Into the Divine Dance: The Baptism of the Lord and the Trinitarian Theophany

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 3:13-17

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The Trinitarian Theophany at the Jordan

On the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we celebrate the theophany of the Blessed Trinity at the Jordan river, when Jesus humbly received baptism from his forerunner, John the Baptist. Although personally sinless, Jesus took upon himself the “likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3), offering up our human nature to the Father for restoration and renewal. His Father’s loving affirmation, “This is my beloved Son,” revealed to all humankind their eternal relationship and our own origin and destiny. Alighting like a dove on Jesus, the Holy Spirit surprised the earth by revealing the Love of Three-in-One as the ultimate, primordial Gift at the heart of being. 

Christ’s work is not a solo mission, but a plan of love ordained from the foundation of the world by the Most Holy Trinity—a dance of Three Divine Persons, into whose name all born-again Christians are baptized: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). 

Baptized into the Dance

Christ plunged into the depths of the sea,
Revealing Heaven’s theophany:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in a dance—
God in Three Persons—a divine romance.
Baptized into the dance through the Divine Name,
Children of God are lit by Love’s flame.