Epiphany Hymn 14: Our Lord and John at the Jordan

Refrain: Glory to you, my Lord, for heaven and earth worship you with joy!

My thought carried me to the Jordan,

and I saw a marvel when there was revealed

the glorious Bridegroom, who will bring

freedom and holiness to the Bride.

I saw John filled with wonder,

and the crowds standing around him,

and the glorious Bridegroom bowing down

to the son of the barren woman, so that he might baptize him.

My thought marveled at the Word and the Voice;

for see, John was the Voice;

our Lord was revealed as the Word, so that what was hidden might be revealed.

The Bride was betrothed, but she did not know

who the Bridegroom was on whom she gazed.

The guests were gathered, the desert was filled,

and our Lord was hidden among them.

Then the Bridegroom revealed himself,

and at the voice he drew near to John;

and the Forerunner was moved and said of him,

“This is the Bridegroom whom I proclaimed.”

He who baptizes all came to baptism,

and he showed himself at the Jordan.

John saw him and drew back,

pleading against it, and spoke like this:

“How, my Lord, can you will to be baptized,

you who in your baptism atone for all?

Baptism looks to you:

shed holiness and perfection on it!”

Our Lord said,

“I will it so.

Come near, baptize me, so that my will may be done.

You cannot resist my will:

I will be baptized by you, for this is how I will it.”

“I beg you, my Lord, do not let me be compelled,

for what you have said to me is hard:

‘I need you to baptize me’;

for it is you who purify all with your hyssop.”

“I have asked it, and it pleases me that it should be so;

and you, John, why do you argue against it?

Let righteousness be fulfilled,

and come, baptize me; why do you stand there?”

“How can anyone openly grasp

in his hands the fire that burns?

O you who are fire, have mercy on me,

and do not bid me come near you, for it is hard for me!”

“I have revealed my will to you; why do you question it?

Come near, baptize me, and you will not be burned.

The bridal chamber is ready; do not hold me back

from the wedding feast that has been made ready.”

“The Watchers are afraid and do not dare

to gaze on you, for fear that they will be blinded;

and I, how, O my Lord, am I to baptize you?

I am too weak to come near; do not blame me!”

“You are afraid; therefore do not argue

against my will in what I desire;

and baptism has regard for me.

Accomplish the work to which you have been called!”

“See, I proclaimed you at the Jordan

in the ears of the people who did not believe; and if they see you baptized by me,

they will doubt that you are the Lord.”

“See, I am to be baptized in their sight,

and the Father who sent me bears witness of me

that I am his Son and that he is well pleased in me,

so as to reconcile Adam, who was under his wrath.”

“It is fitting for me, O my Lord, to know my nature:

that I am molded out of the ground,

and you are the Molder who forms all things.

Why, then, should I baptize you in water?”

“It is fitting for you to know why I have come,

and for what reason I have desired you to baptize me.

This is the middle of the way in which I have walked;

do not withhold baptism.”

“Small is the river you have come to,

for you to lodge in it and for it to cleanse you.

The heavens are not enough for your mightiness;

how much less will baptism contain you!”

“The womb is smaller than the Jordan,

yet I was willing to lodge in the Virgin;

and as I was born of a woman,

so too am I to be baptized in the Jordan.”

“See, the hosts are standing!

The ranks of the Watchers, see, they worship!

And if I come near, my Lord, to baptize you,

I tremble for myself with quaking.”

“The hosts and the multitudes call you happy,

all of them, because you are baptizing me.

For this I chose you from the womb:

do not be afraid, for I have willed it.”

“I have prepared the way as I was sent;

I have betrothed the Bride as I was commanded.

May your Epiphany be spread over the world

now that you have come; and do not let me baptize you!”

“This is my preparation, for so I have willed it:

I will go down and be baptized in the Jordan,

and make bright the armor for those who are baptized,

so that they may be white in me and I may not be conquered.”

“Son of the Father, why should I baptize you?

