BAPTISM OF THE LORD
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JESUS BEGINS HIS PUBLIC LIFE WITH BAPTISM

WE ALSO BEGIN OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE WITH BAPTISM

We finish, today, the ChrisMtas celebrations with the last manifestation of Jesus in the Jordan River.

Not too many days ago we saw Jesus being born in the cave of Bethlehem. The angel sent by God said to the shepherds: Today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (Lk 2:12).

We accompanied him in the flight into Egypt, when Herod wanted to kill Jesus. Following the warning of the Angel, Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt (Mt 2:14).

We also accompanied him when he went to Jerusalem, when he was twelve years old. The evangelis Luke says: Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it (Lk 2:41-43). We were also with him during his stay in Nazareth, where And Jesus advanced (in) wisdom and age and favour before God and man  (Lk 2:52).

 

Today, we see him already an adult. He was about thirty years old when he took leave of his mother, Mary, to go to preach the Kingdom of God. Today’s gospel says: Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John (Mk 1:9).

Mary knew very well that Jesus would not return to Nazareth, as he used to do before. Now he was going to preach, to do good and to die on a cross, far away from Nazareth. Mary was sad when taking leave of her son, but she had the consolation that this was the will of God.

In Nazareth, he spent years of silence, in the paternal home, attending the Synagogue, and earning his bread by working, helping his father, who was a carpenter and surely had a vine. There Jesus would learn many things that he would later use to teach with his parables. Nazareth was a farming village. Nazareth is a school for us.

We leave Nazareth, and today’s gospel takes us to the River Jordan, where Jesus appears to be baptized. John recognizes him and says: I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals (Mk 1:7), and he saw 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 1:10-11).

The Most Holy Trinity is manifested in Him who speaks, the Father; in the Son, who is baptized; and in the Holy Spirit, who in the form of a dove descends upon Jesus.

After the contemplation of the baptismal scene, we contemplate the adorable person of Jesus under three aspects:

1. Jesus, the Messiah.

2. Jesus, the Son of God.

3. Jesus, a person whom he really loves.

JESUS, THE MESSIAH

Jesus appears as the Messiah, but not in the way the Jews hoped. The Jewish people did not have an exact notion of the Messiah. For many years they had been waiting for a priestly Messiah, who would also be an earthly king. But Jesus is never called a priest in the gospel, and when they wanted to make him king, after the multiplication of the bread and the fish, he disappeared.

Thus begins the Gospel of Saint Matthew: The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David (Mt 1:1).

The people thought he was the awaited Messiah. Some in the crowd who heard these words said, "This is truly the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Messiah" (Jn 7:40-41).

 

When Jesus asked the Apostles what the people said of the Son of the Man, Peter answered: "You are the Messiah." Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him (Mk 8:29).

 

Jesus is condemned to death because he has said that he was the Messiah. Then the high priest said to him, "I order you to tell us under oath before the living God whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God." Jesus said to him in reply, "You have said so” (Mt 26:63-64).

JESUS, SON DE GOD

Jesus is presented by the Father as the Son of God.

And a voice came from the heavens, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased" (Mk 1:11).

The divinity of Jesus is something consustantial to Him. John the evangelist, in the prologue of his gospel, already presents Jesus as God: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn 1:1); And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth (Jn 1:14).

Later, when the Jews wanted to stone him, because he said that God was his Father, he  answered to them, that they should consider the works he did, works only God could do: I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify to me (Jn 10:25). Jesus, before the Sanhedrin, confirms his divinity: They all asked, "Are you then the Son of God?" He replied to them, "You say that I am" (Lk 22:70). And the centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, "Truly, this was the Son of God!" (Mt 27:54).

Jesus has many followers, who follow to him because he is the Son of God, and their words are truth and life. We did not follow a dead and revived man, but a God that the life by us has given.

JESÚS, THE PERSON WHO LOVES AND WHO TEACHES TO LOVE

The person who love, knows to pardon and does not stops at works but at deeds.

Jesus really loved and had many friends. Among them, Martha, Mary and Lazarus. When this one fell ill, his sisters sent this message to Jesus: "Master, the one you love is ill" (Jn 11:3).

Remember the new commandment: I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another (Jn 13:34).

Jesus knows to pardon. He pardons Peter. And to the adulterous woman, when the prosecutors disappeared and left her alone, he says: Neither do I condemn you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more (Jn 8:11).

JESUS IS THE GOOD MAN WHO PASSES THROUGH THE WORLD DOING GOOD

When the disciples of John went to ask him who he was, He responded. Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them (Mt 11:4-5).

Three main ideas about Jesus on seeing Him being baptised by John: Jesus, the Messiah; Jesus de Son of God; Jesus the person who loves and who teaches to love.

I do not want to finish, today, this theological reflection without remembering our baptism.

We Christians, when seeing the great personality of Jesus, we have to deduce practical consequences for our life.

One day we were baptized and the priest anointed us with the holy oils, as a sign of our consecration to God. Every Christian is a person consecrated to God.

Baptism makes us children of God, and instills in our hearts the seed of the three theologal virtues: faith, hope and charity.

Jesus said: This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name (Mt 6:9).

Saint Paul says: If (we are) children (of God), then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Rm 8:17).

Baptism incorporates us into the great community of Christians. Saint Paul says: You are Christ’s body, each one with his corresponding function as a member of the body, in the Church community (see 1 Cor 12:27-28).

Like Jesus did, we have to pass through the world doing good.

In the celebration of the Eucharist, we, the Church, the baptized, find again the Lord, under the species of bread and wine; we find Him when we are going to receive Holy Communion.

Lord, I thank you for the baptism that you have given me without any merit on my part. It makes me be part of the Church, reminding me that life is beautiful and illuminating my way towards You.