The Baptism of the Lord 

January 12th, 2020 (A)  

Introduction: 

Today, the Christmas season ends with the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus, the beloved son of God, who came into the world to save us; restore righteousness and justice and to bring light and freedom into the world!  

 Text: In our first reading, our Sovereign Lord, called us to righteousness. He promised to take Jesus by the hand and give him as a covenant for us; as a light for the nations, and to open the eyes of the blind (Is 42:1-7). The gospel and the responsorial psalm explain how JTB reluctantly consents to baptize Jesus until he learns that it’s “to fulfill all righteousness!” Then, a voice from heaven identifies him as “his beloved son in whom he is well pleased (Ps 29:1-10 & Mt. 3:13-17)!”   

Context: 

At the time of JTB the Jews were sadly conscious that the voice of the prophets spoke no more. They said that for four hundred years there had been no prophet. Throughout long centuries the voice of prophecy had been silent. As they put it themselves: "There was no voice, nor any that answered." The emergence of JTB was like the sudden sounding of the voice of God. JTB spoke the prophetic voice again. 

By the time of John, the message of the prophets, on the need for repentance, had sunk in on the people of Israel. After having gone through years of exile, persecution and suffering at the hands of Assyria, Babylon, Greece and Rome, and having gone through the Maccabean revolt and over 400 years without a prophet they, perhaps with exception of the elite who were most interested in maintaining the status quo, were ready to listen. Perhaps JTB was their answer! They went out to see him in droves! 

Everything Jesus did was significant; it had a reason and a purpose. JTB recognized that here was the Son of God, but was reluctant to baptize him because he felt unqualified as a sinner himself. By His baptism in the Jordan river by JTB, Jesus restored the righteousness of Adam before the fall and into which we all can enter if we come to him and are baptized. 

Jesus, who is Holy and had no need of baptism, joined the line of sinners to be baptized. With his baptism, Jesus instituted our baptism, whose water gives us the grace of the Holy Spirit, by which we are the children of God. Someone might ask, why would a Holy Man desire baptism? The answer: Christ was baptized, not to be made holy, but to make the water holy, and by his cleansing to purify the waters which he touched. 

The consecration of Christ involves a more significant consecration of the water. For our baptism is made clean, purified at its source for dispensing grace to the people of future ages. For when the Savior is washed, all water for our baptism is made clean, purified at its source for the dispensing of baptismal grace to the people of future ages. Christ is the first to be baptized so that Christians will follow after him with confidence. 

Application: 

Let us thank our Lord for his humility and fidelity in fulfilling God the Father’s Most Holy Will upon submitting himself to John’s Baptism; revealing the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and instituting the Sacrament of Baptism, through which we have been washed from the stain of original sin. We have been made children of God and received the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit in our soul in grace. Let us do honor to Christ’s baptism in holiness, striving to keep our soul clean to be the dwelling place of God.