Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

January 10, 2021

Feast of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which he is wonderfully proclaimed as the beloved Son of God, the waters are sanctified, man is purified, and the whole earth rejoices.

“Look at my servant, whom I sustain; my chosen one, whom I prefer.”

Jesus of Nazareth, anointed by God with the power of the Holy Spirit, who spent doing good and healing the oppressed by the devil, because God was with him.

A voice was heard from heaven: “You are my beloved Son, in you I am pleased.”

 

Readings

First Reading

Reading the book of Isaiah 42, 1-4. 6-7

Thus saith the Lord:
“Look at my servant, whom I sustain; my chosen one, whom I prefer.
I have placed upon him my spirit, that I may bring the right to the nations.
He won’t scream, he won’t cry, he won’t talk in the streets.
The waterfall cane won’t break it, the hesitant pale will not turn it off.
It will faithfully promote the right, it will not hesitate or break,
until implanting the right on earth, and its laws waiting for the islands.
I, the Lord, have called you righteously, I have held your hand,
I have formed you, and I have made you an alliance of a people, the light of nations.
To open the eyes of the blind, take the captives out of the prison, and from the dungeon to those who inhabit the darkness.”

Psalm

Come out 28, 1a. 2. 3ac-4. 3b and 9b-10

The Lord blesses his people with peace.

Hail the Lord, whole earth, serve the Lord with joy,
enter his presence with cheers. R/.

Know that the Lord is God: that he made us and we are his,
his people and sheep from his flock. R/.

Enter through your doors with thanksgiving, for your atriums with hymns,
thanking him and blessing his name. R/.

The Lord is good, His mercy is eternal,
fidelity for all ages. R/.

Second Reading

Reading the Book of Acts of the Apostles 10, 34-38

In those days, Peter took the floor and said, “It is clear that God makes no distinctions; accepts the one who fears it and practices justice, whatever nation it is. He sent his word to the Israelites, proclaiming the peace that Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, would bring. You know what happened in the country of the Jews, when John preached baptism, even though things started in Galilee. I refer to Jesus of Nazareth, anointed by God with the power of the Holy Spirit, who spent doing good and healing the oppressed by the devil, because God was with him.”

 

Gospel

Reading the Holy Gospel according to Mark 1, 7-11

At that time, John proclaimed:
“Behind me comes the one who is stronger than me and I do not deserve to bend down to untie the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Ghost.”
And it came to that in those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in Jordan.
As soon as he came out of the water, he saw the heavens and the Spirit coming down towards him like a dove. A voice was heard from heaven:
“You are my beloved Son, in you I am pleased.”

Comment

With this feast of the Baptism of the Lord we conclude the liturgical time of Christmas, looking again at Christ, the beloved Son of the Father, who manifests himself in Jordan as the Anointed One of God with the power of the Holy Spirit. His baptism is a new epiphany, manifestation of divinity embodied in the humanity of Christ, God and true man; this Jordan theophany also marks the beginning of his public life, until his culmination at Easter.

But what had happened to Jesus’ life up to this point? It gives the impression that in the liturgy we make a huge leap from his early childhood to this moment of maturity and the beginning of his public ministry. Sacred Scripture tells us very little, almost nothing, of this long period of Jesus’ life between the two events. Tradition places Jesus in the silence of Nazareth’s hidden life, together with Joseph and Mary, sharing with them daily life and work, situations and circumstances.

Christians cannot go unnoticed by this way of acting of God. Jesus spent most of his life, approximately thirty years, in anonymity, in silence, in everyday work, in the life of a very small town in 1st-century Palestine called Nazareth; yes, Jesus, the Redeemer of the world, the Incarnate Word, who from all eternity had projected this climactic moment into God’s love story for humanity. We may wonder, why did Jesus “waste” so much time? Couldn’t he have started earlier and come with his preaching and miracles much further?

Jesus gives us a great lesson with this. his ministry had already begun from the moment he was born in Bethlehem. his hidden silence is part of his redemptive plan. their anonymity in everyday life helps us understand that our daily lives are also valuable and redeeming in God’s eyes, perhaps much more than brilliant one-off events or important decisions. With Jesus in Nazareth we must learn to value better, and understand from God, the poor, the little, the small, the hidden, the insignificant, the inconsedent, the simple, the everyday, the routine, what no one sees or appreciates, the waits, the silences, the solitudes, the deserts, the storms, the patience, the humility. God’s logic is far from human logic. God’s logic is called Nazareth.

