Friends, today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, when Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River. The baptism of Jesus was a source of embarrassment for the early Church, who wanted to portray him as a powerful son of God; but that is, in some ways, the point. He stands in the muck and mud of our finite, sinful, and fallen human condition, bearing our sins with us as the ultimate sacrifice—the Lamb of God. This is why the baptism of the Lord is important: in this, the most elemental truths of our faith emerge.