To Honour Him

A Reflection on the Gospel for January 12th, 2019:
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Matthew 3.13-17

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so for now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

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During this Christmas season, we have been celebrating the coming of the King. The angels announced it, the shepherds rejoiced, the wise men were overwhelmed with joy, and Herod bristled at the suggestion that he was not the true ruler after all. And before any of this, John leapt in his mother’s womb at the presence of Jesus, as they met for the first time even before they were born! A clear indication that John knew who Jesus was.


John knew who Jesus was.


In the passage just before this one, he boldly preaches a baptism of repentance in preparation for the reality of an encounter with Jesus: The living, breathing, human form of the Almighty God.


John undoubtedly found it strange to baptize Jesus, given that he protested and tried to prevent it, because he knew who Jesus was. Who am I, he likely thought, to baptize my King, who is in no need of repentance? But he relented; he knew he needed to listen to Jesus, because he knew who Jesus was. So he honoured Him by baptizing Him in the Jordan, and the heavens opened; Jesus received His anointing by the power of the Holy Spirit. What an honour for John! 


Reflecting on this gospel, I repeatedly asked myself: Why? Why did Jesus insist on John’s baptism? Why was it important that all righteousness be fulfilled in this way? Why should we, like John, honour God, at God’s request?


The truth is, if I don’t honour God, I tend to want to honour myself — my feelings, my desires, my goals, my ideas. And if God was some formless, faceless, emotionless, distant being, it would be a little harder for me to understand why I should honour Him. The truth is, who Jesus is makes all the difference. 


Jesus asks us in Matthew 16:15, “Who do you say that I am?” Beyond acknowledging that He is God, my understanding of who Jesus is, and therefore who God is, continues to evolve as my relationship with Him deepens. More recently, I have been blessed to experience the tender humanity of Jesus in a new way with the thought that He would be moved to tears by our joy, our sadness, or our heartfelt prayers. To think that God sacrificed Himself at the hands of the very humanity He embodies, yet that He would still be moved by our human experiences, is almost beyond comprehension. ​



​Lindsay Elford

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

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