The Baptism of the Lord

Last Sunday we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany. On that feast we celebrated God making himself known as the God of all peoples in Christ Jesus. The Epiphany is truly a Feast of Light – the light of the star – leading the Wise Men – and all people to Jesus Christ who is the Light – “enlightening every man and woman coming into the world.” (John 1:8-9) On this Feast of the Baptism of Jesus – God is revealing himself – in and through Jesus: “This is my beloved Son – listen to him.” The Baptism of Jesus says that Jesus is the anointed of God – the one sent to raise up the human race – and give them a new dignity. We are all created in the image and likeness of God. That image had been tarnished through the sin of our first parents. Jesus came to shine up that image. He came also to enlighten us, to “light up our lives’ with the “Light of Faith”. Through the fall of Adam and Eve, our wills were weakened and our intellects were darkened. Jesus came to give us the moral strength and the light of faith so that we could live the way God wants us to live – and be the kind of people God wants us to be. To do this Jesus became one of us – took on our flesh – our skin, and lived and died and rose from the dead to save and heal us. In the power of the Holy Spirit, we become children of God in Baptism, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, and members of His Body. That means that we are connected to all who are baptized; all are connected to Christ, and share in the One Baptism, One Faith, One God and Father of All. All who call themselves Christian are part of that One Body.

Jesus became like us in all things but sin – so he had no need for baptism. But having taken on our human nature – he took on all our sins, frailties and weakness – he underwent baptism to reveal his humanity – and His Divinity. He took on our humanity – so that he could save us – since God wanted us to be saved by one like us. Jesus modeled for us – what it means to be human – totally human. In his baptism, Jesus was revealed as true God and true man…his baptism inaugurates his public ministry – which he stated in his reading of Sacred Scripture in the Synagogue: “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, release to prisoners, and to announce a year of favor from the Lord.” (Isaiah 61:1-2)

In baptism we, too, were anointed by the Holy Spirit, and given a mission. That mission is to continue the work of Jesus – to be light, hope and encouragement for the people around us! On the day of our baptisms, parents and godparents made big promises and commitments on our behalf. We spend our lives catching up with those promises. In trying to keep the commitments and promises made on our behalf, we are honoring God and blessing those people who loved us and gave us to God. They wanted not only God’s life and blessing here and now but for all eternity. The Holy Spirit is still coming to us and will strengthen us especially as we face changes, challenges, new beginnings and important decisions. The Spirit of God is the power behind new beginnings! Today as we bless ourselves with Holy Water and recall the day of our baptism, it is surely a good day to start again – to recommit ourselves to God and the service of his people!