I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove

Byzantine Museum - Athens, Greece

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' I did not know Him, but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."

And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

- John 1:29-34

Today is January 6th, an important day in many branches of the Church. For the Western Church, it is the day of the Three Kings (see Wise Men from the East), but for the Eastern Church it is the day commemorating Jesus' baptism, and the revelation of Father, Son and Spirit. In both great branches of the Church, the word Epiphany is used for today, from the Greek word Επιφανεια, which means appearance or revelation. As a verb, the word means "to come into view" ("epi" means "upon" and "phaino" is "to shine" or "bring to light"). Often, the holiday in the East is called Theophany - meaning the appearance or revelation of God, the Trinity.

Today is also the day celebrated as Christmas in the Armenian Church. This is a tradition from the Ancient Church which has been adhered to until today. It is actually a dual celebration: it is a commemoration of the Baptism and of Jesus' birth. Therefore, it is at once a celebration of the birth of Jesus' public ministry, and His birth as an incarnate human being, a babe. In the Armenian church, this will include a ceremony of the blessing of the waters. In many branches of the Eastern Church this blessing of the waters takes different forms. In the Greek Orthodox Church, a cross is thrown into a natural body of water, be it the sea, the ocean, a lake, reservoir, river or otherwise. Young people dive to be the first one to find the cross in the water. Jesus' baptism in the Jordan is symbolic of the blessing of all of the waters of the world, so that they become holy and are fit for baptism for all the Church.

The icon I have selected for today's reading is a photograph I took myself - and I therefore must apologize for its rather poor quality. This is an icon in the Byzantine Museum of Athens, Greece. What I love about the icon is its depiction of even the fishes in the water. Through Christ's baptism and hence the blessing of all the waters of the world, even the all the smallest creatures in the water are remembered and blessed. As all water is connection, this essential understanding is the powerful way we are reminded that we are stewards of this world, created for us in beauty, given for the life of all things, and also blessed by Christ for all living things.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' I did not know Him, but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water." My study bible notes here: "John's naming of Jesus publicly as the Lamb of God recalls Isaiah's 'Servant of God' who dies for the transgressions of His people (Is. 53:4-12). Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, offers Himself for our deliverance from darkness and death (1 Pet. 1:18-19)." It's interesting to think of a sort of paradox here, but this is the substance of the great mystery of Jesus' life (and death) in the world, and His Resurrection to us. The Lord incarnate is baptized by John the Baptist. The Baptist recognizes Jesus' divinity before the baptism. In John's Gospel reading concerning this event, which I have chosen for today, the Baptist tells us all that Jesus is the One "preferred before him." He is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" Yet through human beings, this story takes its shape. Jesus insists on His baptism by John, and the Church has seen this throughout the centuries as the blessing of the waters by Christ, for all of us for baptism and the receipt of the Spirit. The Holy touches Its Creation, and sanctifies it for us all. And yet, this incarnate Lord will also be our Paschal Lamb, and sacrifice Himself so that we all may be anointed with the Spirit through His death and Resurrection. These are Gifts that continually bear fruit: we return our world to Him and He returns it, sanctified and blessed, to us. And this is indeed "for the life of the world" -- all of the world, as the icon tells us: right down to the little fishes, truly symbolically "the least among us."

And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God." My study bible says here that "the Spirit remained upon Him because Christ possesses the Holy Spirit in His fullness." It's significant to me that in John's Gospel version of this event, we have the testimony of John the Baptist. The word comes to us through him, as indeed it did through the prophecy of the Baptist about the Christ who was to come. We witness here, through John the Baptist, the revelation of the Trinity in our midst: the Spirit "like a dove," the voice of the Father (as reported in other Gospels), and Jesus as Son. Here we have the word, the testimony of John the Baptist, reminding us in this tremendous cycle of Gifts that are continually given and received, that the good news comes through we imperfect human beings, through the world of Creation, blessed by God, and also imperfect and under the shadow of all that might afflict it. John the Baptist is one who has been consecrated to the Lord, and lived His life this way. Dressed in camel hair and a leather belt, and eating the food of the wild, he has lived to serve God and to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom, to prepare the way for Christ. He is also symbolic of Creation returned to Creator, and he is blessed by the Creator, proclaimed the greatest among the prophets. Our Lord, incarnate as human being, is dipped into the waters and baptized by John, but in so doing He blesses and sanctifies all of Creation, so that all the waters may bless and sanctify us all.

The Revelation of Christ, the Theophany of the revelation of the Trinity, is not just an event that happens one time at one point in history, but it is the story of the religious and spiritual life we live and that we receive: gifts that are continually given and exchanged back and forth between Creation and Creator, not just for us but for all "the life of the world." Today, let us remember how blessed we are, how sanctified all the waters and all of creation and all the life of the world, and remember how precious all of life is. He came as our Paschal Lamb, so that we might have life and have it abundantly. In both East and West, today is a celebration of gifts and gift-giving: the wise men bring gifts of the earth to the Lord as Babe, and Jesus sanctifies all the waters of the earth for baptism for us all. Let us, then, return the Gift to Him in our consideration of the life around us and among us, how we live it and use it, and how precious it is to us as it is to Him. All of Creation pulses with life down to the tiniest particles. God has made us stewards of this great gift; let us return it to God with the love that has been given to us, as part of the cycle of gifts and the love of God in which all things - even the least among us - are included and blessed.