Baptism of the Lord

I think it is important when thinking of the baptism of the Lord that we get things in the correct order. It is not the waters of the Jordan/baptism that make Jesus holy rather it is he, as the Incarnation, who makes the water holy and is thus the pioneer of Christian baptism. Just as the Ark was carried through the Jordan, with its bearers remaining dry shod, taking the Hebrew people into the Promised Land so too does the Messiah lead a renewed and dedicated people into a new future. This new future is one where death has lost its sting. The threat of annihilation is removed since the Lord, fully human and fully divine, leads his flock as subjects of a new and everlasting kingdom. By entering our reality as one of us Jesus makes our everyday existence redolent with sacramental significance if it is lived and offered to the heavenly Father in gratitude and joy as we acknowledge our adoption into the perfect relationship that forever unites the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit: "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received  a spirit of adoption. When we cry, 'Abba! Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ - , if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we might be glorified with him." (Rm 8: 15-17)