Baptism of the Lord
Jan 10, 2021
Is 55:1-11, I Jn 5: 1-9, Mk 1: 7-11
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
We celebrate birthdays with a lot of excitement. But never our baptism. Yet this is our birthday as Christians. In today’s liturgy we celebrate the baptism of Jesus. In celebrating his baptism, we celebrate our own baptism too, and renew its grace with us.
This Sunday is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. It is a great feast in the sense that Jesus showed His solidarity and love with us.
Somebody said that the reason why Jesus allows Himself to be baptized, we have to know first what happened before He received His baptism. Before the baptism of Christ, John the Baptist was busy baptizing people who came to him. Our Lord knows this action of John and for Him, those who came to see John the Baptist were moving towards the direction of God the Father. With this conviction, Christ identified Himself with the people in their search for God. In other words, Jesus allows Himself to be baptized too because He wants us to feel that He is one with us in our longing and desire for God. He is baptized not because He is conscious of sin and of the need of repentance, but because He knows that He too must identify Himself with the people’s movement towards God. This is the grandiose and beauty of Christ’s baptism in letting Himself be baptized by a simple person like, St. John the Baptist. Christ succeeds in imparting to us that He is interested in our affairs and that He is interested in our way of relating God. Jesus could have easily avoided the baptism of John since He was God but He did not. As God, He could have avoided the baptism of John since He is God but He does not. As God He could have told the people to come to Him for baptism instead to John but this, He does not do either.
And not only that, this Baptism of Jesus is important because it reveals two things: first, it reveals who He is that He is God’s own Son. A voice said: “This is My beloved Son. On You My favor rests,” (Mk 1:11). And second, what He will do. This is expressed by the prophet Isaiah in the first reading of this Sunday. His mission as God’s Servant was to bring justice to the nations, open the eyes of the blind, to release captives free (Is 42:1-4, 6-7).
In other words, our own baptism means two things, said Fr. Bel Luis in his homily. First, it proclaims publicly our new membership of the Church and second, it empowers us to do the good works Jesus did.
I just want to leave you with one idea. Even though most us may not remember our baptism, we should thank God, for in it he gave us life and the Spirit and he gave us a loving parent or parents to guide us in the ways of God.
Peace and all good!
Fr. Valery Burusu
Parochial Administrator