And from Nazareth Jesus leaves one day on the way to Jordan, aware of his mission. He had come to fulfill the will of the Father with whom he was intimately in communion through the Spirit. Joseph was probably already missing from his home and had to leave his mother Maria, then a rather older woman, alone and unprotected. I’m sure it wasn’t easy to get the game.

And he appears in Jordan to be baptized by John. John’s baptism was a baptism of conversion through which all those who repentant intended to initiate a new way of life more in conformity with God’s will passed through. Jesus, the Son of God didn’t need it. But he wanted to get in line with sinners to identify with them. He wanted to assume sin upon himself, even though he had not committed sin; he always wanted to be counted, not only at this moment, among sinners until his death on the cross, crucified among two evildoers. He wanted to strip himself of his divinity by taking the status of slave, passing by one of many. His desilment is such that even John wanted to prevent it. Again… God’s logic is well above ours.

And when he gets out of the water, his true identity is manifested. He is the beloved Son of the Father, anointed with the Holy Spirit, who assumes the sin of mankind to deliver us from him. He is the servant of Yahweh from whom Isaiah speaks to us in the first reading, the chosen one of God upon whom his Spirit overflows, who will bring right and justice to all peoples, who will rebuild the way of humanity from his silence, his love and mercy. He is God’s covenant with men, the light of nations, that will deliver the blind and captive, who will deliver us from darkness.

He is the envoy of the Father peter speaks of in the second reading, the Lord of all who has been proclaiming the peace of God, anointed with the power of his Spirit, who passed through the world doing good and healing the oppressed by evil. He is the beloved Son of the Father, in whom he is pleased, whom he invites us to listen to.

Surely from the baptism of Jesus we must rethorder the event of our own baptism and its meaning. Baptism is the sacrament that identifies us with Christ, through which God delivers us from sin, aggsses us with his Spirit and looks at us lovingly to say to us too, as jesus: “You are my beloved son”. Baptism is the sacrament that introduces us to the Church, which is the mystical Body of Christ. It is the sacrament that makes us children of God in the Son, co-heirs of his glory. This is our greatest dignity and at the same time our greatest commitment, to learn to live as children of God and, therefore, as brothers; and by the hand of Jesus show the world the love of the Father and his victory over evil. How important it is for Christians to remember every day, in every place and in every event that, by baptism, we are called to identify with Christ, who went through the world doing good.

Prayer

With you I want, Lord, to reach and descend into the waters of Jordan to feel that God always calls despite the difficulties of the way.

With you I want, Lord, to leave the comfort of my house, my friends and jobs, to do a little bit on what the gospel needs from my hands and my efforts.

With you I want, Lord, to renew my Somewhat powdered Baptism by the passage of time. Rekindle my somewhat biting Baptism. Strengthen my Sometimes weak and accommodating Baptism.

With you I want, Lord, to hear my name and a call: “You are my Son.” That there may never be a lack of good witnesses in your cause who preach your Word, to pronounce your name, to bear witness to your Kingdom, to offer what they are and have, and God may be known, loved, and blessed in the four directions of the world.

With you I want, Lord, to renew, to lift, to illusion and improve, to encourage and nourish, to revitalize and strengthen what one day, by the power of the Spirit, made me a child of God a member of his people, son of the Church, a witness of your Kingdom: Baptism.

Amen.

(Javier Leoz)

 

Glory to you, O Father, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!

You have sent your servants, the prophets, to proclaim your word of faithful love and to call your people to repentance.
On the banks of the Jordan River, you have provoked John the Baptist, a voice that screams in the wilderness, sent to the entire Jordan region, to prepare the Lord’s way, to proclaim the coming of Christ.
Glory to you, O Christ, Son of God!
You have come to the waters of Jordan to be baptized by the hands of John. Upon you the Spirit descended like a dove. Upon you the heavens were opened, and the voice of the Father was heard: “This is my Son, the Favorite”. From the river blessed with your presence you have set out to baptize not only with the water but with fire and holy spirit.
Glory to you, O Holy Spirit, Lord!
By your power the Church is baptized, descending with Christ in death and re-emerging with him to a new life. By your power, we are freed from sin to become children of God, the glorious Body of Christ.

By your power, all fear is overcome, and the Gospel of love is preached in every corner of the earth, for the glory of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, for Him every honor in this Jubilee Year and in all ages to come. Amen.

(St. John Paul II, 21 March 2000, by the Jordan River)