I have appointed you as covenant of the people and light of the nations.

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD - Luke 3:15-16,21-22

John had recognised in Jesus someone whom he was not worthy of untying the strap of his sandals (Jn 1:27) because he is “a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.” (Jn 1:30). And John gave witness that Jesus is the Messiah, the one who comes to fulfil the great promise of life and salvation. It is He the one who comes to baptize with the Holy Spirit: he is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29).

John was called the Baptist because he was baptising those who came to him, as a sign of repentance and conversion. People who came to him felt touched by his powerful message, by his way of life and by his testimony and they would follow him as the Messiah. However, John was an honest man who lived by the truth: and he was no more than a voice - a messenger announcing the coming of the Messiah. He lived for that, at Jesus’ baptism: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”

In Jesus’ baptism, we are presented with an epiphany of his mission: anointed with the Spirit, he is proclaimed by the Father as the Son, the Beloved, “with you I am well pleased.” (Lc 3:22). We may say that in the baptism, Jesus receives his mission from the Father. Going into the waters of the river Jordan, Jesus shares the condition of the multitudes who confess their sin. Indeed, Jesus accepts the role of the Servant of the Lord who carries on his shoulders our transgressions and our iniquity (Is 53:6-8). 

Jesus’ baptism constitutes the model of our baptism. We are baptised in the Spirit, who transforms us by making us children of God, the beloved, who are called to walk in Jesus’ footsteps.

It is not enough to believe to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, since all those who listen to the Gospel and accept Jesus as the Christ and the Saviour must pass through the waters that renew us and make us members of the people of God. In the baptism, we became members of the body of Christ, so that with him we share in the glory of life eternal.