For see, you are in your Father and your Father in you.

You give holiness to the priests;

why do you ask for common water?”

“The children of Adam look to me

to work the new birth for them.

I will search out a way for them in the waters;

and if I am not baptized, this cannot be.”

“High priests are consecrated by you;

priests are purified by your hyssop;

you make the anointed ones and the kings.

How will baptism profit you?”

“The Bride you betrothed to me is waiting for me,

that I should go down, be baptized, and sanctify her.

Friend of the Bridegroom, do not hold me back

from the washing that awaits me.”

“I am not able, for I am weak,

to grasp your blaze in my hands.

See, your legions are like flame;

bid one of the Watchers baptize you!”

“It was not from the Watchers that my body was taken,

that I should summon a Watcher to baptize me.

See, I have put on the body of Adam,

and you, son of Adam, are to baptize me.”

“The waters saw you and were greatly afraid;

the waters saw you, and see, they tremble!

The river foams in its terror;

and I who am weak, how am I to baptize you?”

“The waters are sanctified in my baptism,

and they will receive fire and the Spirit from me;

and if I am not baptized, they are not made perfect

to bear children who will not die.”

“Fire, if it comes near your fire,

will be burned up by it like stubble.

The mountains of Sinai could not endure you;

and I who am weak, in what am I to baptize you?”

“I am the flaming fire;

yet for man’s sake I became a baby

in the virgin womb of the maiden.

And now I am to be baptized in the Jordan.”

“It is very fitting that you should baptize me,

for you have holiness to purify all.

It is in you that the defiled are made holy; but you who are holy, why are you to be baptized?”

“It is very right that you should baptize me,

as I bid you, and not argue against it.

See, I baptized you within the womb;

you baptize me in the Jordan!”

“I am a slave, and I am weak.

You who set all free, have mercy on me! I am not able to untie your sandal straps;

who will make me worthy to touch your exalted head?”

“In my baptism slaves are set free;

in my washing the written bonds of debt are blotted out;

in the water the deeds of freedom are sealed;

and if I am not baptized, all these come to nothing.”

“The air wears a mantle of fire,

and waits for you above the Jordan;

and if you consent to it and will to be baptized,

you will baptize yourself and fulfill all.”

“This is fitting, that you should baptize me,

so that no one may go astray and say about me,

‘If he had not been a stranger to the Father’s house,

why was the Levite afraid to baptize him?’”

“The prayer, then, when you are baptized,

how am I to complete it over the Jordan?

When the Father and the Spirit are seen above you,

whom am I to call on, as priest?”

“The prayer is to be completed in silence:

come, only lay your hand on me,

and the Father will speak, in the priest’s place,

what is fitting about his Son.”

“Those who were invited, see, all of them are standing here;

the Bridegroom’s guests, see, bear witness

that day by day I said among them,

‘I am the Voice and not the Word.’”

“Voice of one who cries in the wilderness,

finish the work you came for,

so that the desert you went out into may resound

with the mighty peace you preached in it.”

“The shout of the Watchers has reached my ears;

see, I hear from the Father’s house

the hosts that sound out the cry,

‘In your Epiphany, O Bridegroom, the worlds have life.’”

“The time is hurrying on, and the wedding guests

are looking to me to see what is happening.

Come, baptize me, so that they may give praise

to the voice of the Father when it is heard!”

“I obey, my Lord, according to your word:

come to baptism, as your love compels you!

The dust worships at what it has attained:

that it should lay its hand on him who fashioned it.”

The heavenly ranks stood silent,

and the Bridegroom went down into the Jordan;

the Holy One was baptized and immediately came up,

and his light shone out on the world.

The doors of the highest were opened above,

and the voice of the Father was heard:

“This is my Beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”

All you peoples, come and worship him!

Those who saw it stood amazed at the Spirit, who came down and bore witness to him.

Praise to your Epiphany, which gladdens all,

you in whose revealing the worlds are made light!