Christ is baptized! In the Jordan!

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

So, on this Eve of our Lord’s Theophany, we hear the Apostle say that he has made himself “a servant to all.” Why? So that, as he acknowledges, he might win others to Jesus Christ. To the Jews, he says, I became as a Jew; to those under the Law, as one under the Law in order to win those under the Law; to those without the Law, as one outside the Law, again in order to win those without the Law; and, to the weak, he became or made himself as weak all so that he might win the weak. “I have become all things to all men,” he confesses, “that I might by all means save some. Now this I do,” he says, “for the Gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.”

This is, for all intents and purposes, the underlying principle of the Church’s evangelism, that is, the incarnational principle of our salvation. St. Paul’s objective is the salvation of mankind. It is the Gospel mandate of our Lord to “’Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; . . . .’” (Mk. 16:15-16). Paul allows himself to become like others (without participating in their sin) in order to win them all to our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ. St. Paul, then, is about the business of saving others, thereby making him their saviour though by no means does he see himself doing or being that which has already been accomplished once-and-for-all by our only Saviour and God, Jesus Christ! “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an Apostle,” he says (1 Tm. 2:5-7). St. Paul readily understands that salvation is the exclusive domain of God Himself, accomplished by God on our behalf. Yet, this exclusive act of God in no way prohibits St. Paul the preacher and Apostle nor any other of our glorified saints such as the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary – nor us, for that matter! – from sharing with Jesus Christ, the sole and only Saviour of mankind, in His saving work! How so? By incarnating Jesus to all men, by becoming all things to all souls in order to save some. We are called by our Baptism into Jesus Christ to bear His salvation to all the world, “’to make disciples of all nations, . . ., teaching them to observe all the things’” commanded by our Lord (Mt. 28:16-20), by adapting ourselves to each man, woman, and child, and to each culture we encounter without compromising the Truth.

This, beloved, is precisely the way of God and His love. On the Nativity of our Lord, that is, His incarnation and putting on of the flesh of mankind, we heard Sacred Scripture that in the fullness of time “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Ga. 4:4-7). And, again, the divine principle of the Incarnation: “Let this mind be in you,” says the holy Apostle Paul,

which was also in Christ Jesus, Who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a Man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death of the Cross (Pp. 2:5-8).

St. Luke the Evangelist preserves for us in his Gospel record how the Child, Jesus, having been located by His parents in the Temple, returned with them to their home in Nazareth where He grows up, “and was subject [obedient] to them” (Lk. 2:20-21, 41-52). The Giver of the Law Himself subjects Himself to His own commandments and ordinances so that “’all righteousness’” might be fulfilled in Him and through Him (Mt. 3:13-17). Thus, becoming all things to all men so that all might be saved who call upon the Name of the Lord (Jl. 2:32; Ac. 2:38-39; Rm. 10:13). And, again, speaking of our Lord’s saving condescension and divine humiliation, our Lord, Who created the angels, was nevertheless made a little lower than those same angels He created in order to bring many sons to glory, was Himself perfected through sufferings learning obedience thereby. “And having been perfected, He became the Author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hb. 2:9-10; 5:8-9).

Our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ made Himself all things for all men so that we might be won to the Kingdom of Heaven and so receive Heaven’s imperishable crown. Perhaps we can conclude with the words from St. Ignatius of Antioch whose relics are here in this very church:

Christianity is not a matter of persuading people of particular ideas, but of inviting them to share in the greatness of Christ. So pray that I may never fall into the trap of impressing people with clever speech, but instead I may learn to speak with humility, desiring only to impress people with Christ Himself (1 Cr. 2:1-5).

Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

VIGIL PROPERS: PROPERS:

Gn. 1:1-13 1 Cr. 9:19-27

Ex. 14:15-18, 21-23, 27-29 Lk 3:1-18

Ex. 15:22-16:1

Js. 3:7-8, 15-17

4 Kg. [2 Kg.] 2:6-14

4 Kg. [2 Kg.] 5:9-14

Is. 1:16-20

Gn. 32:1-10

Ex. 2:5-10

Jg. 6:36-40

3 Kg. [1 Kg.] 18:30-39

4 Kg. [2 Kg.] 2:19-22

Is. 49:8-15