Today we celebrate the beautiful solemnity of the Baptism of our Lord. Such an amazing and wondrous event in the life of our Lord, and in the life of the people of God, whom He came to redeem and save. A question immediately arises when we read the narrative of how Jesus approached John, who was baptizing, and asked to be baptized by him. When Jesus approached John the Baptist to be baptized, what would John’s perception of Jesus have been? Would he have known he was in the presence of divinity itself, or was he not there yet? Would he have known He was the Son of God, or was this something gradually revealed to him after the baptism?
This question helps us reflect more deeply on such a beautiful and momentous moment in the life of our Lord, who is about to be declared the Righteous One, the One in whom the Father is well pleased. Immediately after this, He will be sent into the desert as an immediate preparation for His public ministry—propelled and prompted by the Holy Spirit—to undergo spiritual warfare with Satan before beginning the three years of His public mission.
So what was going on in the mind of Saint John the Baptist when he saw Jesus approaching him among the hundreds, even thousands, being baptized in the Jordan? From the outset, we can say with certainty that John knew something extraordinary about Jesus, even if his understanding was not yet complete. John knew that Jesus was greater than himself. All four Gospels agree on this point. John himself says, “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thong of His sandals” (Mk 1:7).
This is not language John would use for merely a holy man or prophet in Jewish culture. Even the lowest slave could remove his master’s sandals. Yet John denies even that status. He perceives that Jesus stands in an entirely different order from any other holy man in human history.
In today’s Gospel from Matthew, we also see John resisting the baptism: “I need to be baptized by You, and yet You are coming to me?” (Mt 3:14). This reveals that John already recognizes Jesus’ moral and spiritual superiority. He knows that Jesus is sinless, or at least does not belong among the penitents.
Despite these profound insights, the Gospel suggests that John did not yet have full clarity about Jesus’ divine identity prior to the baptism. John’s mission involved recognition through a sign. In John 1:31–33, John explicitly states: “I did not know Him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’”
What a striking revelation this is. Before Jesus even approaches John, John has already received divine instruction from “the one who sent me to baptize.” Whether this was God the Father directly, an angel, or another manifestation of God is not specified. But John knows that the One who is coming will not only receive the Holy Spirit, but will impart the Holy Spirit to others.
Jesus fulfills this in a very real way. After the Resurrection, He breathes on the apostles and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn 20:22–23). And already in Baptism, even when we were infants, Jesus imparts the Holy Spirit to us, animating our souls, minds, and hearts—calling us to cooperate with that grace.
In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah speaks as though he were standing at the Jordan River: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my Spirit” (Is 42:1). The Holy Spirit is given so that we may go about doing good, forgiving one another, bringing healing, and overcoming the power of evil.
Saint Peter confirms this in the second reading, saying: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).
My brothers and sisters, God is with us. Without Him, we can do nothing. He is the vine, and we are the branches (Jn 15:5). The Holy Spirit flows through those branches, giving life to all whom God calls.
May you be blessed by the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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