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When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened\xa0and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: \u201cYou are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.\u201d (Luke 3:21-22)

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Today is the day of Epiphany!\xa0 In the Church calendar, Epiphany marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas.\xa0 Good thing you follow these devotions or you might not have had that epiphany today!

Epiphany also then marks a shift from our focus on Jesus\u2019 incarnational \u201ccoming in the flesh\u201d at Christmas to his life of ministry and miracles before we arrive at his crucifixion and death in the season of Lent.\xa0

The word \u201cepiphany\u201d quite literally means a \u201cmanifestation\u201d or \u201cappearance,\u201d and that is precisely what Jesus\u2019 baptism at the beginning of his ministry marks: his appearance as the Messiah and Son of God.\xa0 Alright: enough church history class.\xa0 What does Jesus\u2019 baptism have to say to us today?

Certainly it tells us, through the Spirit\u2019s presence and through the voice from heaven, that Jesus is God\u2019s Son.\xa0 It even shows us the Trinity at work: Father, Son, and Spirit.\xa0 We might be content to leave it there.\xa0 This is the gospel truth: believe it and be saved!

But there\u2019s more here than just a foundation for correct doctrine of the Trinity or the Son of God.\xa0 Luke says that \u201cwhen all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.\u201d\xa0 Just one of the crowd.\xa0 But why on earth did Jesus need a baptism of repentance like all the other people?\xa0 In other gospel accounts, John is even shown to protest the idea of Jesus being baptized.\xa0 He didn\u2019t need it!\xa0 What did he have to repent of?

But that\u2019s just it: though sinless, Jesus chooses to be one of us anyway.\xa0 Not just to put on the flesh of our humanity and walk around among us, but to really and truly identify himself with us.\xa0 We are baptized to cleans ourselves from sin, Jesus was baptized so that he might be truly able to take on our sin.\xa0 We are baptized into Christ: but he was baptized into us, into identification with humanity. \xa0And it is actually through this full identification with us that Jesus becomes a saviour of us and for us.\xa0

And because he does\u2014because he \u201cwho had no sin [became] sin for us,\u201d we \u201cbecome the righteousness of God\u201d in him (2 Corinthians 5:21).\xa0 And so the wise and faithful readers of the Bible over the years have pointed to this baptism text to say that all of us who are baptized into Christ need to see ourselves in these two verses.\xa0 It is not just that Jesus identifies himself with us, we also need to identify ourselves with him.\xa0

We need to see ourselves as those who have the Holy Spirit descend on us.\xa0 We need to hear the voice from heaven speaking to us, to you, right now: \u201cyou are my son; you are my daughter, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.\u201d

Do you believe it?\xa0 That God loves you and is well pleased with you?\xa0 That you are his daughter?\xa0 His son?\xa0 It\u2019s true\u2014In Jesus Christ, it is true.\xa0 God says to you: My daughter\u2026 my son\u2026 I love you. I am well pleased with you.\xa0 If that is not the voice you hear when you think of the voice of God, let this be an epiphany to you today.

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