The Baptism of Christ
from a Sermon by Saint Gregory
of Nazianzus, bishop
Christ is bathed
in light: let us also be bathed in light. Christ is baptized; let us also go
down with him and rise with him.
John is baptizing
when Jesus draws near. Perhaps he comes
to sanctify his baptizer; certainly he
comes to bury sinful humanity in the waters.
He comes to sanctify the Jordan for our sake and in readiness for us; he
who is spirit and flesh comes to begin a new creation through the Spirit and
water.
The Baptist
protests; Jesus insists. Then John says:
I ought to be baptized by you. He is the lamp in the presence of the sun,
the voice in the presence of the Word, the friend in the presence of the
Bridegroom, the greatest of all born of woman in the presence of the firstborn
of all creation, the one who leapt in his mother's womb in the presence of him
who was adored in the womb, the forerunner and future forerunner in the
presence of him who has already come and is to come again. I ought
to be baptized by you; we should also add: and for you, for John is to be baptized in blood, washed clean like
Peter, not only by the washing of his feet.
Jesus rises from
the waters; the world rises with him.
The heavens like paradise with its flaming sword, closed by Adam for
himself and his descendants, are rent open.
The Spirit comes to him as to an equal, bearing witness to his
Godhead. A voice bears witness to him
from heaven, his place of origin. The
Spirit descends in bodily form like the dove that so long ago announced the
ending of the flood and so gives honor to the body that is one with God.
Today let us do
honor to Christ's baptism and celebrate this feast in holiness. Be cleansed entirely and continue to be
cleansed. Nothing gives such pleasure to
God as the conversion and salvation of men, for whom his every word and every
revelation exist. He wants you to become
a living force for all mankind, lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand
beside Christ, the great light, bathed in the glory of him who is the light of
heaven. You are to enjoy more and more
the pure and dazzling light of the Trinity, as now you have received - though
not in its fullness - a ray of its splendor, proceeding from the on God, in
Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.