Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
It’s a pretty common occurrence, I think, that happens to many young men and women during adolescence. It has certainly happened to me a number of times. The phone rings. “Hello?” “Hi Rob, how you doing?” “Actually this is Anthony.” “Oh, sorry, you sound just like your dad!” I know it also happened a at least a few times with my sisters picking up the phone, and the person on the other line thinking it was my mom. While it can be frustrating for the young man or woman, there is a certain fittingness to the fact that the child sounds like his or her parent.
As we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord today, we notice a similar series of events taking shape, albeit without the telephone, in our readings. As we listen to the words of the Prophet Isaiah in the first reading, we hear God the Father promising to send a servant who will bring justice to the nations. The servant will open the eyes of the blind, bring out prisoners from confinement, and bring those in darkness out from the dungeon. This servant will be one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rests, and with whom God the Father is pleased.
To those who had ears to hear and eyes to see at the Jordan River, to those who had remembered this passage from Isaiah, Jesus’ baptism would have been a jaw-dropping moment. Because just as Jesus came up from the water, the Spirit of God, in the form of a dove, came upon Jesus, and a voice from heaven said, “‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” The prophecy from Isaiah was fulfilled in their hearing, and it is reaffirmed for us in our hearing today.
But if you notice, God does not simply fulfill the prophecy. No, he goes beyond its fulfillment. He does not simply send the Spirit upon Jesus in a nebulous, invisible form, but allows the Spirit to take the form of a dove, so that all might see it. And Jesus is not just the servant with whom the Lord is pleased, but Jesus is the servant who is the beloved Son of God, with whom God the Father is well pleased. God’s abundant love is seen here, going beyond what the Chosen People were taught to hope for. God outdoes His own promises, out of love for the people He has made His own. And Jesus’ public ministry, the proof that He is the servant and Son of God, is Jesus opening the eyes of the blind, freeing prisoners from the slavery of sin, and bringing the light of truth and grace to those who were kept in.
Brothers and sisters, if we have been baptized, then we have been joined to the Body of Christ, and this prophecy, which was fulfilled in its fullest form in Jesus, also is meant to speak of us. If Christ is the Son and servant of God who is called to open the eyes of the blind, free prisoners, and bring light to those in darkness, and if we are members of the Body of Christ, the Church, through our baptism, then we are also called to do the same. When people hear our voices, they should hear the voice of Christ, the revelation of the Father; when they see our good deeds, they should see Christ present, and in seeing Christ, know of the Father’s love in action; when they hear us proclaiming the Gospel, and telling people to repent and believe because the Kingdom of God is at hand, they should recognize Christ, and in recognizing Christ recognize the Father, because Jesus is the manifestation of the Father in the world.
It is as if we were on the telephone, and because we are so like Christ, who is the full revelation of the Father, people mistake us for the Father’s beloved Son, not by the treble of our voice, or by the way we look physically, but because we are continuing the proclamation of the Good News: that God loves us so much, that He sent His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life. Just as can happen with young men and women on the telephone, people should confuse us for Jesus when they come into contact with us because of our devotion as disciples to the Master.
Now, certainly this is a tall order. But you have what it takes. It is not limited to a particular race, gender, or those with good speaking abilities, or priests, or religious. No, as St. Peter said in the second reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, “‘God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.’” We have the ability because we were baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, and we have a fountain of graces, ready to flow, if only we would accept it, and let it flow, rather than blocking it by embarrassment of seeming “extreme;” by false humility of thinking, “I can’t spread the Gospel because I don’t know enough;” or by sin which separates us from God. Certainly we do have to work at presenting the truth of the Gospel in Love, and we must know Him about whom we preach, and all of us need to return to the Lord for forgiveness for those times when we have fallen into sin, but God has already given us all we need to spread the Gospel to all nations, so that they can be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and become members of the Body of Christ, and co-heirs of eternal life.
We have a mandate from our Lord to preach the Gospel to all nations, and we must use both our words and actions. We cannot hide behind an alleged saying of St. Francis that we only need to act. We need both words and deeds, so that when people hear our words proclaiming Jesus as Lord by what we say and how we say it; so that when people see our kind deeds to the least brothers and sisters of the Lord by the actions of our daily lives, they do not see us so much, as see Christ. I pray that all of us, by the graces given to us in our baptism, are so like Christ, that we can be known as the continuation of the His ministry, the manifestation of the Father’s love, even more than, when the kids are at their parents home, they can be confused over the phone for their parents.
