Humility of Our God

~~~Feast of the Baptism of the Lord~~~

~~~ Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11 ~~~ Psalm 29 or 104 ~~~ Acts 10:34-38 ~~~ Luke 3: 15-16, 21-22 ~~~

Today officially marks the close of the Christmas season.

We have been reminded since Christmas that all nations and peoples

 came to adore the Infant Child.

We have seen that this Christ Child walked the Earth as one of us.

He brought hope to the suffering.

He actions were motivated from his heart.

Today we see Jesus subject himself to Baptism.

Baptism is for sinners.

Jesus came before his cousin John, entered into the waters of the Jordan,

and was Baptized with many others.

The pure unblemished Jesus physically blended in with the others

seeking to be cleansed of the sins that day.

His soul, however, was far from needing to be washed of sin.

It is a well known fact that the best way to learn a foreign language is to immerse

yourself in the language...living with the people.

This exactly what Jesus did; he immersed himself into humanity.

While still retaining his being God; he became fully human.

He subjected himself the helplessness of a baby and

today we see him subjecting himself to something reserved for sinners...

Baptism.

Jesus could have skipped plunging into the waters by John, 

but he did not.

Human nature would not have embraced this with such humility.

Jesus modeled so much of what it means to be the best human being.

I dare say most humans I know would not have subjected themselves

to something they did not need.

Spiritually the soul of Jesus did not benefit from his Baptism.

We are the ones who benefited.

We were allowed to hear the Father validate

Jesus as being his 'Beloved' Son.

Beloved,

the most endearing term of affection.

Today I am reminded of the lengths to which Jesus went to 

be one of us not to simply live among us.

The humility of our God is mind boggling.