There was a point that Jesus in his humanity became and was so in love with God the Father that he desired to do only his will. As he came to realize the Father’s love and the Father’s call to him to be the anointed, prophesied Messiah, he desired to publicly commit his whole being and life to the Father he loved passionately. So he went to the Jordan to publicly acknowledge his yes to the Father’s call, to plunge himself totally in doing the will of the Father. Being immersed in the Jordan was his yes to the Father.

At this moment and in this event, Jesus was sustained by one single experience in his life. After his baptism in the Jordan, while in prayer, he experienced a theophany: The Father with great joy said: “You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” And the Spirit filled Jesus in his humanity with a fresh outpouring of anointing and power. The Fathers of the Church, along with St. John Paul II, said that this was the kiss of the Father that sustained Jesus throughout his life even on the cross. (To be continued)