The Baptism of Jesus, fresco, Orthodox Church of St John the Baptist, Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan, Jordan.
Why on earth does Jesus, the sinless God-made-flesh, need to be baptised?
For the background on this, first download this Sunday’s readings:
Word format: Year B Baptism of the Lord
Pdf format: Year B Baptism of the Lord
Some answers:
- The humility of God expresses itself through His immersion into the human condition so that he can lift people out of their slavery to sin. (listen to Fr Robert Barron’s homily here);
- This is the first great theophany of The Trinity (see Fr Steve Grunow’s comments here);
- Just like David and Solomon before him, Jesus is being anointed for his kingly mission (see John Bergsma’s comments here).
