The Baptism of the Lord
Isaiah43: 1-7; Psalm 29; Acts 8: 14-17; Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22 The beginning of Jesus’ public ministry is marked by his Baptism. Two of the Gospels talk about the birth of Jesus, but all four speak about his baptism by John in the Jordan River. That says something about how important this event was. This event marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. That is the event we are celebrating today. We celebrated the feast of the Epiphany last week, and we remembered the visitation of the Magi to the child Jesus, and their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It is a kind of revealing of who Jesus is. These people who aren’t Jewish, come and kneel before this child. It is symbolic of the nations recognizing Jesus as king. Technically speaking, Epiphany is a feast day and not a season, but the readings can lean towards us thinking about this as a season too. The baptism of Jesus is a kind of revealing. The English word "Epiphany" comes from a Greek word that has the imp...