Homily for Baptism of the Lord Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. Gospel of St. Matthew 3:13-17. Theme: Why Was Jesus Baptized…Why Was I Baptized?
Today’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord brings our Christmas Season officially to an end. It ushers us out of Bethlehem, and moves us fast-forward 30 years to the banks of the Jordan River. Jesus is no longer a baby in the manger but now comes to us as a young adult, a tradesman from the village of Nazareth, who is about to start out on the mission for which he was born. In the Gospel reading we encounter him approaching his cousin, St. John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets and the one who was chosen to see the fulfillment of what all the prophets had foretold. John had the task of preparing Israel for the Messiah’s public arrival and now the long-awaited day had finally come.
To understand what’s really happening in this story, it’s important to remember that Jesus was not baptized because He had sins from which to repent. Rather, Jesus began his public ministry as our Savior by showing solidarity with us who are sinners and who do stand in need of repentance. He entered the Jordan River with St. John the Baptist as his first step in washing away our sins. By means of his divine presence submerged into the river, he intentionally sanctified the element of water, empowering it to become an instrument for spiritual cleansing in the Sacrament of Baptism. So in short, Jesus was not baptized because He needed it but because we do. And the story of Jesus’ Baptism teaches us that what happened to Jesus at his Baptism, is also what happens to each one of us at ours, just in a different way.
The first thing we hear about after Jesus comes up out of the water is that Heaven was opened. And this is precisely what Baptism does for us. It re-opens the way to Heaven which was closed to us by the original sin of Adam and Eve. Recall that these first humans were given the choice of living in obedience to their Creator or of living life on their own terms. And whatever they chose would be not just their fate, but the fate of all of us who descended from them. They freely chose to separate themselves and the human race from an intimate relationship with God. But Jesus our Savior came precisely to undo what they had done. He mended the relationship and closed the spiritual rupture they caused, bringing about a reconciliation between humanity and God. And so our first step towards Heaven is taken by leaving the ways of Adam and Eve and uniting ourselves intimately with Christ through Baptism.
The next wondrous thing we see happening to Jesus at the Jordan River is the Holy Spirit coming down upon Him under the appearance of a dove. Now, we might wonder why God chose to manifest himself in the form of a dove? Well, it could be because the dove is a biblical symbol of peace and innocence. By the power of the Holy Spirit who comes down upon us at our Baptism, we are made innocent through the forgiveness of sin and we make our peace, so to speak,with God. Baptism puts us into a right relationship with God as our Creator and Father, with the Son of God as our Savior and Brother, and with God the Holy Spirit as our Sanctifier and Life-giver. The innocence and peace we receive from this Sacrament remains with us as long as we remain faithful to our baptismal promises to reject sin and Satan, to trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and to live what He teaches us through the Bible and His Church. Should we ever fall away from these promises we can reclaim them once again through the Sacrament of Confession. And the Good News is that God is so rich in mercy that there’s no limit as to how many times we can seek and receive this post-baptismal reconciliation!
Finally, the Gospel tells us that God the Father’s voice was audibly heard declaring Jesus to be His Beloved Son in whom He was well pleased. And this is exactly what God the Father thinks about each one of us, about you and about me at our Baptism. when we become uniquely his! Through Jesus, with Jesus and in Jesus, we become God’s beloved children in whom He finds great delight! The Scriptures assure us that God rejoices over you, rejoices over me, rejoices over each one of us personally and not because of anything we have done but simply because of who we are and who he is. We are his children! He is our Father who loves each one of us unconditionally! And it’s this conscious awareness of God’s personal love that moves us from the inside out to strive to become the best that we can be by doing our best to live in a right relationship with him after our Baptism.
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nd so, it’s good for us that we move on from the Nativity in Bethlehem to the Baptism in the Jordan River. You see, if we compare the life of Christ to a book, we could say that staying at Christmas would be like never getting past the first chapter. Never getting caught up in its dramatic plot of interesting characters, miraculous cures, and powerful teachings. Never reaching the exciting apex of its conclusion with the stunning and world-changing events of Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday. So you see, the Baptism of Jesus follows upon the heels of Christmas because it sets us up for the rest of the story. Through the Gospels proclaimed at the Liturgy over the following weeks and months, we will learn more and more about the marvelous and awesome things that God has done for us and still does for us today, through Jesus Christ, his Christmas gift to us that keeps on giving!
