January 2022 - Theophany
After Pascha, Theophany is the next greatest feast of the year. The Gospels don’t provide detailed accounts of the events of Jesus’ baptism, as Matthew and Luke do about the birth of the Lord. Two of the Gospels, that of Mark, the first of the written Gospels, and that of John, the last of the Gospels, say nothing about the circumstances Jesus’ birth. St Mark begins with His baptism. I think this reflects the fact that this feast celebrates the power of God shining forth and transforming us. It’s not just the manifestation of the power and mercy and love of God as at Jesus’ birth - but God’s power and love acting in us, through Baptism first of all.
Theophany is a celebration of the Mystery of Baptism and what it does in us and through our lives. The celebration of the Lord’s exemplary baptism is an occasion for us and for humanity to celebrate our immersion with Christ - our “putting on” of Christ and becoming members of His very Body. Our Tradition calls us to repent and to renew our baptism in the experience of contact with the sanctified Jordan Water of the day. This is essential to the feast.
WHAT THE PROPHETIC LESSONS OF THE FEAST SHOW US ABOUT BAPTISM.
Isaiah 1:16-20: “…Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, plead for the widow…though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…”
– Baptism calls us to repent – to turn aside from and undo injustice and oppression. Baptism blots out the blood red stain of our sins.
Joshua 3:7-8 and 15-17: When the priests bear the Ark of the Covenant into the Jordan River, the waters recede upstream and downstream making a path for the Israelites to pass on dry ground through the river in its flood stage. Thus they come into the Promised Land which God is giving them. Baptism makes way for us through this world and its flood of woes to the Kingdom of God, our fatherland and place of peace and joy.
II Kings 2:6-14: Elijah at the end of his work as God’s prophet, reaches the Jordan with his disciple Elisha. He strikes the Jordan with his cloak and its waters part for them to cross. A fiery chariot takes Elijah in a whirlwind to Heaven. Baptism makes a way for us to ascend in light to our Father when our time comes to its end.
Exodus 2:5-10: The infant Moses is placed in an ark on the Nile by his mother, since the Pharoah has commanded death to newborn Israelite male children. Pharoah’s daughter finds the ark and raise the child as her ward. God saves Moses from the enemy so that he can serve His People. God protects and preserves us through Baptism from our enemy, the Deceiver, so that we can serve Him and His People through all the trials of our life.
Isaiah 35:1-10: “…They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God …Say to those who are of a fearful heart, Be strong, do not be afraid; behold your God will come with vengeance, yes, with a recompence; He will come and save you…”
We see Christ the Eternal Word of God standing in the Jordan as a man, with the Father’s immeasurable voice sounding and the Creative Spirit hovering over Him. He saves us by becoming one with us and drawing us to His Father, in the Spirit. Baptism is the beginning of our salvation, and it provides us the strength, the protection, the hope, and the courage to persevere till it brings us to our true and lasting home.