Baptism of the Lord

Baptism Changes lives.

Not (usually) w/ thunderclap & lightning, but slow and steady like the mustard seed or vine, relentlessly growing until it bears good fruit. Baptism is not (only) a sacrament of the Church or a family event, though it is both of course, Baptism (as we heard in the Gospel) is the beginning of sharing God’s own divine life and it is this communion that compels us to share in the father’s mission, the mission of his Son and the ongoing mission of the Holy Spirit.

The baptism of The Lord is both a mystery and one of those elusive historical facts we often search for in scripture. It is a mystery, because why would the son of God  (the Lamb of God, as John the Baptist called him) need to be baptized and a fact because why would the early Church make up something that would make John the Baptist more important than Jesus? Why would Jesus need or desire baptism?  First, he wouldn’t need it.  Jesus did not need to repent or be forgiven, which was the reason for John’s baptizing.

Jesus might of desired baptism because, though fully divine he lived out that divine son ship fully human. It is reasonable to imagine Jesus grew into his understanding of his relationship with his father and it is likely Jesus came to understand his life and mission little by little.

 This “growing into” is the mystery of the incarnation.  Think of the radicalness of God truly becoming man.  As St Paul says.

"Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God, something to grasp at.  Rather he empty himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of man"  Philippians

 After those early hidden years with Mary & Joseph, years of childhood, years of synagogue, of study and prayer and everyday life experiences, Jesus, in his early thirties, decides the time is right to begin his public ministry. What was actually in Jesus’s mind we will never know?  No disciple made any public statement concerning Jesus’ state of mind at his baptism.  Though in Matthew we read the importance Jesus put into baptism with his post resurrection command to the remaining disciples

“ Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (the formula we still use today) teaching them to observe all I have commanded you and behold I am with you always, until the end of the age”

All we know is that Jesus chose to be baptized at the hand of John and it was the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.

 But, there was a “world changing” moment in between the baptism and the public ministry.  

After the baptism Jesus went off to pray, to be alone, as he often would do, and it was this intimate communion alone with the Father that prompted the Father to claim his Son as his own and it was at this moment that God could no longer contain his love of his Son and in that outpouring of love Jesus took up life with the Spirit.

“Heaven was opened and the holy spirit descended upon him and a voice came from heaven “you are my beloved son with you I am well pleased”.

We cannot know the mind of God, but we know the Father was well pleased by his Son.  Was he pleased just because Jesus was his son? or was he pleased with Jesus first 30 years?, or Jesus’ humble self-surrender that day, we don’t know.  We only know that the Father WAS pleased with His Son and that Jesus WAS dearly loved and that it WAS then that the Holy Spirit came to dwell with Jesus. But even more than that we know that when Jesus rose from the Jordan that day he had committed his life, in solidarity with the human condition, to doing good, to healing and preaching of the Kingdom of God all of which would lead to his death & glorious resurrection. Indeed the Father was well pleased with his beloved Son.

This Gospel account of Jesus’ baptism is also our story as well. It is important to remember that we too are baptized (our bath of rebirth & renewal)  and we also live with the Spirit. We are not baptized as window dressing and we do not live with a lessor or secondary Spirit.  We are baptized because God desires communion with us and in communion we live with his Spirit. Our baptism, begins an ongoing relationship with God, and  marks us as sharers in his own transforming love and saving hope for every person and all of creation.

Baptism is active, because the Holy Spirit is active. The Spirit continually transforms us, one way or another, (sometimes kicking & screaming), little by little, and it makes us more and more like Jesus.

To say Jesus’ baptism was fruitful is like bringing coal to Newcastle.  To say Jesus lived with the Spirit is redundant.  To say Jesus was in communion with his Father is obvious.

But this is not true for you and I.  We must learn and practice and be committed to our baptism. Our baptism is a seed, an invitation and a promise. It may not seem so but our baptism is fruitful, and it can bring us into right relationship with God and with each other. Our baptism (if lived out)  opens us up to an abundant life of Grace and invites us to take an active role in God’s plan for the salvation of the world.  The baptism of Jesus was a public moment that proclaimed the beginning of the Good News.

Our baptism (is also public and not to be hid) and it sets our inner compass pointing out wards away from the self and isolation and towards others and communion.When we realized the reality that baptism really makes us new and forever marks us as real children of God and sets in motion life with the spirit as the driving force within us, we like Jesus; can live the Gospel and go about doing good, preaching the Good News, healing when we can, comforting when cannot, making whole, resisting temptation, living simply, breaking bread with the outcast and relaying solely on God.

We are so much less if we do not take the gift of baptism seriously and if we do not open up that gift to reveal all that it holds for us. As Pope Benedict tweeted on Thursday - I quote

“Following Jesus’ example we have to learn to give ourselves completely.  Anything else is not enough” - unquote

Today let us begin to ask

 How can I live out my baptism and make real my sharing in Gods life and his love and hope, for all people and all of creation? And if we honestly try we can hear echoing in our hearts

 “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am will pleased, upon whom I have put my Spirit”

†