Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Already in 300 AD, the Eastern Church celebrated the Epiphany and the Baptism of Jesus on 6 January. In the Western Church, this feast was mentioned in the Liturgy of the Hours. With the reform of the liturgy in 1969, the date for this Feast was set on the Sunday after the Epiphany. When the Feast of the Epiphany is not celebrated on 6 January, it is celebrated on the Sunday between 2 and 8 January, and the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the Monday following the Epiphany. The Christmas Season concludes with the celebration of this Feast, even though a “window” is left open until 2 February, the day on which the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple is celebrated. The latter feast is also known as Candlemas since Christ is proclaimed as the “light for the gentiles”.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt. 3:13-17).

Jesus along the Jordan

The Gospel passage begins with a geographical annotation: Jesus goes from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist. On His arrival, Jesus does not declare Himself to be the Messiah, He does not preach. Instead, He stands with everyone else there, wanting to be baptized, thus manifesting his solidarity with the sinful people. Jesus does not isolate Himself, but He goes out among the people, even those marked by the wounds of sin. He puts Himself at risk by being with them, just as He put Himself at risk by becoming Man in the womb of Mary. There is, therefore, a consistent design in how Jesus “moves about” along His “itinerary of salvation”.

John the Baptist

“I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” the Baptist says on seeing Jesus. We witness the prophet’s bewilderment who just a few verses earlier expressed himself thus: “The one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals …” (Mt 3:11). It seems to be the same bewilderment Peter experienced in Caesarea when, having reproved Jesus after the revelation of the Passion, death and resurrection that awaited Him, saying, “God forbid, Lord!”, hears the Lord’s reply, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are not thinking as God does, but as human beings do” (Mt 16:22-23). Another time was in the Upper Room when Peter refused to allow Jesus to wash his feet (cf. Jn. 13:6-8). Reactions such as the Baptist’s and Peter’s reveal our discomfort at seeing Jesus so weak and yielding.

“Allow it”

There are moments when it is important to “allow things to happen”. What seems so abnormal that John the Baptist feels embarrassed is, however, part of God’s plan that will “bring to fulfillment” every righteousness, since Jesus – as He Himself would one day declare – did not come to abolish the law and the prophets (cf. Mt. 5:17), but to bring God’s justice “to fulfillment”. This justice does not humiliate, does not separate, does not judge. Rather, it unites, breaks down barriers, responds to everyone’s needs and respects everyone. God’s justice is superior than human justice: He does not use the measuring stick of “how much” – you pay according to the measure that you have offended. Rather, He uses the measuring stick of love, mercy, forgiveness – the only measuring stick that can bridge distances and heal wounded hearts since it is from within that evil intentions are born (cf. Mk. 7:1-23).

The heavens opened

Jesus’ choice is confirmed with the opening of the heavens, with the gift of the Spirit and the voice of the Father that seals Jesus’ mission: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”. With the opening of the heavens, “justice” cancels the separation between humanity and God, bringing us back to the dawn of creation when the Spirit hovered over the waters. In Jesus, God the Father shows us the New Man, His beloved, the One who pleases Him. It was as if He were saying: “You make me so happy. I am so proud of you”. This happiness exists in each one of us because each of us bears God’s image within. We are made in his “image and likeness” (Gn. 1:26). No one can ever erase this image for “God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good” (Gn. 1:31). Jesus’ coming tells us that God is interested in us. It’s like He is saying, “With you, I want to begin a new story of salvation, a new beginning”. We are made new to the extent that we learn to recognize life as a gift of love and that we live in this Love.

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12 January

In those days, this is what John proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit.” It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mk. 1:7-11).

Summary of a journey

During the Christmas Season, we have adored the Child of Bethlehem lying in a manger. We encountered the Holy Family of Nazareth on the first Sunday after Christmas. We venerated Mary as the Mother of God on New Year’s Day. We have reflected on the manifestation of Jesus to the Magi, and thus to all peoples, on the Feast of the Epiphany.

Jesus begins His public life

“Nazareth” is a small village, without traditions. People from Nazareth were looked down on: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”, Nathaniel asked (Jn. 1:46). And yet, Jesus lived there for 30 years. These were years of silence, of growth and coming of age, of work, of family life, of ordinary life…. “Galilee” was a region that was disqualified from a religious perspective because it was considered to be contaminated with heathens. The evangelist uses these particular details to help us understand that Jesus begins his “public” life not as someone who was “privileged”, but rather as someone who entered from “the back door”. The only thing we know from the Gospels about His first 30 years is that Jesus grew “in age, wisdom and grace” (Lk. 2:52). It was this maturity that led Him to be in “solidarity” with the least, with sinners: “He who knew no sin”, Saint Paul write, “was made sin” (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13).

