Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness

Theophany or Baptism of Christ, Byzantine Museum, Athens, Greece (photo of the author)

 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"  But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Then he allowed Him.  When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

- Matthew 3:13-17

Yesterday we read that in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"  For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the LORD; make His paths straight.' "  Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.  Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"  But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Then he allowed Him.  Jesus does not need purification.  As He makes the purification of humanity His own, my study bible notes, Christ will wash away humanity's sin, grant regeneration, and reveal the mystery of the Holy Trinity (as we read in the following verses).  Therefore Christ's baptism is necessary for the fulfillment of God's righteous plan of salvation.  My study bible quotes Gregory of Nyssa:  "Jesus enters the filthy, sinful waters of the world and when He comes out, brings up and purifies the entire world with Him." 

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.   My study bible says that the Spirit of God hovered over the water at the first creation (Genesis 1:2).  Now, the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove to anoint the Messiah (or Christ), the Son of God, at the beginning of the new creation.  It's important to understand this act does not "make" Christ the Son of God on this day; it is instead to be understood as a revelation of His divine identity.  The Holy Spirit has always rested upon Him.  In the Eastern Church, the feast day of this event is called Epiphany (meaning a manifestation or revelation) or Theophany (a manifestation of God).  This event is celebrated on January 6th, both commemorating this event and also pointing to the age to come.

And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  My study bible says that this quotation is from Psalm 2:7:  "You are My Son, / Today I have begotten You."   This completes the fullness of the revelation of the Holy Trinity:  the Father speaks, the Holy Spirit descends, and the Incarnate Son is baptized.

It's an intriguing proposition to think about a manifestation of the Holy Trinity in this world and to human understanding.  Oh, we can't get a truly "full" manifestation; that would be impossible.  We cannot know God fully the way that God knows God.  But nevertheless, using the elements of this world, including human understanding and awareness, a manifestation of the three Persons of the Trinity is happening at Jesus' baptism.  This is quite a remarkable thing to consider.  It happens, not nominally through an act of Jesus, but rather through the baptism by John, done, in Christ's words, "to fulfill all righteousness."  What does this tell us about our God, and also about the true interdimensionality, if you will, of all of creation.  First of all, the very event of Christ's birth is one in which God manifests as human being in the world -- fully human and fully God.  But this event reveals something more, the Holy Trinity itself.  It teaches us, among other things, that where one Person of the Trinity is, there the others are also.  It teaches us about the communion that is present to us.  Indeed, it is Jesus Himself who will teach us that the kingdom of God is within us and among us (Luke 17:20-21).  Once again, it is also an affirmation that the energies of God -- that is, the actions or work of God -- are present to us in the world, and that they may manifest to us through even the created things of this world.  In other words, it is through human perception that we understand this event.  We as human beings cannot travel at will into the fullness of the presence of God as ontological being; that is, with the perception of God as pure Being in God's fullness.  Only God can do that.  But God can reach to God's creation and make the divine known to us in some way.  We are not separate from Creator.  This is the very definition and purpose of the Incarnation, and it is here present in the Theophany or Epiphany of God the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The very purpose of the Incarnation is to destroy the separation between human beings and God.  Here, not only is Jesus revealed as the Christ and Son of God, but the relation of Father, Son, and Spirit is given to human beings to understand.  If we, as human beings, and creations of God, are limited in our capacity to perceive and to understand the infinitude of God, well so we are also created to be nevertheless in communion with God.  And it is love that links us all, just as the Father's voice declares that "this is My beloved Son."   Let us consider the power of love to destroy every barrier, even as Christ through the Cross will destroy the barrier of death.  For God so loved the world that God works even through all of creation:  the water and all that is in it, even every living thing sustained with it, in order to come closer to us, to be revealed to us, and to heal us within this communion of love.   Moreover, study bible tells us that today's event in our Gospel reading is a rebirth or renewal of the entire creation.  Therefore, we are reminded of what Genesis teaches us about that creation in the first place, that "God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good" (Genesis 1:31).  That God works within all of creation through which God is revealed to us is an affirmation of that "very good" pronouncement of God, and a revelation to us as creatures.  We are not separate; in fact, we are called into deepening communion as that which is "very good" with our good God of love.  To fulfill all righteousness implies the fullness of communion, the proper  relatedness between all.  All of creation participates in this baptism, as we see in the icon:  there are angels present who watch and minister, we see the fish in the water, and down below is even a personified image representing the waters of the world that feed into this Jordan.  This is for every living thing; for the life of the "world" which is cosmos in the Greek.  Let us live that kind of life and remind ourselves often that indeed it is good.