On Jesus' Baptism

Sorry for the delay - I had a friend visiting this weekend, so there are several posts backed up in my head. I hope you'll see them hit the page in the next few days.

There are several noteworthy elements to the theophany at Jesus' baptism, as is the case for every other mystery of the rosary. As has seemed to become the norm here, I will illuminate simply my favorite(s) rather than trying to exhaust the whole mystery (as part of me feels falsely bound to do). Feel free to drop your favorite theological illuminations in the combox.

All of salvation history is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We all know that. But we don't think about a physical manifestation of the events of salvation history, though we were blessed with a New Adam and a New Eve. In this mystery, as Jesus enters the Jordan river, He is taking to Himself His Jewish ancestors who crossed the Red Sea as they were being led from Egypt to the Promised Land (albeit via a long desert exile, but that wasn't part of the original plan).

So as each child is baptized into Christ's death and everlasting life, he is also baptized into the long but eventually fruitful path to the Promised Land (in our case, heaven).

I just love it when connecting the dots draws a formerly unseen beauty.