Baptism of the Lord Sunday

Definition and Meaning

Baptism of the Lord Sunday commemorates the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Some churches call it the Sunday of the Baptism of Our Lord. In the church calendar, it is generally observed on the first Sunday after Epiphany (January 6). Because Epiphany celebrates Christ's manifestation to the world, this Sunday likewise focuses on the event in which Jesus, at the outset of his public ministry, was revealed as the Son of God.

Biblical and Historical Background

The baptism of Jesus is recorded in Matthew 3:13–17, Mark 1:9–11, and Luke 3:21–22, and it also appears in John 1:29–34 in the testimony of John the Baptist. According to the Gospels, when Jesus was baptized, the heavens were opened, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son." The church has understood this scene as a joint manifestation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and has read it in connection with faith in the Trinity.

The Eastern Orthodox Church has long centered its celebration of Epiphany (Theophany) on January 6 on the baptism of Jesus. In the West, Epiphany came to be associated chiefly with the visit of the Magi. The practice of observing the baptism of Jesus as a separate feast is generally understood to have become established following the twentieth-century liturgical reforms of the Catholic Church. The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), used jointly by a number of Protestant denominations, likewise designates the first Sunday after Epiphany as Baptism of the Lord Sunday. A lectionary is a list that assigns the Scripture passages to be read on each Sunday. Following its three-year cycle, the RCL draws the Gospel reading for this Sunday in turn from Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Practice in Korean Churches

In Korea, churches that follow the church calendar relatively closely, such as those of the Korean Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, and the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap), sometimes mark this Sunday in their worship resources or church bulletins. These churches preach on the accounts of Jesus' baptism on this day. Some include a renewal of baptismal vows, in which members reflect on the meaning of their own baptism, and some administer baptism on this day. The Anglican Church of Korea and the Catholic Church in Korea (as the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord) also observe this day in their liturgical calendars.

By contrast, many Korean churches plan their worship around Sunday preaching and their own congregational events rather than the church calendar. In such churches, this Sunday is often not given a distinct name or observance. Baptists frequently cite this event as the model for baptism by immersion, but they rarely observe it as a Sunday of the church calendar. Denominational understandings of the mode of baptism are discussed in the article Baptism and Immersion.