First Reading – Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7;
Second Reading – Titus 2:11-14; 3:2-7;
Gospel – Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
The Christmas season, celebrating the Self-revelation of God through Jesus, comes to an end with the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. Christmas is the feast of God’s Self-revelation to the Jews, and Epiphany celebrates God’s Self-revelation to the Gentiles. At his Baptism in the Jordan, Christ reveals himself to repentant sinners. The Baptism of the Lord Jesus is the great event celebrated by the Eastern churches on the feast of Epiphany because it is the occasion of the first public revelation of all the Three Persons in the Holy Trinity, and the official revelation of Jesus as the Son of God to the world by God the Father. It is also an event described by all four Gospels, and it marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. The liturgical season of Christmas concludes this Sunday with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord.
Jesus’ baptism by John was a mystical experience that Jesus felt deep within his soul at the crucial turning point of his life. The opening of the Heavens with Holy Spirit descending as a dove upon Jesus, and the Voice declaring of Jesus, “This is My beloved Son with Whom I am well pleased,” are God’s revelation to mankind of the Mystery that He is Triune. The presence of the Triune God at this baptism, reveals Jesus’ identity and mission. The Heavens’ opening also indicates that this was a moment of God’s powerful intervention in human history and in the life of His Son. His baptism by John was a very important event in the life of Jesus. First, it was a moment of decision. It marked the end of Jesus’ private life, which had prepared him for his public ministry. Second, it was a moment of identification with his people in their God-ward movement initiated by John the Baptist. Third, it was a moment of affirmation and approval. Jesus might have been waiting for such a signal from his Heavenly Father, and during his baptism Jesus got it in this announcement of himself as the Father’s “beloved Son.” Fourth, it was a moment of conviction. At this baptism, Jesus received certainties (assurances) from Heaven about his identity and the nature of his mission: a) He was the “Chosen One” and the “beloved Son of God”; b) his mission of saving mankind would be fulfilled, not by conquering the Romans, but by becoming the “suffering servant” of God, i.e., by the cross
This exalted identity of the “Son of God” revealed at his baptism is the starting point for all that Jesus will undertake—his self-giving ministry, death and Resurrection. It is because Jesus knows Who he is that he does as he does. As we begin Ordinary Time, we do so knowing that, in our own Baptism, God has named us beloved sons and daughters. Like Jesus, all that we undertake must flow from who we are, God’s beloved. We are called to follow in the footsteps of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. This means that we, too, must humbly submit ourselves to God’s wise and loving plan for our lives. He, in turn, anoints us with the Holy Spirit that we may be clothed with His power and grace. Christ’s baptism was the exemplar of our own baptism. In it the mystery of the Blessed Trinity was revealed, and the faithful, on receiving Baptism, are consecrated by the invocation and the power of the Blessed Trinity. Similarly, Heaven’s opening signifies that the power, the effectiveness, of this Sacrament comes from above, from God, and that the baptised have the road to Heaven opened for them, a road which Original Sin had closed. Jesus’s prayer after His baptism teaches us that “after Baptism, man needs to pray continually in order to enter Heaven; for though sins are remitted through Baptism, there still remains the inclination to sin which assails us from within, and also the flesh and the devil which assails us from without.” Each time we dip our hand into the Holy Water font in a church to bless ourselves, we need to remember that this act is a renewal of our Baptism.
The baptism of Jesus reminds us of our identity and mission. First, it reminds us of who we are and Whose we are. By Baptism we become the adoptive sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, members of his Church, heirs of Heaven, and temples of the Holy Spirit. We become incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ, and made sharers in the priesthood of Christ [CCC #1279]. Hence, “Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit and the door which gives access to the other Sacraments” (CCC, #1213). Most of us dipped the fingers of our right hand into the holy water font and blessed ourselves when we came into Church today. Why? This blessing is supposed to remind us of our Baptism. And so, when I bless myself with Holy Water, I should be thinking of the fact that I am a child of God; that I have been redeemed by the Cross of Christ; that I have been made a member of God’s family; and that I have been washed, forgiven, cleansed and purified by the Blood of the Lamb.
Jesus’ baptism reminds us of our mission to experience the presence of God within us, to acknowledge our own dignity as God’s children, and to appreciate the Divine Presence in others by honouring them, loving them, and serving them in all humility; to live as the children of God in thought, word, and action so that our Heavenly Father may say to each one of us what He said to Jesus: “You are My beloved son/daughter with whom I am well pleased.” It means that we are to let His thoughts direct our thoughts, His mind control our mind, and His concerns become our concerns. In the Church we all share the same intimate connection with Christ; we are all brothers and sisters in Christ; It reminds us to be co-creators with God in building up the “Kingdom of God” on earth, a Kingdom of compassion, justice and love, and to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. In other words, He has called us to help others to see, through the love that we show and the help that we give, that God loves them, that He invites them to also be His sons and daughters, and that He wants to be their helper and strength through all the troubles that life in this world can bring.