Some people see the world in a very different way. Tim Burton, the director of films like Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, is one of them. When I watch his movies, I often wonder how his mind works to create such off-the-wall films. Yet Burton once said that nothing he ever imagined on-screen compared to the shock and wonder of a real-life experience: the birth of his first child. He described it this way: “You really can’t prepare for it. It’s the most natural thing in the world, yet somehow the most shocking.”
Nothing on this earth compares with the birth of a baby. Each child carries a dignity, value, and potential beyond measure. Babies embody hope and promise. Scripture tells us that we are created in the image and likeness of God; that we can participate in the creation of a human person whose soul is destined for eternity should leave us humbled and amazed.
That natural moment of birth, with all its power and mystery, rightly astonishes us. Today’s feast, the Baptism of the Lord, points us to something just as real and just as transformative. It reminds us that something extraordinary happens not only at physical birth, but at spiritual birth as well.
At the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus stepped into the waters of the Jordan and allowed John to baptize him. It was a risky moment. It could have appeared that Jesus was subordinate to John, or that he needed repentance. Neither was true. But Jesus accepted that risk because he knew how central baptism would be to God’s plan of salvation. Baptism would not be merely a symbol…it would become a true new birth.
The early Christians wrestled with this question: Why would the sinless Christ submit to a baptism meant for sinners? The Church Fathers, especially St. Augustine, answered clearly: Jesus was baptized not for his own sake, but for ours. The waters did not change him; he changed the waters, so that they might give life to us.
My own family has been blessed with many babies, including a brand-new niece born just this past Thursday. Being around infants has a remarkable effect on people. It softens us. That’s one reason I always want families with young children to feel welcome here…because their presence blesses the entire community.
Even science confirms what parents have always known. When people hold a newborn, their bodies change. Hormones shift. Men experience lower testosterone and increased oxytocin and prolactin, becoming less aggressive and more attentive. Women experience hormonal surges that awaken a powerful protective instinct. Holding a baby literally rewires the heart and mind toward love, care, and self-giving.
People can sit for hours holding a child, simply gazing at them in peace and wonder. The smallest things…a tiny smile, a soft sound…bring immense joy. Parents delight in their babies not for what they do, but simply for who they are.
What we do instinctively for babies, God does perfectly for each of us. You might say God spends all eternity gazing upon his children, and his attention is never divided. Because of baptism, God has spoken to each of us the same words he spoke to Jesus in the Jordan:
“You are my beloved son.”
“You are my beloved daughter.”
“With you I am well pleased.”
We do not earn the Father’s love. It is given freely, fully, and unconditionally. There is nothing we can do to make God love us more…and nothing we can do to make him love us less. And yet how often we live as though his love depends on our performance, as though we must somehow deserve it.
No wonder we are hard on ourselves. No wonder guilt, fear, and shame creep in when we fall short.
So consider this: What would change in your life if you truly believed that God’s love for you is unconditional? How might it affect the way you face failure….or the way you treat others, knowing that the same God who delights in you delights in them as well?
Imagine the freedom of knowing, deep in your bones, that no success or failure could ever separate you from the love of God.
How powerful it must have been for Jesus to rise from the waters and hear his Father’s voice. And if you have never heard that voice, know this: God speaks those same words over you every day. You exist because God is actively loving you, thinking of you, rejoicing in you, and never turning away.
That is why he sent his Son: to reveal the depth of the Father’s love and to make us his children not in name only, but in truth.
When your faith is tested; by illness, financial strain, family struggles, or deep disappointment, remember this: in baptism, Jesus claimed you for his Father. Even if the people you should have been able to rely on have failed or walked away, God never will. He does not abandon. He does not grow tired of you. His love is not fragile, conditional, or temporary.
Because of Jesus, we are never orphaned. Because of baptism, we are always loved.
So today, give thanks for the Baptism of the Lord, which opened the waters of new life. Give thanks for the day of your own baptism, when God adopted you as his son or daughter. And live with the quiet confidence and grace that come from knowing who you are…and whose you are.
You are God’s beloved. And with you, he is well pleased.
