Baptism of the Lord January 9, 2022

Readings: Isaiah 40.1-5,9-11, Titus 2.11-14: 3.4-7, Luke 3.15-16.21-22

This feast of the Baptism of the Lord is the finishing celebration of the Christmas season. On Monday we begin "Ordinary Time". In many ways the Baptism of Jesus is a strange one and I am sure that many of us are as puzzled by it today as John the Baptist and the people gathered by the bank of the River Jordan must have been at the time. Today's gospel points out that before Jesus presented Himself for baptism John had already spoken of Him as the one who would baptize others, not with water but with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

What is happening at the baptism of Jesus is the proclamation by God that this Jesus seemingly a man like everyone else, though an extraordinarily good man, is in reality so closely at one with God that God calls Him his beloved Son and reals that presence of the Holy Spirit who is always with Him. Just as Jesus is proclaimed as the savior of all people, and not just the Jews, when the wise men, non-Jews, come from far away to worship Him in Bethlehem, and just as Jesus is revealed as the bringer of life and joy into people's lives at the Wedding Feast at Cana, so today Jesus is revealed in all His glory as the only Son of God and the bearer of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of Jesus is the conformation of what St. Luke's Gospel has already told us; that Jesus is not just another, though especially good, man-Jesus is the presence of God among us.

A proclamation like these calls for a response. It called for a response from those who were there at his baptism and from those who would encounter Him during his life- and it calls for a response from us as well. Our faith is not meant to be a set of dry academic teachings. It is meant to be a sincere, enthusiastic and ongoing response to the incredible truth that God, who is the creator and sustainer of everything that exists, has come among us as one of us in Jesus, so taht in Jesus we might see that face of god, hear His voice, experience His love and mercy, and respond to Join in faith.

Today, let us allow the gospel to challenge us not in an accusing way but with a precious invitation; in Jesus we encounter the Beloved Son of God and come to know God, and His love for us, in a new and powerful way; why would we not want to listen to Him and then respond to Him with love and in faith.