This is my beloved Son: Isaiah 42, Acts 10, and Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3.

**The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord** marks the end of the Christmas season and opens Ordinary Time with three texts focusing on the public manifestation of Jesus as the Son of God. Isaiah 42:1-4.6-7 presents the Lord’s servant in whom God delights, anointed with the Spirit, and who will be a light to the nations. Acts 10:34-38 recounts Peter’s summary at Cornelius’ house: God makes no distinction between people, anoints Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and he went about doing good. Matthew 3:13-17 narrates Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan: the Spirit descends like a dove upon him, and a voice from heaven declares, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The three texts depict the anointing of the Son: through prophecy, apostolic testimony, and the foundational event.I. **The First Reading: Isaiah 42:1-4.6-7**The Lord introduces his servant: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom my soul finds pleasure” (Is 42:1). The servant will not cry out or raise his voice in the streets (v.2), will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick (v.3), but will establish justice on earth (v.4). And his mission: “I will make him a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to release the prisoners” (vv. 6-7). The first song of the Servant of Yahweh is the most precise prophecy of Jesus’ baptism: the Spirit descending upon him in the Jordan is the same Spirit announced by Isaiah. The servant’s mission begins with his anointing and focuses on the weakest members of society: the blind, prisoners, and those in darkness.II. **The Second Reading: Acts 10:34-38**Peter, at Cornelius’ house in Caesarea, summarizes the Gospel: “God does not show favoritism but in every nation welcomes those who fear him and do what is right” (Act 10:34-35). The good news proclaimed to the Israelites: “Jesus Christ is Lord of all” (v.36). A summary of Jesus’ ministry: “He went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (vv. 37-38). Peter identifies John’s baptism as the starting point of Jesus’ ministry. The anointing with the Holy Spirit manifested at his baptism is the power through which Jesus does good. Cornelius, a Gentile official, receives the Gospel: the light for the nations from Isaiah 42 has reached the first Gentile in the Acts narrative.III. **The Gospel: Matthew 3:13-17**Jesus comes from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John (Mt 3:13). John attempts to stop him: «I am the one who needs to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?» (v.14). Jesus responds: «Let it be for now; for it is fitting that we fulfill all righteousness» (v.15). The «fulfilling of all righteousness» is a Matthew expression meaning Jesus’ fidelity to God’s plan: since he has no sin, he does not need penital baptism, but assumes the position of sinners as his first act of mission. Upon emerging from the water, heaven opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on him (v.16). And a voice from heaven: «This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased» (v.17). The scene articulates the Three Persons: the Son at the Jordan, the Spirit descending, and the Father’s voice. It is the first Trinitarian revelation of the New Testament. It is inauguration: what begins here, with the anointing by the Spirit, is the ministry prophesied in Is 42 and summarized in Acts 10.IV. Mary and the Beloved SonThe Father’s voice at the baptism, «This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased», is the public revelation of what Mary knew at the Announcement: «The Spirit Saint will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be holy, and he will be called Son of God» (Lc 1:35). The baptism in the Jordan is the Epiphany of what happened in Nazareth at the moment of the Incarnation: the Spirit that descended upon Mary at the Announcement is the same that descends upon Jesus at the Jordan. Mary was the first to know that Jesus was the beloved Son of the Father. Thirty years before the voice at the baptism, an angel had already told her so. Isaiah 42 describes the anointed servant with the Spirit who will free the blind and prisoners: Jesus learned this mission in Nazareth, within Mary’s family, who kept and meditated (Lc 2:19). Acts 10 states that Jesus «went about doing good»: Mary was the first recipient of the good he did, the first to receive the grace of his presence, even before his birth. The baptism reveals to the world what Mary already knew: this is the Son of God, anointed by the Spirit, sent on mission.