“John tried to prevent him [Jesus]…Then he [Saint John the Baptist] allowed him”

This is lesson 1 of 2, for part 2 click here

What is Docility?  Docility is the wiliness to be taught.  We see in the Gospel that when Jesus approached Saint John the Baptist and asked to be baptized, Saint John tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized.  Jesus looked at him and said, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  Saint John did not protest but instead was willing to be taught.  He did not understand exactly why he was baptizing the sinless, Son of God, but he was willing to be taught.  It would be the great teacher, Jesus, who would teach Saint John the Baptist and all of us, why it is that Jesus was baptized.
 
What is the fruit the result of Saint John’s docility?  Obedience is the first fruit, because he allowed Jesus to be baptized.  We first must be willing to be taught.  Once we are taught, we can begin to understand, and once we understand we can act.  Saint John through his obedience allowed the will of God to be done.  Revelation is the second fruit.  Due to Saint John’s docility, his willingness to be taught, a great teaching or revelation called the Theophany occurred.  In the Eastern Church, this feast [Baptism of the Lord] is called “Theophany” because at the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan God appeared in three persons.  In the Baptism of the Lord, the Church recalls Our Lord's second manifestation or epiphany, which occurred on the occasion of His baptism in the Jordan. 
 
How is the Baptism of the Lord “a second creation”? The event takes on the importance of a second creation in which the entire Trinity intervenes.  All three Persons of the Trinity are reveled at once, the voice of the Father is heard, the Son is baptized and the Holy Spirit descends as a dove upon the Son. At the first creation, it was the three Persons of the Trinity that created man saying, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” [1] We not only learn about the Holy Trinity at the Baptism of the Lord, but also our dignity, our vocation; ultimately ourselves. Man, first created in the image and likeness of God has tarnished that image due to sin and thus is in need of a second creation. This second creation takes place at the Baptism of the Lord first and then our own baptism which connects us to the one baptism of Christ. Just as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is one and the same as the Crucifixion of Our Lord and just as the reception of the Blessed Sacrament is one in the same as the Last Supper, our Baptism is one and the same as the Baptism of the Lord. It is good therefore to remember and renew our Baptism on this great feast, for it is this feast that made Baptism possible for all.
 
Why did Jesus desire to be baptized? “The Lord desired to be baptized, says St. Augustine, so that he might freely proclaim through his humility what for us was to be a necessity.” [2]
 
Why is baptism a necessity? “The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.  He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them.  Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this Sacrament.  The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are "reborn of water and the Spirit." [3]
 
What are the steps of docility (of openness)? The first step in docility is to be baptized and to submit and be open to the work of the Holy Spirit.  Baptism is the beginning, and is the seed.  We must pay close attention to our end “heaven”, for the work of the Holy Spirit it to get us to heaven.  In every race you have a finish line and a starting line, baptism is not the end but the beginning.  The symbols we are given at Baptism remind us of our end, our goal. 

What were we given at our baptism?  We were given a white garment and a candle.  What is the significance of the white garment and the candle?  “Baptism is the seed, the cause of our whole Christian life and of all the graces which we have received and will receive until we die.  Furthermore, beyond the limits of this earthly life, Baptism is the cause and beginning of our eternal glory.  This was prefigured by the white robe and the lighted candle which the Church presented to us at the sacred fount: ‘Receive this white garment and wear it without spot until you come to the judgment seat of our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to have eternal life.  Receive this burning candle and preserve untarnished the grace of your Baptism’ (Roman Ritual).” [4]

What three events manifest the Epiphany? The manifestation of Jesus Christ or the Epiphany is threefold: The adoration of the Magi, the Baptism of the Lord, and the Wedding at Cana. Through these mysteries Jesus manifests Himself as the Son of God, as divine. This manifestation does not only tell us who and what Jesus is, but who and what we are. “Yes, Christ is the light because, in his divine identity, he reveals the Father's face. But he is so too because, being a man like us and in solidarity with us in everything except sin, he reveals man to himself. Unfortunately sin has obscured our capacity to know and follow the light of truth, and indeed, as the Apostle Paul realized, it has exchanged "the truth about God for a lie" (Rom 1:25). By the Incarnation, the Word of God came to bring full light to man. In this regard the Second Vatican Council says that it is "only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the, mystery of man truly becomes clear" (Gaudium et spes, n. 22). [5]

The Holy Father says, “sin has obscured our capacity to know and follow the light of truth.” In the Eastern Church there are two theological terms, theosis and kenosis, which help us to understand our capacity for God. Theosis is a "deification," or "divinization". It is the process of a worshiper becoming free of hamartía "missing the mark" or sin, and being united with God, beginning in this life and later consummated in bodily resurrection. Theosis is the process of being filled with the divine life.
 
What hinders our capacity to be filled with God? First, a vessel cannot be filled up if it is already full. This is why we must be free or emptied of sin. Kenosis (from the Greek word for emptiness is the 'self-emptying' of one's own will and becoming entirely receptive to God's divine will. Second, we must have a desire to be filled up. “He [God] reveals himself to the extent that he knows someone is capable of receiving him. He diminishes the revelation of his glory not our of selfishness but because he recognizes the capacity and resources of those who desire to see him.” [6] We must not only be open and capable, but we must desire. We have a merciful and gracious God who desires to reveal Himself to us in the measure that we are able to receive Him. Let us desire then to receive Him in the greatest possible measure.

[1] Genesis 1:26
[2] Fr. Francis Fernandez; In Conversation with God; Vol. 1; 51.1
[3] Catechism of the Catholic Church; Section 1257
[4] Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.; Divine Intimacy;  71.2
[5] Blessed Pope John Paul II's Angelus Message, December 15, 1996.
[6] Saint Maximus the Confessor; Office of Readings (Wednesday – from January 2 to Epiphnay)