Today we are celebrating The Baptism of the Lord, which is for us a major celebration in our Christian

calendar, coming as does close on the heels of the Epiphany which we celebrated last night here at the
church. Wise-men from the East came to Jerusalem asking, “Where is He who is born King of the
Jews?” Today, we ask a different question, “Who is He who is stepping into the waters of the River
Jordan, and why does it matter?”

In popular speech that word “epiphany” refers to that moment when you suddenly feel that you
understand, or suddenly become conscious of something that is very important to you, or maybe have
powerful experience of God. The penny drops, the lights go on, and you have an epiphany. It’s what
happens when you realize the Gospel is true! Jesus has died and rose again for me! God knows me
and God loves me! These are not just empty words, but full of divine power.

But the word “epiphany” literally means “to manifest” or “to show forth.” In ancient Greek mythology
it was believed that one the gods would make themselves visible on earth, most commonly on the
battlefield or other times of crisis.

But what separates the Christian understanding of epiphany from the pagan one is best expressed by
the Gospel reading from St. John on Christmas Eve, where it says “the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
(John 1.14) For us the epiphany of God is a flesh and blood human being: Jesus Christ, who
manifests, who shines forth with the glory, that is radiant divine beauty.

I confess that January isn’t my favorite month of the year. Perhaps like some of you I find myself
singing the January blues. It’s why I love the fact that in January I get to come to the church where in
the season of Epiphany I get to bathe myself in the spiritual light which shines forth from Christ. Paul
writes, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor.4.6)

This is what happened when the wise-men entered the house and saw the Child with Mary His
Mother. It’s why they knelt down and paid him homage, and opening their treasure chests offered
Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Epiphany leads to worship.

But today on The Baptism of the Lord we actually have a double epiphany. There are two things being
manifested or shown forth that are absolutely central to the Christian faith.

The first is the Divine sonship of Jesus Christ. Jesus is not, as sometimes has been suggested, the
brightest and best of God’s creation, whom God has adopted to be His Son. Jesus is not your life
coach, neither is He the cheerleader for your preferred social justice issue. He is, as affirm every
Sunday in our Creed, “God from God, light from light, very God, from very God, begotten not made, of
one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made.”

Was there ever a time when the Son was not? The Church had a big fight over that question, back in
the day. The answer is No. Jesus is the eternal Son of God become flesh for us. That is what was
manifested when the voice came from heaven saying, “You are my well beloved Son, with whom I am
well pleased.”

Why does this matter? Why is this so important? To put it simply, if Jesus wasn’t fully God, He
couldn’t save us. And if Jesus wasn’t fully human, He couldn’t save us.

So what was the second epiphany? The second epiphany flows from the first. If Jesus is the eternal
Word and Son of God, what does that tell us about who God is? I hear people talking about God all the
time, but I am not sure they know who they are talking about. When your children and grandchildren
ask you, “Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandad, Who is God?” you will know what to say. “God is the
Father. He is the Father of Jesus, and through Jesus He has become “Our Father.”

As Christians we don’t make any special claims about knowing what God is. God as the Scriptures tell
us is ineffable, all-surpassing, incomparable, unimaginable and incomprehensible. God doesn’t even
exist in the same way you and I exist. But we do believe we have come to know who God is, that is not
because any of us are especially clever or bright, but because as St. John writes, “No one has even seen
God, but it is God the only Son who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made Him known.” (John
1.18 )

But Mark tells us that when Jesus came out of the waters, He saw the heavens torn apart, and the
Spirit descending on Him like a dove. You recall that in the story of Noah’s ark, it was a dove that
brought a branch as evidence that the flood waters had receded, and dry land had appeared. Here the
dove symbolizes God’s faithfulness to His promise, and His Divine favour and peace, which in the
person of the Holy Spirit now rests upon Jesus, as the branch in the mouth of the dove. This
comprises for us the fullness of God’s revelation. He is the Father who is always with His Son, and
Who is always with His Holy Spirit. The Son and the Spirit are like the right and left hand of Father
reaching out to fulfill the Father’s purposes of love for His creation. Why is this important? If you
don’t know who God is, you won’t know who you are, and you won’t know what to do with your life.

But the association of the Holy Spirit with a dove goes further than this. In the opening sentence of
Bible we are told that, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was
formless and void, and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep, and God said, Let there be
light!”

