January 10, 2010
Baptism of the Lord
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness. Isaiah 42:6-7
After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Luke 3: 21-22
Piety
Jesus hears the voice from heaven saying. “You are my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on you.” What had he been doing, that makes the 30 previous years so important to us? His hidden life is over. He had been obedient to his parents. He had worked in the Carpenter Shop. He had grown in wisdom and knowledge by being obedient. There was the day when he had stayed behind in the temple and had asked and answered questions difficult enough to amaze the listeners to what he was saying. But we do not have any knowledge of what more he had done to give his mother confidence he could change the water into wine. She had a good son who had taken care of her and been present to her loneliness after the death of Joseph. We can assume he ran the carpenter shop well. But there is nothing that we are told of that stands out as the preparation for what would happen in the three years of his public ministry. We know that he went into the water and he was baptized by John. We can only surmise what his prayer life was like. Perhaps the best thing we can say about him is that he did the ordinary in an extraordinary way. The favor of the Father rests on the ordinary in the life of Jesus and it makes the ordinary important in our lives when we do what is expected of us in the best way possible. The one thing that is certain about piety is that if we do our best in each moment we are just like the Christ who surprised his town folks when he came back and spoke with the authority that belongs to always doing one’s best. Wisdom comes from what we learn in facing the difficulties of life with the best we have to offer.
Study
Our study is of Christ. John recognized Christ as more powerful than himself and he did not think he was worthy to undo the strap of his sandals. John teaches us the attitude we must have with Christ. Christ is the Teacher. He was sent by the Father. The words of Christ reveal how we can be god-like in our lives. Christ is the perfect expression of how best to live life. He gives us the way, the truth and his life is there for the taking if we follow in his footsteps. He calls us to be other Christs. Christ is the fullness of our own personal being. We will find ourselves when we make Christ our life. Because we are created in the image and the likeness of God in Christ, rather than lose ourselves by following him, we will find the truth of who we were meant to be.
Action
Our baptism joins us to the Baptism of Christ. He calls us to console his people. We need to atone not only for our sinfulness, but for the sinfulness of our world. Actions are the gifts we bring to the Lord. Giving prime time to the Lord is one action important by itself. Too often leftover time from other things we do leaves the Lord out of the center of our hearts. Giving the Lord the energy from our having rested up shows the importance of our spiritual journey. We bring the Lord in the Now of our lives; it is best not to put off looking for the Lord. It is best to keep him in sight. Each moment can be a special revelation of his presence. Our baptism into the life of Christ must be fulfilled. We need to baptize our world with the presence of Christ in our lives. It is best to keep him in sight. Each moment can be a special revelation of his presence. We need to live the word of God without fear and to say to our world “Here is our God.” All the valleys of our lives need to be filled in and the mountains and hills of our fears need to be leveled. We need to reveal the glory of God in all we do.
