Today, at the end of the Christmas season, we celebrate Christ’s baptism by John in the river Jordan.  We know that baptism is about the washing away of sin and conversion of life.  Why would Jesus possibly need to be baptized?  He’s completely free from sin, and he is the incarnate Word of God.  He has no sin; he has nothing to convert from.  What can this ceremony mean for him?  Why do we commemorate it so prominently each year?  It’s no coincidence that this feast comes exactly one week after the Feast of the Epiphany: the “octave-day” as it’s called, an important point of connection between the two feasts eight days apart.  Last Sunday’s Feast of the Epiphany is about Christ’s identity being revealed to the entire world and to each one of us.  Today the revelation continues and is deepened: at the Baptism, the voice of God the Father comes thundering down with the words, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”  Almighty God points to Christ and reveals to us, “This is my Son.  This is your Savior.”  So the Baptism is a moment in which Christ’s identity and mission shine forth: when his Epiphany is continued and deepened.  His baptism is also a good example for us.  First of all, it’s a kind of technical example: we should follow this same procedure.  If we want to follow Christ, we should follow his example of being immersed in the waters of conversion and be baptized.  

But his example is not just procedural.  The example he’s truly giving, is the example of humility.  And this is what truly shines forth, what is truly revealed in this Feast: this is part of the ongoing revelation of who Christ is, that we see on this Octave Day of the Epiphany.  How deeply humbling it should be for us, that the Son of God, in order to convert us from our pride, took upon himself the role of a sinner.  We can be so defensive: we’re loathe to have anyone tell us we’re wrong about anything, ever; we tend to make excuses, to have justifications.  We put a shiny veneer on our rather messy life.  But here is the Son of God, doing the opposite: accepting the role and the image of a sinner, when in reality he is the spotless and perfect Lamb of God.  How incredibly humble that is.  And that’s the deeper lesson for us here.  That’s the deeper revelation.  If we want to be truly converted, if we really want to follow Christ and break free from the bonds of sin and live for God and for Eternal Life, this is the way.  The way of humility.  The way of letting go of our entitlement and our pride and our expectations.  The way of abandonment to God’s will.  This is the only way that we can truly find deep and abiding peace in our lives, by letting go of the fickle demands of our pride.  This is the way shown to us by our Lord, who, "though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be clung to.  Rather he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of mortal men.  And it was thus that humbled himself, being obedient even to the point of death, death on a cross.  Therefore God highly exalted him, giving him the name which is above every other name.  So that at Jesus’ name, every knee should bend, in the heavens, and on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."