The Baptism of the Lord
By Fr. Nathan Mamo, S.T.L.
Year CIsaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 Acts 10:34-38 Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
Our word baptize comes from the Greek word baptizein meaning to dip, immerse or wash (usually in water). The Baptism of the Lord is not the ecclesiastical Sacrament of Baptism as Christian believers have come to understand it, whereby one is initiated into the Christian community and also forgiven of past sins. Our Sacraments are described as “outward signs.” It is in that sign value that Jesus’ baptism resembles ours. Our Baptism is a sign of our entry into and belonging in Church membership, and in committing to a life founded on gospel thoughtfulness. His was a sign of the beginning of his public ministry and of a special anointing by God’s Spirit.
From a Christian perspective of the prophetic tradition, the text of today’s Deutero-Isaiah reading describes a character whom scripture scholars call the Suffering Servant. Among the servant’s ministerial tasks was that of giving witness to God’s desire for justice in an unjust world. This witness to justice was not merely a nice idea; it was God’s Will. From God’s perspective it was a necessity. One mission of Jesus in his ministry was for him to become the ultimate prophet, gospel teacher, and sacrificial victim in terms of Jewish temple theology. He performed signs often attributed to the ancient prophets as a metaphorical “light for the nations.” The miraculous healings of sight for the blind and release of prisoners to which the Isaiah text alludes conjure up an idealized world of complete justice in which everyone would have sufficient insight by which to see the truth, and in which no one would be confined for any reason. All would perceive fully, be thankful, and live justly in turn. This was an imaginary harkening back to the Garden of Eden, intended to be a noble ideal. The qualities we can associate with a perfect Eden are impossible to achieve fully, but they can be our motivation and goals. Such ideals are what really ought to attract us in the gospel.
In Luke’s version of the Baptism of the Lord two things of significance instruct us. First, John says of Jesus that “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” This points to the dynamic enthusiasm which a true embrace of a gospel life is expected to engender in each believer. Beware of dull, boring, passive and superficial Christians perhaps especially among homilists and teachers. Beware, too, of those leaders who’s actions are contrary to gospel justice, charity and truthfulness! To know God’s Spirit is to experience the creative and prophetic power of God to change the things of life. The very word enthusiasm means “God within” or even “full of God’s Spirit.” Christians who live a passive or absent-minded awareness of the Gospel are hardly good heralds of the Word made Flesh. The second item of great note in this passage is the authoritative, heavenly voice which spoke approvingly to Jesus himself while a visible, dynamic indicator of the Holy Spirit (“like a dove”) descended upon him. Again, these were signs that pointed to whom and what Jesus was in his pre-Paschal life. Very similar words will be heard later in the text at the account of the Transfiguration, but these words will be addressed to the apostles about Jesus, that they must listen to him (see Luke 9:28-36). Both events were profoundly intense religious experiences in which Jesus lead his followers to encounter nothing less that the Mystery of God on Earth.
In the abbreviated reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we glimpse Peter’s insightful and decisive rationale about whether or not Gentiles can enter directly into gospel fellowship: “... In truth, I see that God shows no partiality ... whoever fears [God] and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.” Ought this not provide us insight about ecumenical and interreligious relationships, and even about relationships with our own family, neighborhood or the larger Church who are different from how we are? Indeed, this was a profound, challenging and even painful insight for many in the early Church. It was as important in that day as the whole collective issue of human rights is in the Church and the world today. The early Church members indeed wrestled with their own faith and cultures. Under the power, wisdom and compassion God’s Holy Spirit, they changed, grew and evolved! They let go of some long-held religious practices and customs in order to embrace new, different and more constructive behaviors in the Gospel. After the Resurrection, this Pentecostal life-style was arguably among the greatest miracles in Church life for two thousand years. Without this controversy, which took three or four decades (or more) to work out, many of us among today’s Christians might have been excluded from Church membership. This must give us pause to think and consider just how powerfully God seeks to make of universal appeal the Gospel and the Salvation it provides. God’s Will is that all are saved!
With all these vignettes of the infancy and childhood of Jesus, the Church’s liturgical calendar arrives at the beginning of what is called Ordinary Time I. With the Baptism of the Lord, we consider how Jesus’ ministry engaged his disciples and how he expected them to behave as responsible adult believers. In today’s Church, we must hear, reflect, pray and behave as adult, mature and enthusiastic followers of the Gospel of Christ, too. Living a mature, adult faith in the Gospel is both a challenging and engaging enterprise!