A Cycle -The Baptism of the Lord 26

Mt. 3:13-17

Today as church, we celebrate the baptism of the Lord.  Today marks the end of the Christmas season and our focus shifts from the child Jesus to the beginning of His ministry to restore what we lost by the sin of Adam. His baptism is significant because it is an acknowledgement of Hid destiny and how our own destiny.  It is easy to ignore or miss the message about our own baptism because we fail to understand why the sinless one entered the waters of the Jordan to be baptized. 

John’s baptism was for the repentance of sins and the desire to be reconciled with God.  Jesus certainly did not need to repent, nor did he need to be reconciled with God. He and the Father were one. He was in sync with the Father and always did what the Father’s will. as He only did what the father told Him.  His baptism changed something about what baptism was then and what it would become. for us.  His entry and immersion in the waters poured His grace into the waters of every baptism from that moment on.  The grace of the waters of baptism does more than cleansing us of original sin. It gives us new life in the Spirit filling us with the grace and power to live that life. 

Most of us Catholics were baptized as infants and as such do not need a baptism of repentance.  Our baptism is one of transferring us from the kingdom of darkness into God’s marvelous kingdom of light.  The church teaches us that by our baptism we are “empowered” to be witnesses of God’s grace and forgiveness. Yes, we cannot ignore the stain of original sin and that is why during the baptism we are being reborn, infused with the Holy Spirit. We receive the grace by our anointing so that we can live our lives as a member of the body of Christ. 

This day is about us, and Christ is showing us how we must always acknowledge our daily need for a renewal of that grace during our baptism.  We ca be easily deceived by that same one who temped Jesus after His baptism.  But instead of tempting us by reminding us how the power of God is always available to us, the devil uses another tactic.  He creates doubt, mistrust, and creates within us a need to be affirmed in our righteousness.  Jesus by entering the waters is reminding us about our need to admit we cannot live as a disciple without the Holy Spirit daily guiding us. 

Is God is just as pleased with us as He was with Jesus?  The truth is we only think about Jesus as the second person of the trinity.  We know Jesus from the scriptures and there are very few of Jesus as a child. We only know Jesus grew in wisdom and grace and was obedient to His parents.  We know about His debating with the elders in the temple but nothing else until this moment recorded in the scriptures. Beyond that we know nothing, so it is safe to assume He was the “son of the carpenter.  Which was how the people of Nazareth responded when He began His ministry.   

Instead of looking at Jesus and wondering why He would need to be baptized, we need to look internally and ask why we have failed to not appropriate the grace of our baptism. The baptism rite tells us we have become a child of the light, and we are to keep that light burning brightly.  Meaning, we are to be visible witnesses to those who need to feel the forgiving embrace of God.  Christ came to show us the Father, and every word, every action of Jesus was deliberate and revealed the heart of a loving, merciful God. 

We, as disciples are to be Christ to others.  We should be revealing the love, mercy, and forgiveness of God, empowered by our own baptism and fueled by desire to do God’s will. John’s baptism was designed to motivate those who received it to live differently.   The baptism of Christ achieved more than motivating us to live differently. It made our own baptism a source of equipping us for holiness by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Who is always present within us, speaking to our hearts, opening our minds to understand the scriptures and the courage to be bold witnesses.  Do we need a baptism of repentance or does our baptism drive us to acknowledge our need for a constant repentance. For we are weak creatures motivated by a need to be loved, affirmed and always seeking approval from others.

By asking John to baptism Him, Jesus is providing us with a spiritual truth. That is, we constantly need to stand before our God and humble ourselves and acknowledge or need the grace of our baptism to daily empower us.