Rosary: The Baptism of the Lord
The First Luminous Mystery of the Rosary
The First Luminous Mystery of the Rosary: The Baptism of the Lord
Feast Day: January 8th (Novus Ordo) / January 13th (Latin Mass)
Mark 1:1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight,’” 4 John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “The One who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as He was coming up out of the water, he saw the Heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on Him. 11 And a voice came from Heaven, “You are My Son, the Beloved; with You I am well pleased.”
This first Luminous Mystery of the Rosary highlights the Baptism of Our Lord by John the Baptist. This event is so important that all four Gospels make mention of the event. This marked the first public revelation to mankind of the Trinity. (Our Lady received a private revelation of the Trinity at the Annunciation.) Here the Father, Son and Holy Ghost reveal themselves to mankind and offer to have a relationship and union with those who are willing to obey Them. The Godhead of all three Divine Persons show their relationship with each other to mankind.
The Baptism of Our Lord is central to His public ministry, which would very shortly begin at the Wedding at Cana, when Christ performs His first public miracle. After His Baptism, Our Lord went out into the desert for 40 days of fasting and to be tempted by the devil. In this way He was preparing His Body and Soul for His three years of public ministry which culminates on Calvary.
The Baptism of Our Lord is fundamental to the Christian faith and the New Covenant. Christ is the Head of the Church and we are His Body. Just as we are baptized to be made part of His Body, so the Head of the Body is baptized. In this way the entirety of Christ is baptized. Our Lord consecrates the water used in His baptism and in this way also consecrates all water on Earth to be acceptable for baptizing His followers down through the millennia.
Never forget that Messiah means Anointed One. (Anointed meaning to cover with holy oil or water.) Here Our Lord is anointed by the Father and Holy Spirit through His baptism and becomes the Messiah. Here He is anointed by God to become the salvation of mankind. He will also be anointed with oil shortly before He begins His Passion, which bookends His public ministry. The Holy Spirit in our baptism anoints us with His grace and mercy to make us holy and make us part of the Body of Christ.
Matthew 3:1 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.’” 4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9 Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but One who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and will gather His wheat into the granary; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as He came up from the water, suddenly the Heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. 17 And a voice from Heaven said, “This is My Son, the Beloved, with Whom I am well pleased.”
John the Baptist, with true humility, declares that he is unworthy to even untie the thongs of His sandals and carry them. For those of us today, we may not realize the gravity of what John is saying here. Unlike today, with our paved streets, cars and modern civilization, in those days the roads and paths were very filthy. Animals were used for transport and they were quite messy. Roads were dirt and always unclean. The shoes a person wore got absolutely disgusting as you travelled. Yet here John is declaring that he is not even worthy to touch the filthy shoes of the Messiah. He recognizes the infinite gulf between himself and Our Lord in holiness. He recognizes that he is lowly and unworthy of God. This humility is exactly why the Trinity makes the first public revelation with John the Baptist.
Luke 3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
7 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” 11 In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”
15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but One who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in His hand, to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His granary; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”
18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. 19 But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added to them all by shutting up John in prison.
21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the Heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from Heaven, “You are My Son, the Beloved; with You I am well pleased.”
John the Baptist calls out and warns in the roughest and most blunt language possible to those in sin. He calls them vipers and warns them that hell awaits them if they don’t repent. John the Baptist is not tender and does not accompany them. He lays out the facts in a brusque and rough manner. He verbally slaps them upside the head and warns them that God will send them to hell if they don’t repent and change.
To punctuate this warning to the sinners who refuse to repent, the Trinity appears first to publicly to manifest to mankind, but also to affirm the truth of what John the Baptist has been saying. God is adamant that those who refuse to repent will be sent into hellfire for eternity.
John 1:19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said.
24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands One whom you do not know, 27 the One who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of His sandal.” 28 This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who ranks ahead of me because He was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know Him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that He might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. 33 I myself did not know Him, but the One who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, He said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are You staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and they remained with Him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
John the Baptist, through his words recorded in Scripture, is still warning us all to repent of our evil ways and turn to the Lord. He points to us and declares “LOOK, here is the Lamb of God!”. He wants you to see the truth and change your ways. Those of good will, like the first Apostles, were prepared by John the Baptist so they would be ready when Our Lord arrived. Several of the Apostles were followers of John the Baptist and had been listening and learning from him for some time. They had repented of their evil and focused on doing God’s will so that when Our Lord showed up, they were ready to follow Him.
John 4:1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” 2 —although it was not Jesus Himself but His disciples who baptized— 3 He left Judea and started back to Galilee.
The Apostle John, in his Gospel, makes sure to note that Our Lord was not the one who was doing the actual baptizing. Why is this important? Because God works through man to carry our the Father’s will. He wants us to be part of His plan of salvation. John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit, yet Our Lord didn’t directly baptize anyone. His Apostles were His hands and feet. They acted according to the command of Our Lord and so they were the Body of Christ which baptized with the Holy Spirit. This theological point is an important one. Grace comes not from man but God alone. And God chooses to channel that grace through mankind to other men. This is why the sacraments were given to us from Christ.
Acts 1:21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the Baptism of John until the day when He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to His resurrection.”
The Baptism of Our Lord was also so important that it was one of the qualifications that Peter set for selecting the man who would replace the Apostleship of Judas Iscariot. St. Matthias was selected to become the twelfth Apostle partly because he had been with Our Lord since His baptism and could proclaim this revelation of the Trinity to mankind.
Links to the other Mysteries of the Rosary
JOYFUL MYSTERIES
Fourth Joyful Mystery - The Presentation in the Temple (coming soon)
Fifth Joyful Mystery - The Finding of Jesus in the Temple (coming soon)
SORROWFUL MYSTERSIES
First Sorrowful Mystery - The Agony in the Garden (coming soon)
Second Sorrowful Mystery - The Scourging at the Pillar (coming soon)
Third Sorrowful Mystery - The Crowning with Thorns (coming soon)
Fourth Sorrowful Mystery - The Carrying of the Cross (coming soon)
Fifth Sorrowful Mystery - The Crucifixion of Jesus (coming soon)
GLORIOUS MYSTERIES
First Glorious Mystery - The Resurrection (coming soon)
Second Glorious Mystery - The Ascension of Christ (coming soon)
Third Glorious Mystery - The Descent of the Holy Ghost (coming soon)
LUMINOUS MYSTERIES
First Luminous Mystery - The Baptism of the Lord
Second Luminous Mystery - The Wedding at Cana (coming soon)
Third Luminous Mystery - The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God (coming soon)
Fourth Luminous Mystery - The Transfiguration (coming soon)
Fifth Luminous Mystery - The Institution of the Eucharist (coming soon)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdlczbO5Csc
A keeper. 🙏 thank you.