Did you notice a pattern? In both stories we have Spirit of God hovering over the waters, and voice
speaking from heaven. When we interpret the Baptism of the Lord in light of the creation story, as we
must, we see that Jesus is the Light which illuminates the darkness of the Universe, and that Jesus’
baptism is nothing more and nothing less that act by which God recreates the Universe in order to fill
it with His Holy Spirit. In the baptism of Jesus everything is being set right. Everything becomes fresh
and everything becomes new!

This helps explain why it is that Jesus came to John for baptism. John as we know preached a baptism
of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. What is He who is sinless and has no need of repentance
doing coming to John for baptism? That’s a very good question.

Listen carefully to what I am about to say next. When the Lord Jesus steps into waters of the River
Jordan, it is not Jesus who is baptized and cleansed, but the waters that are baptized and cleansed in
Him, through whom all things were made. And when the waters are cleansed, all of creation is purged
and cleansed from all corruption and sin. This in turn explains why and how it is that when we
descend into the waters of baptism, we too in turn are cleansed from all corruption and sin. We
become as the Baptism Service tells us “regenerate”, or born anew.

But Christ has come not only to cleanse and restore us, but to adopt us as heirs into his Kingdom.
And when we receive His glory, not only are we redeemed, but we draw all of creation with us into the
final restoration. That is why St. Paul writes in Romans that “creation groans” (as a woman in labour)
in eager expectation, awaiting the glorification of the children of God, so that it too might be set free
from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (Romans 8.
19,21 )

How is this possible? Baptism isn’t some kind of magic show. When in the service of Holy Baptism the
priest prays and makes the sign of the Cross over the waters, He doesn’t turn the water into something
else or different, but is rather show us what the water truly is – it is the washing of renewal and
rebirth by the Holy Spirit.

But when we talk about God renewing and recreating us and the universe in the waters of baptism, we
need to understand what it is we mean by baptism. What are we talking about here? A splash of water
over a baby’s head? You call that baptism? In Luke’s Gospel Jesus says, “I have a baptism with which
to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is accomplished!” He was talking here about the
baptism of His suffering and death on the Cross.

When Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man, suffers the baptism of his suffering and death
upon the Cross, He took us with Him in order to destroy the body of sin which held us in its power.
What is true of his death on the Cross is also true of His Resurrection. He took us with Him, that we
might share and participate in His endless life. “Do you not know,” writes St. Paul, “that all of us who
have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him
by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6. 3,4).

What is baptism? Baptism is union with Jesus in His Death and Resurrection. Just as in marriage a
man and woman are united and become one flesh, so too in baptism we are united to Jesus and
become members of His very Body. By His Baptism Jesus has opened the door for us for baptism.

Now you may be wondering about all those Christians who have been baptized, but are not living
according to the truth of their baptism, and whose minds are set not on the Spirit but on gratifying the
passions. Does that somehow nullify God’s baptismal grace? And has God somehow failed? The
answer to both questions is No. Our sin does not nullify God’s grace. Our sin does not mean that God
has failed, in the same way that the unfaithfulness of one person in the marriage does not nullify the
faithfulness of the other.

So what does it mean? It means we need to take to heart the words of John the Baptist. “I indeed have
baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit. (Mark 1.8 ) In Matthew’s
Gospel, John says, “He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Here we see that as necessary baptism is for our salvation, something else is needed. We need to
acquire and partake of the Holy Spirit. It’s why in our collect today we asked God “that we being
regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, (which is baptism) may also be partakers of
thy Holy Spirit” because it is the Holy Spirit who is the very burning fiery presence of Jesus Christ in
our lives, purifying and refining us of all sin, transforming us into Hi image.

While water baptism should only ever happen once in a person’s life, this baptism, this partaking of
the Holy Spirit, is ongoing. It can happen at any time and in any place. It can and does happen in
prayer. It can and does happen as you listen to the sermon. It can and does happen as you receive
Holy Communion. It can and does happen in confession when the priest lays hands on you and
absolves you of your sins. It can and does happen in the anointing with oil when you are sick. It can
and does happen in confirmation when the Bishop lays hands on you and prays over you. The Holy
Spirit is everywhere present and fills all things.

But again there is nothing magic about this. We have a part to play, and that, according to the
preaching of John, is to repent and believe the Good News. Don’t close the door to the Spirit. Turn to
Christ and open your heart to Him in repentance and faith, and He will come.
“Come, Holy Spirit, come fill the hearts of your faithful people and enkindle in them the fire of your
love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.”

Amen.