The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord | Sunday 8 January 2023

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Today is Sunday the 8th of January, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

Maximilian sings, ‘Jordan’s Waters’.

You laid aside Your glory on the banks of the Jordan

And all for me You went down to the depths

You traded Heaven's borders for the chill of murky waters

And took the place of one condemned to death

That day John preached for man to draw near

But God it's You that came down here

Making shorter Man's road to You

In Jordan's waters I'm being made new

As You plunged into the deep in search of muddy pearls

Son of Man, You left behind Your robe

There You found me in the dark and as You rose out of the mire

This prodigal came up dressed in gold

When You rose out of that pale grave into a hot Judean sun

With a violence the heavens did divide

Father You came running, and You wrapped me in Your voice

Shouting "this son of mine was dead but now's alive!"

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of John.

John 3:22-30

After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized — John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.

Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Last Monday’s prayer looked at John the Baptist, baptising people in the river Jordan. Now Jesus has started doing the same thing, on another stretch of river, and the crowds are deserting John to go to Jesus. How might John have felt when he saw this?

John, it seems, “knows his place”. His job has been to prepare people to meet Jesus, and then step aside. What does his willingness to do this tell you about him?

More than simply stepping aside, John rejoices in the success that Jesus is having. How do you think that you might have reacted if you’d been in John’s place?

As you hear this passage read again, notice what it’s like for John to be “the friend of the bridegroom”.

Speak to Jesus, as this prayer draws to a close, about what in your life might serve to point him out to others.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.