Along with yesterday’s feast of the Epiphany and the wedding at Cana, today’s feast, the Baptism of the Lord, is one of the three epiphanies of Jesus’ humanity, according to the early Church Fathers.

Of all the sacred places in Israel, few are as humbling as the Jordan River. At first glance, it looks ordinary—a winding river, sometimes muddy, lined with reeds and trees. Yet it was here, in these ...