Christ wanted to be baptized, not
because he needed any baptism, for he had never committed any sin, but he wanted
by his humanity to set the example that no king or powerful person should think
it too degrading to submit to Christ’s baptism when he himself deigned to bow
his holy head to the hands of his servant. When he went into the water, that
water and all wellsprings were consecrated by Christ’s body for our baptism. Christ’s
humility was great when he himself came to the Baptist, and John’s humility was
great when he dared not baptize Christ until he was commanded to. But because
no humility is perfect unless its companion is obedience, he then humbly did
what he had formerly refused from fear. The saviour said, “Consent that I be
baptized by water at your hands, and you afterward, as you wish, will be
baptized at my hands through the Holy Spirit, so that we should fulfill all righteousness.”
That is true humility. (Aelfric, “Epiphany,” in The Old English Catholic
Homilies: The Second Series [trans. Roy M. Liuzza; Dumbarton Oaks Medieval
Library 93; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2026], 53)
