Baptism of the Lord (2026) - Fr James Baxter, OP

The sight of a queue for confession can provoke exasperation and anxiety in a penitent. How long will I be waiting for? Will there be time for the priest to hear my confession, as well as the twenty people ahead of me in the queue?

As a penitent, I am familiar with these emotions. As a confessor, though, I suggest that a queue for confession is one of the more edifying sights there is (certainly it’s one of the most edifying queues there is). It is an expression from the penitents of humility, of honesty about themselves, of their sinfulness, and of their neediness for God.

Especially on occasions like retreats, where there might be a long period set aside for confession, and one after another people come along to confess their sins, it often reminds me of the people approaching John the Baptist. In Mark’s account, all the people in Jerusalem and Judaea and around the Jordan River were going to John, confessing their sins, and being baptised in the river.

One day in particular, Jesus was there among them, taking his place among the sinners seeking forgiveness one after the other in the waters of the Jordan.

But that is the problem with this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

Jesus was not a sinner.

So what was he doing there?

Someone else was very quick to see something incongruous in Jesus being baptised. It is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew which we are reading through in this Year A. When John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching for baptism, he protested that things were the wrong way around: Jesus should be baptising John.

Jesus’ response—that they should do all that righteousness demands—is one of those explanations that leaves you still in want of an answer. But when we look to how Jesus perfectly fulfilled all righteousness, in the offering of his life on the cross, we can start to see why he chose to be baptised. In fact, Benedict XVI commented that the significance of Jesus’ baptism could not fully emerge until it could be seen in the light of the cross and resurrection. The key is the solidarity Jesus has with sinners, whether the other people in the Jordan River, those whose forgiveness he prayed for as he hung on the cross, or those sitting next to us in pews and queues waiting to receive his mercy.

There is nothing arms-length, clean or clinical about the way Jesus saves us. He gets right in amongst it. A common image that can help understand this feast is of the different ways of saving someone who falls from a ship and is drowning. One way is to stand on deck and call out instructions, good wishes, and encouragement while you stay dry. Perhaps you also throw them a rope or a life buoy. The other way is to jump right in the water and bring them safely back on board. The more you love someone, the more likely it is that you would simply jump right into the water.

Jesus’ baptism is when he first jumps in (almost literally) to save his people from their sin, by being among them, not just in the river, but ultimately to experiencing the worst of humanity on the cross. Absent Jesus’ death on the cross, his baptism could have been merely performative, a display of solidarity. But on the cross we see to what extent Jesus is prepared to do all that righteousness demands.

This feast of the Baptism of the Lord brings an end to the season of Christmas. Since Advent, we have been reminded continually in our readings, prayers, and hymns that Jesus is Emmanuel, God-with-us. Not reluctantly, either, but he wants to be God-with-us, including when we are at our worst and most sinful. At multiple points through Jesus’ ministry we see him very at ease with sinners. He has a tender heart especially for those who are known and rejected for their sin. He strikes up conversations with them, he has dinner with them, he defends them.

These encounters are always purposeful. He wants the people he meets to leave old ways behind and move on to a fuller and higher life—in other words, to save them. In the Christian life the privileged way that he does this is through our baptism. Every time someone is baptised, the same thing happens that happened at Jesus’ baptism. The Spirit comes down upon them, and they

become the beloved son or daughter of God. It is as a child of God that their new life begins, and they leave old ways behind. That is why the Baptism of the Lord is also a celebration of our own baptism, and a feast of our salvation.

Fr James Baxter, OP is the Parish Priest of Broadway, Glebe, and Pyrmont, New South Wales.