The voice

Coming up out of the water, Jesus is the only person who recognizes the voice from heaven: “You are my beloved Son”. These words are directed to us today: “You are my Child, my beloved”. It is as if God is saying, “I am happy with you”. There is a happiness from God that exists in each one of us because no matter who we are, the fact remains that we have been made in his “image and likeness” (Gn. 1:26). No one can take away the fact that God is pleased with us because “God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good” (Gn. 1:31). Jesus’ coming tells us that God is interested in us. It’s like He is saying, “With you, I want to begin a new story of salvation, a new beginning”.

The Baptism of Jesus, our baptism

Jesus is in solidarity with His contemporaries and He – the one without sin – gets in line with other sinners. He places Himself at our side. He is God-with-us, Emmanuel. He takes on Himself the destiny of each of us. This is what we are called to do as well – even more so as baptized, immersed in His love – to know how to care for others with whom we share the experience of life, beginning with the least (sinners), the excluded (Nazareth), people who are labeled (Galilee). Every judgement or prejudice needs to be dismantled in the truth that each of us is “the Lord’s beloved child”, with whom God “is pleased”. This is true for me, but it is also true for every brother and sister, independently of our condition of being sinners. In baptism, what happened at Christmas happens again: God descends, He enters within me so that I might be reborn in Him as a new creature. But we are asked to bear witness to this “new life” (cf. Is. 43:19) so that just as Jesus could say, “those who have seen me have seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9), so too can other people say of us, “I see Jesus in you”. Humanly this is impossible, certainly. But “nothing is impossible with God” (Lk. 1:37).

From Baptism to life

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord closes the Christmas Season and opens Ordinary Time, the season of life. If with the Baptism, Jesus’ public ministry is inaugurated, for us it is the inauguration of a commitment to leave the “stable of Bethlehem” where we have adored Him, to begin our mission of witnessing to Him day after day, strengthened by the joy of being the Community/People of God who gathers every Sunday to allow ourselves to be guided by the “star” of the Word of God, to be nourished by the Eucharist, the Bread on the Journey, living in and with charity, on our journey toward the open heavens where the Father awaits us so we can live forever with Him.

The people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ. John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Lk. 3:15-16, 21-22).

A people’s experience

It is interesting to note that the Evangelist Luke recounts that Jesus’ baptism was an experience of the people: “After all the people had been baptized”. By being in the midst of the people, Jesus manifests profound solidarity with His sinful people, giving from the very beginning a certain “stamp” to His mission. Jesus reveals that He is the One who has come to “get His hands dirty” so as to bear the sins of humanity.

The baptism

Unlike the other evangelists, Luke does not dwell on the baptism, but leaves it in the background, using a simple phrase: “Jesus also had been baptized”. What the evangelist highlights is Jesus’ behavior: “He was praying”. This is a particularly dear theme for Luke that he repeats often in his Gospel. In this climate of prayer, Jesus receives the gift of the Spirit and is confirmed by the Father who recognizes him to be “the beloved” and that He is “well pleased” with Him, or that He has placed His trust in Jesus. This is a way of indicating that Jesus’ way of drawing near to the people, of being in solidarity with them, is the reason why He was sent.

Prayer

In the context of prayer, Jesus receives the gift of the Holy Spirit. This detail suggests that every time we pray, when we are speaking one on One with God (Saint Teresa of Avila), it is possible to experience the Holy Spirit. To pray is to return to Him, to remain with Him. It is the breath of our being children of God which we were introduced to in our own baptism. Only in prayer can our lives as God’s children be nourished. In moments of prayer, we allow God to say over us: “You are the beloved”, “You are important for me”.

The Lord’s beloved

In Jesus, the Father’s chosen Son, each of us is “the Lord’s beloved child”, with whom God “is pleased”. This is true for me, but it is also true for every brother and sister, independently of our condition of being sinners. In baptism, what happened at Christmas happens again: God descends, He enters within me so that I might be reborn in Him as a new creature. But we are asked to bear witness to this “new life” (cf. Is. 43:19) so that just as Jesus could say, “those who have seen me have seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9), so too can other people say of us, “I see Jesus in you”. Humanly this is impossible, certainly. But “nothing is impossible with God” (Lk. 1:37).

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