The Baptism of the Lord
The calendar has really played some tricks on us this year. The fourth week of Advent started on December 24 and it ended on December 24. It was one day long. Christmas, which fell on Monday was a holy day of obligation. The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God fell on the following Monday, January 1, which, this year, was not a holy day of obligation.
Today is January 8, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. That means that today, Monday, is actually the first Sunday in Ordinary time. It’s the last day of the Christmas season. Really. You can check it out. Look in the misalette. This coming Sunday is the second Sunday in ordinary time.
.........................................................................
In Jesus’ time, people didn’t have last names. They were identified by their first names and then either by their parents’ names, like James, the son of Zebedee, or they were identified by their occupation. John baptized. That’s what he did so they called him John, the Baptist. If you wanted to be baptized, John was your man.
So, in today’s Gospel, John is baptizing people in the river. Some of them are wondering if John might be the Messiah. John’s response is one of the more famous quotes in the New Testament, “I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.”
Then who shows up to be baptized but Jesus himself? Today’s Gospel is Luke’s description of the event. In Matthew’s, John says to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Of course we know that John did baptize Jesus and the heavens opened up, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus and the voice of God announced, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
It’s not hard to understand where John was coming from. We’re all called on from time-to-time to do things that we many not feel especially qualified to do, particularly when God is involved. Maybe somebody who we know is more holy and righteous than we are asks us to pray for them. We may wonder how our prayers could possibly have any more effect than their own prayers. Or, we may be a guest in someone’s home, or at some other gathering for dinner and the host asks us to say grace. Suddenly all we can think of is “Bless us oh Lord….”
It happens to me all the time, just about every day, in fact. For example, a couple of weeks ago I visited a patient here at the hospital who’s a priest. He asked me to give him a blessing. Here’s a man who has devoted his entire life, foregoing marriage and fatherhood to serve God and His people and he’s asking ME for a blessing? I can understand how John must have felt.
But, in spite of his misgivings, John baptized Jesus and God’s response was immediate and it was positive. The sky opened up. The Holy Spirit descended. God spoke.
John was right. He wasn’t worthy to baptize the Son of God. Nobody was. By the same token, you and I aren’t worthy to speak to God on our own behalf, let alone on someone else’s. But, God overlooks our unworthiness because He loves us. We’re his children.
The prayer, the blessing, the sacrament, doesn’t depend on the worthiness of the person who says the words. We’re just instruments, like John was the instrument that God used to baptize His son. Whether a baby receives an emergency baptism from a lay person in the delivery room or from the Pope himself, the child is 100% baptized. There is no difference as long as there’s water and the proper words are said.
One of my favorite priests is Fr. Matthew Kelty. Fr. Kelty is a Trappist monk who lives at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where Thomas Merton lived. In fact, he was Fr. Merton’s confessor for many years.
As you probably know, Trappists spend a lot of time chanting the psalms; seven times a day, 365 days a year, starting at 3:15 in the morning. In his Irish brogue, Fr. Kelty says, “
“Our singin’ ain’t perfect, but we try.
Your lives aren’t perfect, but you try.
We do the best with what we’ve got
And God doesn’t sneer at it.”
Today is January 8, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. That means that today, Monday, is actually the first Sunday in Ordinary time. It’s the last day of the Christmas season. Really. You can check it out. Look in the misalette. This coming Sunday is the second Sunday in ordinary time.
.........................................................................
In Jesus’ time, people didn’t have last names. They were identified by their first names and then either by their parents’ names, like James, the son of Zebedee, or they were identified by their occupation. John baptized. That’s what he did so they called him John, the Baptist. If you wanted to be baptized, John was your man.
So, in today’s Gospel, John is baptizing people in the river. Some of them are wondering if John might be the Messiah. John’s response is one of the more famous quotes in the New Testament, “I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.”
Then who shows up to be baptized but Jesus himself? Today’s Gospel is Luke’s description of the event. In Matthew’s, John says to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Of course we know that John did baptize Jesus and the heavens opened up, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus and the voice of God announced, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
It’s not hard to understand where John was coming from. We’re all called on from time-to-time to do things that we many not feel especially qualified to do, particularly when God is involved. Maybe somebody who we know is more holy and righteous than we are asks us to pray for them. We may wonder how our prayers could possibly have any more effect than their own prayers. Or, we may be a guest in someone’s home, or at some other gathering for dinner and the host asks us to say grace. Suddenly all we can think of is “Bless us oh Lord….”
It happens to me all the time, just about every day, in fact. For example, a couple of weeks ago I visited a patient here at the hospital who’s a priest. He asked me to give him a blessing. Here’s a man who has devoted his entire life, foregoing marriage and fatherhood to serve God and His people and he’s asking ME for a blessing? I can understand how John must have felt.
But, in spite of his misgivings, John baptized Jesus and God’s response was immediate and it was positive. The sky opened up. The Holy Spirit descended. God spoke.
John was right. He wasn’t worthy to baptize the Son of God. Nobody was. By the same token, you and I aren’t worthy to speak to God on our own behalf, let alone on someone else’s. But, God overlooks our unworthiness because He loves us. We’re his children.
The prayer, the blessing, the sacrament, doesn’t depend on the worthiness of the person who says the words. We’re just instruments, like John was the instrument that God used to baptize His son. Whether a baby receives an emergency baptism from a lay person in the delivery room or from the Pope himself, the child is 100% baptized. There is no difference as long as there’s water and the proper words are said.
One of my favorite priests is Fr. Matthew Kelty. Fr. Kelty is a Trappist monk who lives at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where Thomas Merton lived. In fact, he was Fr. Merton’s confessor for many years.
As you probably know, Trappists spend a lot of time chanting the psalms; seven times a day, 365 days a year, starting at 3:15 in the morning. In his Irish brogue, Fr. Kelty says, “
“Our singin’ ain’t perfect, but we try.
Your lives aren’t perfect, but you try.
We do the best with what we’ve got
And God doesn’t sneer at it.”
posted by Mike at 10:45 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home