 Lake Odessa water blessing | Lake Odessa water blessing |
|  Icon of the Feast | Icon of the Feast |
|  Blessing Jordan Lake | Blessing Jordan Lake |
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"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
(Mt. 3:17)
On January 19th (Jan. 6th by the church calendar), millions of Orthodox Christians from the Jordan River in the Holy Land to Jordan Lake in Lake Odessa, Michigan celebrate the feast of the Baptism of Jesus Christ - Holy Theophany.
All of the Gospels speak of the Lord's baptism in the waters of the Jordan by St. John the Baptist. His voluntary act of humility and obedience astonishes John, who hears the voice of the unseen Father proclaiming Jesus His beloved Son, and sees the Holy Spirit descend as a dove in confirmation of these words.
The Lord's baptism shows us who He is. It is an epiphany showing Him to be the Son of God. The icon shows St. John bowing in reverence before His Lord as he baptizes Him. In the background, we see an axe laid at the foot of a tree, a reminder of St. John's ministry preparing the way of the Lord. His ministry will diminish now, as it has been fulfilled.
"The Jordan turned back, the sea saw and fled".
(Psalms)
John the Baptist gave a baptism of repentance to those who came to him at the Jordan river. He balks when Jesus approaches for baptism. As John knows immediately, Jesus Christ is without sins. He Himself has no need to repent, but still He insists that John baptize Him. Jesus submits to John's baptism of repentance for the same reason He became a man - for our sake.
St. John Chrysostom comments that the Jordan is a river with two sources. It flows down and empties into the Dead Sea. Likewise, all of humanity is descended from two sources - Adam and Eve - and every person is heading inevitably down towards his own death. When the Lord enters the Jordan, He parts the waters, just as God once did for Moses in the Red Sea. He reverses the flow of the Jordan, and He reverses the course of human history. In Christ, man can now go somewhere else, other than down to the grave.
"All ye who have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ."
On Theophany (or Epiphany, as it is often called), Orthodox Christians go down to the Jordan with Christ. After celebrating the Liturgy, they process to a nearby river or lake singing hymns and carrying banners. Plunging a cross into the waters, they glorify Christ who has renewed the world, while they remember their own baptisms and renew their commitment to Christ.
Through the coming weeks, Orthodox people invite the priest to their homes to bless them with holy water. In this way, a family's "little church" (St. John Chrysostom's expression for a Christian home) is consecrated and a family re-dedicates itself to Christ. It's hard to imagine a more graphic way of inviting Christ into our everyday life.
Since 1997, the new Orthodox community in Lake Odessa has gone down to Jordan Lake to perform this ancient service of blessing. In 2011, it will be performed at lakeside near the Veteran's chapel at approximately 12:30 P.M. on Sunday, January 23rd. All are welcome, and reminded to dress warmly!
The pictures above are of the blessing of Jordan Lake in Lake Odessa, MI, and of the icon of the feast kept in St. Herman Church and painted by Matushka Darya Carney.
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