follow the call,

that echoes through all of reality

and resonates in the deepest core of me;

the call to seek and to find Infinite Love.

Jesus, by Your wisdom and goodness,

Your beauty and Your mercy,

Your death and resurrection,

Grant that I might "learn to do good"

and so grow in Your likeness,

which is Love.

A Beloved Son

The feast celebrated in the West as "Epiphany" (highlighting the Magi) is observed in the East as the "Theophany," centered on the baptism and especially the manifestation of the Trinity: the voice of the Father, the Beloved Son, the Spirit in the form of a dove. Later, in the West, we added an additional feast of the Baptism of the Lord on the Sunday following Epiphany.

Here is, in any case, the culmination of our celebration of God's showing Himself to the world. Henceforth Jesus will bear witness to His Father in the Spirit, from Galilee to Judea to the Cross. God has entered our history in all the depths of His love. He reveals His Glory; He reveals that He is Love.

When You, O Lord were baptized in the Jordan 

The worship of the Trinity was made manifest
For the voice of the Father bore witness to You
And called You His beloved Son.
And the Spirit, in the form of a dove,
Confirmed the truthfulness of His word.
O Christ, our God, You have revealed Yourself
And have enlightened the world, glory to You!

Troparion, Theophany,

Byzantine Liturgy