Year C, Epiphany 1, Baptism of Our Lord

“Baptism of our Lord”Main point: In the Baptism of our Lord, Jesus begins the work of expanding “Sonship” to all people.INTRODUCTION Welcome to the feast of the Baptism of our Lord. This is an annual festival for all churches who follow the Church year. The baptism of our Lord is recorded in each of the four gospels - but they each tell the story just a little bit differentParable of the ElephantYou may have heard the story of four people who were guided into a very large, pitch black room. They were taken to different parts of the room and were told to reach out and describe what they feel. The first person says (trunk) The second person say (leg) The third person says (tusk) The fourth person says (tail)The lights are turned on and each of the four people realize what they were touching and describing was different parts of an elephant. Person 1 was describing the trunk  Person 2 was describing the leg Person 3 was describing the tusk Person 4 was describing the tailAll of them described their piece accurately but they each only described the piece they had.Something similar could be said of the four gospel writers. Some, like Matthew and John, witnessed the events of Jesus' life first-hand. And wrote about their experiences from memory. Others, like Mark and Luke, wrote from what others saw and relayed to them. Just as in our illustration with the elephant, each of them described the same thing but from separate vantage points and with emphasis that were complimentary yet unique.