Epiphany Season – Confident.Faith

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. As recounted in the third chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (and in parallel passages in Mark, Luke, and John), Christ was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Although John initially hesitated when asked to baptize Christ, because Christ was without sin and John knew he was in the presence of One greater than he, Christ spoke His first words in Matthew so that John would agree:

“Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

On Christ’s Baptism, Luther said:

“[Christ] accepted it from John for the reason that He was entering into our stead, indeed, our person, that is, becoming a sinner for us, taking upon Himself the sins which He had not committed, and wiping them out and drowning them in His Holy Baptism.”

This Baptism in the Jordan River marked the beginning of Christ’s ministry.

Today we commemorate Basil the Great of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa, Pastors and Confessors. Collectively known as the Cappadocian Fathers, Basil and the two Gregorys were leaders of the Christian Church in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) in the fourth century. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa were brothers, and Gregory of Nazianzus was their friend. All three men were influential in shaping the theology ratified by the Council of Constantinople, which would later be enshrined in the Nicene Creed.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord. Although the feast of Epiphany commemorates no particular, concrete event, it is one of the most important days in the liturgical calendar — one of the principal feasts. On Epiphany, we remember that the God who became man in Bethlehem — that the Babe in the manger — needed present no proof that He was true man, but that He did indeed need to prove that He was true God. He did this superabundantly with the manifestations of the Trinity and the signs, wonders, and miracles that dot the pages of the New Testament record. In the Western Church tradition, Epiphany has become associated with the visit of the Magi, and this is fitting, for the Magi represent all the nations that were brought into the New Covenant through Christ — the true epiphany being the revelation of Christ as Lord, God, Savior, and King.