The Jews were absolutely unique in the ancient world. Not only did their religion forbid them to worship any gods other than the Lord, but their prophets actually taught that the gods of other nations were mere figments of the imagination. They did not exist at all.
For Jews in the time of Jesus, monotheism, the belief or doctrine that there is only one God, was their distinctive hallmark and was ingrained in them from cradle to grave. They recited several times a day the verses of Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone!”
So it should come as no surprise that the notion of Jesus as the Son of God was a bit hard for them to take. The Gospel of John tells us that this claim to divine sonship was one of main reasons for Jesus’ crucifixion. Hundreds of years later, Roman Emperor Constantine had to call a church council to reaffirm that Jesus was God, equal in glory and majesty to God the Father. Yet another council had to be called a few generations later to definitively affirm the same about the Holy Spirit.
To this day, people from Da Vinci Code fans to Jehovah’s Witnesses dispute the doctrine of the Trinity, the belief of three divine persons in God, alleging it was invented by Constantine.
But a reading of the Scriptures shows that the Trinity was revealed when Jesus met his cousin in the wilderness, at the River Jordan. While John baptizes his superior, the voice of God resounds over the waters: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
At that very moment, the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove. Here, for a brief moment, we glimpse the mystery of one God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and Holy Spirit. This momentary appearance of Jesus as the Son of God, anointed with the Holy Spirit, is an epiphany.
It is no accident that this revelation of the Trinity happened at the moment of Christ’s baptism. Christian baptism, here instituted by Christ, is essentially different than the baptism of John.
John the Baptist preached cleansing from past sins and a change of lifestyle. Christian baptism certainly involves this but accomplishes much more. It joins us to Jesus, as savior and Lord, and connects us with the power of his death and resurrection. But since in baptism we become one with Jesus, members of his body, all that is his becomes ours. His Father now becomes Our Father, and the Holy Spirit now takes up residence within us.
Baptism does not just wash away sins. It establishes an intimate relationship between us and the three persons of the Trinity. God is no longer a stern monarch, but a loving father, not just Christ’s Father but Our Father. God the Son calls us no longer servants but friends. God in the Holy Spirit becomes the power within us to make us new and brings us to the fullness of joy.
The fact that baptism takes place through water is no accident either. Water cleanses, true. But it also is the symbol of birth. Are we not carried in water for nine months in our mothers’ wombs? In baptism, we emerge from the waters of the church’s womb to take up a new kind of life, a holy adventure that opens out into eternity.
But there is another sacrament besides baptism that is instituted at this blessed event. Notice that Peter, speaking of Jesus’ baptism in Acts 10:38, says Jesus was “anointed.” The Greek word for “anointed one” is “Christ.” And the Greek term for “confirmation” is “chrismation.”
Some wonder why we need the sacrament of confirmation. What else do we get when we are confirmed? That’s simple: We receive our mission and the power to carry it out.
Being a Christian is not just about salvation. It’s about sharing in Christ’s anointing to transform the world. The mission is an essential part of the package. That’s why we are called “Christians” or anointed ones. Without sharing in the mission through the anointing of confirmation, one is not fully incorporated into the church, which is a missionary community.
So the feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Jan. 11) is not only a revelation of the Trinity and our initiation into a saving relationship with the three divine persons. It is the commission to bring others into the same life-transforming relationship. It is not only Christ’s name day, but the name day of all who glory in the name of being called a Christian.
— Marcellino D’Ambrosio
D’Ambrosio writes from Texas for Catholic News Service’s Faith Alive!
