Thirty years have passed in the last five days on the church calendar. Jesus was still a baby just days ago, when Matthew’s version of the Christmas story was read and Christ’s Epiphany was celebrated around the world. Now Jesus is at the beginning of his ministry, and we remember his baptism by John the Baptizer in the Jordan River; he has but three more years to preach, teach, and heal and then he will die on a criminal’s cross, despite the fact that he did no wrong. We know, at the very beginning of his ministry the end of it was almost in sight. His baptism was the beginning of his death; he died by water before he died on Calvary.

John the Baptizer was attracting great crowds of people with his preaching, "Repent and be baptized for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," when Jesus was a…