Baptism of Jesus – January 10, 2021
The days of the Christmas season have filled us with joy and
hope through the Good News of the
Gospel: “The Word became flesh and dwelled
among us.” This Word is Jesus, born in a hastily
improvised birthplace in
Bethlehem, visited by Shepherds and Magi, forced into exile in Egypt
because of
Herod’s insane threats, and raised in the obscurity of the backwater town of
Nazareth. These details remind us of the importance not only of the fact that
the Son of God
chose to become one with us in our human nature, but the way he
chose to be one with us: in
simplicity, powerlessness, and humility. And God’s
favor was with Jesus.
We might ask ourselves: Why did Jesus need to be baptized?
Most of those coming to John the
Baptist were repentant sinners. Our baptism,
too, is partly to rescue us from the power of
original sin by being bathed in
the redemptive love of Christ.
How does Jesus himself fit into this? We always say that
Jesus is like us in all things,
except sin. Moreover, John the Baptist clearly
states that he himself is not the Messiah but
only the fore-runner, the herald
of his coming. He is not even worthy to undo the sandals of
the One who is
coming. John felt that he was not even worthy to do that. And yet – Jesus is
baptized by John.
By being baptized in the River Jordan with all those
self-proclaimed sinners, Jesus shows
his total solidarity with us. “The Word
was made flesh and lived among us,” says John’s gospel. He does not say that
the Word was made a human person, but that he “was made flesh”.
In biblical
language, ‘flesh’ has all the connotations of our human weaknesses. In becoming
a human person, Jesus identified with us not just in our humanity but in our
weak humanness.
Jesus had the same feelings, reactions, temptations that we
have; yet he never did sin or do
anything wrong.
Despite his dignity and rank as Son of God, as Messiah,
Jesus never required any external signs of privilege, power or position. Most
of the time, he looked just the same as everyone else.
And, when he got up in
the synagogue of his hometown, his neighbors were amazed at his wisdom
and
authority.
Today’s Feast, marking the beginning of Jesus’ public life,
does not veer from the course
charted by the previous feasts. Rather, it
reinforces and deepens what we have seen of Jesus.
Jesus begins his public life
in the humility of John’s baptism, in the guise of a servant.
For sure, he
manifests himself as one “anointed with the Holy Spirit and power.” Yet this
manifestation of power does not call attention to itself, but rather shows him
“doing good and
healing all those oppressed by the evil.” And with this
anointing he will appear in the form
of a servant to the end, manifesting the
immense power of divine love by his death on a cross.
Isaiah helps us see how
he will appear, day after day, in the cities and villages of Israel:
“…not
crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised
reed he
shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench…” Here is
expressed in poetic images a picture of the compassionate Jesus who welcomed
sinners and sat down to eat with them;
the Good Shepherd who left the
ninety-nine ‘good’ ones to go and find just one which had gone
astray; the one
who described himself as meek and humble of heart where we can safely find
rest.
It is important that we fix our attention on the manner of
his appearance. At times, people of
our day, much like the people of Jesus’ own
day, seem to hope for a different kind of appearing, one that “fixes things”
efficiently and quickly, that manifests power as we know it on earth:
forceful,
loud, sometimes even crushing and violent. We want our wrongs righted now! But
not
Jesus, baptized to be our Servant. Will we have the courage and the
humility to right this
world’s wrongs with him, his way? Or will we choose the
ways that seem more “expedient,
effective, productive”? Let us walk in this new
year, choosing him, choosing his way, so that
we may be faithful to our own
baptism and be his instruments at work in the world.
Baptism is faith in action. – Watchman
Nee
Fr.
Don, C.P