“As it is written in Isaiah, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ John was baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:2-4). These verses explain what baptism was like for John the Baptist. John was the forerunner of Christ and the herald of his coming (Mark 1:2-3), and John testified to Jesus that he was the “Lamb of God”: “The next day John saw Jesus coming and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’” (John 1:29), and that he was the “Son of God”: “And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:43). In his preaching and baptism, John announces the approach of the “Day of the Lord,” that is, the last day on which God will reign over the nations: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). John’s baptism is therefore eschatological, for it foretells the coming of the Lord. It is also a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Confession of sins according to the Jewish concept does not mean enumerating all the sins committed, but rather an admission by the person that he is a sinner.
John's baptism was done by immersing the whole person in water. This immersion symbolizes two things: one related to man, and another to God.
- By going down into the water, a person expresses his will to repent and start a new life.
- But in John’s baptism, man does not baptize himself. Baptism is at the hands of one sent by God: “Behold, I send my messenger before your face…” (Mark 1:2). For the forgiveness of sins and the beginning of a new life are not the work of man alone, but are above all the work of God, who alone can forgive sins and renew man. John, by preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, announces the beginning of the time in which God’s promise will be fulfilled: “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord… For they shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:33-34). John’s baptism, therefore, aims to prepare for the coming of Christ, for John’s work is to “prepare a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).
Here the question arises: Why was Jesus baptized? Jesus did not need forgiveness of sins, as he said to the Jews: “Which of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46), and we also read in the First Epistle of Peter, “who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22).
We read in the Gospel of Matthew: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. But John forbade him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Sufficient for us to be so now; for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness’” (Matthew 3:13-15). Righteousness in the Bible is the fulfillment of the commandments: “Whoever therefore breaks one of these least commandments, and teaches men so, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, the same will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19-20). Jesus, the “righteous one,” did not need to be baptized, but he wanted to be baptized with the sinful people whom he came to save. His baptism with sinners at the beginning of his mission is a picture of his baptism on the cross.
The Evangelist Matthew continues: “When Jesus was baptized… he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him” (Matthew 3:16). The descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus is nothing but an installation of him and the fulfillment of prophecies. Isaiah says: “Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon him, and he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:1). And “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2). The descent of the Spirit upon Jesus is a reference to the new creation that will be created from Jesus’ message.
“And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:17). The prophets at the beginning of their mission heard God’s voice sending them to preach the good news, but Jesus is distinguished from them in that he is “my beloved Son,” and not just an ordinary messenger from God.
John's baptism was a preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus Christ would proclaim, and repentance was a prerequisite for entering this Kingdom. Jesus never knew sin, but wanted to bear the sins of mankind. He was baptized by John to teach us to keep the commandments, repent, and reform ourselves. With his baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon him, and a voice came to him from heaven, "You are my beloved Son." Jesus' baptism is a manifestation of the Holy Trinity.
The appearance of the trinity
So the baptism of Jesus is not only his appearance in the world as Christ, his immersion: baptism reveals him as the Son of God. And it is, from here on out, “the transfiguration,” meaning the appearance of God, because he revealed to us the great mystery of God, that is, the Holy Trinity.
John saw the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove and settling upon him. The word “settling” indicates that from eternity the Holy Spirit had been resting upon him, and His voice came from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son.”
This is why Saint Cyril of Jerusalem tells us: By the appearance of Jesus as the Messiah, the baptism of Jesus reveals to us at the same time the mystery of the divine Trinity. He says that in order for there to be a Messiah and an anointed one, “the Son,” someone must anoint Him, “the Father.” And from someone comes the anointing, the Holy Spirit who descends upon Him. Thus, we cannot think of Christ without thinking of the Father and the Holy Spirit, without whom the word Messiah would have no meaning. We cannot acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah without acknowledging the one God as God in three persons.
It is common to have a wrong idea of God: it sometimes seems to us that the Father is the God of the “Old Testament”, then the Son comes to replace him in the “New Testament” throughout the life of Jesus, finally the role of the Holy Spirit comes in the present time of the Church, and the memory of Jesus is only celebrated as a historical past. Yes, we must often imagine the three Persons in one God who acts in the world with one will. How can we approach the mystery of the Holy Trinity?
Let us return to the baptism of Jesus when he came up from the water. John the Baptist sees Christ, the Spirit descends upon him, and hears the voice of the Father calling Jesus “the beloved Son.” John recognized one God in three persons. In the Jordan, the Trinity appeared for the first time. This is what the Church tells us through the icon and the hymn of the feast of the Epiphany (or the Feast of the Theophany).
If we contemplate the icon of the “Divine Theophany”, we will find Jesus clothed in water as if he were penetrating the entire universe to wet it with his presence, to illuminate it with his light, to illuminate it and sanctify it. Right above is a hand representing “the one” who anoints: that is, the Father, invisible, but whose voice came forward in testimony to Jesus, calling him “the beloved Son”. The dove represents the Holy Spirit who confirms the truth of the testimony by descending upon Jesus’ head and resting above him: it is the anointing. Finally, the “Son” who anointed, Jesus clothed in water.
The appearance of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove
Why did the Holy Spirit appear in the form of a dove? The dove is a pure, tame animal. Since the Holy Spirit is a spirit of meekness, He appeared in the form of a dove. On the other hand, this reminds us of an ancient historical story, when the flood covered the entire inhabited world, and the human race was about to perish, the dove was the bird that clearly showed the end of the divine wrath, carrying in its beak an olive branch, as good news announcing universal peace. All of this was a sketch of what would happen later. The condition of the people was much worse than their present condition, and they deserved greater punishment. So that you will not despair now, He reminds you here of that ancient incident: when hope was lost, a solution and a remedy were found. The flood at that time was a chastisement, but now the solution has come through grace and abundant gift. Therefore the dove appeared, not carrying an olive branch, but pointing to the One who will save from all adversity, and spreading before us good hopes; For she does not take a man out of the ark, but by her appearance leads the whole inhabited world to heaven. She does not carry an olive branch, but sonship to all mankind.
Now that you have understood the value of the gift, do not think that the value of the Spirit is lacking because He appeared in the form of a dove. I hear some say that just as man differs from a dove, so Christ differs from the Spirit. Christ appeared in the form of our human nature, while the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove. How do we answer all this? The Son of God took on the nature of man, while the Holy Spirit did not take on the nature of a dove. Therefore the evangelist did not say that the Spirit appeared “in the nature of a dove,” but rather “in the form of a dove.” And the Spirit did not appear in this form after that. Truth is one thing, and provision is another, condescension is one thing, and a passing appearance is another.
So what can be said about the Trinity? How do we explain this mystery – the manifestation –? Perhaps no book, no book or Christian teaching can “explain” the mystery of God in three persons. The risk is too great to distort the incomprehensible with words, and to belittle the eternal God with human and rational statements. Only prayer and worship can make us realize a small part of the “truth” about the one God in three persons.
Let us end our topic with the purest prayer, that is, the prayer of worship, the prayer of the angels, the Seraphim and the Cherubim, chanting the hymn of the Holy One three times, to the life-giving Trinity: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of hosts!”
Adapted from
Message of the Archdiocese of Aleppo
My Parish Bulletin 1997
“The Word” Bulletin 01/07/2007 issued by the Church of the Archangels - Cairo
