THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

Baptism …….The beginning ……. To do his Mission

Is 40: 1-5, 9-11

Tit 2: 11-14, 3:4-7

Lk 3: 15-16, 21-22

This is the last Sunday of the beautiful season of Christmas, therefore we shall re-live the happiness and joy of Christmas in this day.

Baptism is the sacrament of entrance and the beginning of Christian life. And thus we become the children of God. Jesus’ baptism is well known and clear evidence for the sacrament of baptism in the Holy Scripture. We may tempted to ask then; who invented the baptism? Is it John the Baptist? Or Jesus? Neither John nor Jesus invented the baptism. It had been practiced for centuries among the Jews as a ritual equivalent to our confession until the fall of the Temple in 70A.D, it was common for Jewish people to use a special pool called a MIKVEH – literally “a collection of water” – as a means of spiritual cleansing, to remove spiritual impurity and sin. Men took this bath weekly on the eve of Sabbath; and the women, monthly. Converts were also expected to take this bath before entering Judaism. The orthodox Jews still retain the rite. John the Baptist went furthermore, to make use of this same ritual for the real preparation for the coming of messiah. And Jesus gave true meaning to the baptism by his own baptism in the river Jordan.

This day, as we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord Jesus, is giving us concrete understanding of Christian sacrament of baptism. John the Baptist preached that ‘… a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’ (Lk 3:3) then why Jesus wanted to be baptized?  A sinless and even son of God. Why we can say that Jesus wanted to give true meaning to the baptism? Even though he need not Baptism; in order to unite himself with people and to save them from their ignorance he gave a good example. And also that was a prefiguration of his suffering and death for his people.

After the baptism Jesus went to the desert and he began his ministry, the work of redemption and that the baptism was an entrance or to say through which he got affirmation of the father to do his mission with authority. This is the challenge of each and every one of us today; do we really do the mission of Christ? Since we received our baptism, and have an eligible certificate to do his mission; not only as priests and nuns, also as true Christian faithful. This is the invitation today that the lord gives us to reflect and to live.

Therefore as we received our sacrament of baptism freely, we too are invited to live the life that pleasing to God and our neighbors as Jesus did. And thus the new life through Baptism will flourished when we practice the Christian moral values such; love, kindness, forgiveness and peace. And to living these we too can hear the voice of God saying, ‘this is my beloved…’.

By: Br. J. Donal Christy CMF

donalchristy@gmail.com