The Baptism of the Lord
Jesus' Baptism
Friday afternoon I took down the Christmas lights at home and today after 10:30 mass we'll "undecorate" the church. We'll take down the trees and the Nativity scene. Everything will go back into storage until November or December when we'll put it all up again. Even though it's more work to decorate than to undecorate, taking everything down seems harder, probably because putting the decorations up is full of the expectations of things to come where taking it down means it's all over. But is it really?
Besides being the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, today is also the first Sunday of Ordinary Time. Ordinary time. It seems so, well, ordinary. It's the time between Liturgical seasons. This year there are seven ordinary Sundays between now and Lent. Ash Wednesday falls on February 25 this year, with the first Sunday of Lent on March 1. Then we'll have the Easter season and Pentecost, Trinity Sunday and the Feast of the Body and Blood. After February 22, the next Ordinary Sunday isn't until June 21. The calendar year will be more than half over. It will be the day when we have the most possible sunlight. By then some retailers will already be easing into Christmas mode. Time flies.
It's no accident that the Church begins this period of "ordinary" time with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The symbols of Christ's birth may be coming down, but today we begin to see the manifestation of His ministry. The Son of God will be baptised in the Jordan like any ordinary man. His cousin John is the baptizer. This is the same John who lept for joy in his mother's womb at the mere presence of Jesus, still in his own mother's womb.
This is the John who was born of elderly parents just a few months before Jesus. John's father Zechariah was mute during Elizabeth's entire pregnancy because he had questioned the angel's words that they would become parents. After John's birth, whe Zechariah regained his speech his first words to his new son were "You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sine." It was only fitting that John would be the one to send Jesus off on the beginning of His ministry.
We don't know much about Jesus' relationship with John. Since the scriptures are silent on most of the two boys growing up, we don't know if they were friends, if they ever played together, if they had any conversations about what was to come. We know that Mary and Elizabeth had a close relationship. When Mary became pregnant, the first thing she did was go off to visit Elizabeth. It would seem reasonable that John and Jesus had contact while they were growing up.
On the other hand, we also know that Elizabeth was much older than Mary. She gave birth to John after her child-bearing years while Mary was just a young girl when Jesus was born. We don't know how long Elizabeth might have lived. So we can only imagine that John and Jesus had some kind of relationship.
So, here's John, baptizing the people and telling them about the coming of the Christ and Jesus shows up at the Jorday, asking to be baptized. Jesus, the Son of God, present at the creation of the universe, came down from heaven, wants John to baptize Him. Why? What's the point? He's sinless. He has absolutely no need for baptism.
Well, God sent His Son to be one of us. He may be God but He's also a man. He knew that actions speak louder than words. He was to be like us in all things except sin. He wanted us to be baptized so He showed us that even He must be washed in the water. And of course, the result was the famous scene where the heavens opened up, the Spirit descended on Him and the voice came down from heaven saying "You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased!"
While we may not see the physical signs, isn't that exactly what happens to us when we're baptized? Heaven is opened to us. The Holy Spirit descends on us. And God calls us His beloved sons and daughters and He is well pleased.
The workbook that we give to all our lectors, which gives a commentary on the day's readings, points out that we don't know if anyone besides Jesus heard God's voice. In fact, the writer seems to think that only Jesus heard it. I'm not so sure. But either way, Jesus heard it and Mark is passing the story along to us in the Gospel. Did the people present at the time have less information than we do? We don't know.
What we do know is that Jesus was the Son and that His Father was encouraging Him. At this point Jesus really hasn't done anything spectacular. His mission is just beginning. But we all have earthly parents and we know how important it is for them to give us encouragement. We long to hear the words that Jesus heard that day.
So we begin so-called ordinary time with words of encouragement to Jesus and to us. We're God's beloved sons and daughters. And because God is love, He's well pleased with us, even when we're not well pleased with ourselves. We've followed Jesus' example and been washed in the waters of baptism. We've received the Holy Spirit. Like John, it's up to us to go before the Lord and prepare His way because He will be coming again.
Friday afternoon I took down the Christmas lights at home and today after 10:30 mass we'll "undecorate" the church. We'll take down the trees and the Nativity scene. Everything will go back into storage until November or December when we'll put it all up again. Even though it's more work to decorate than to undecorate, taking everything down seems harder, probably because putting the decorations up is full of the expectations of things to come where taking it down means it's all over. But is it really?
Besides being the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, today is also the first Sunday of Ordinary Time. Ordinary time. It seems so, well, ordinary. It's the time between Liturgical seasons. This year there are seven ordinary Sundays between now and Lent. Ash Wednesday falls on February 25 this year, with the first Sunday of Lent on March 1. Then we'll have the Easter season and Pentecost, Trinity Sunday and the Feast of the Body and Blood. After February 22, the next Ordinary Sunday isn't until June 21. The calendar year will be more than half over. It will be the day when we have the most possible sunlight. By then some retailers will already be easing into Christmas mode. Time flies.
It's no accident that the Church begins this period of "ordinary" time with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The symbols of Christ's birth may be coming down, but today we begin to see the manifestation of His ministry. The Son of God will be baptised in the Jordan like any ordinary man. His cousin John is the baptizer. This is the same John who lept for joy in his mother's womb at the mere presence of Jesus, still in his own mother's womb.
This is the John who was born of elderly parents just a few months before Jesus. John's father Zechariah was mute during Elizabeth's entire pregnancy because he had questioned the angel's words that they would become parents. After John's birth, whe Zechariah regained his speech his first words to his new son were "You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sine." It was only fitting that John would be the one to send Jesus off on the beginning of His ministry.
We don't know much about Jesus' relationship with John. Since the scriptures are silent on most of the two boys growing up, we don't know if they were friends, if they ever played together, if they had any conversations about what was to come. We know that Mary and Elizabeth had a close relationship. When Mary became pregnant, the first thing she did was go off to visit Elizabeth. It would seem reasonable that John and Jesus had contact while they were growing up.
On the other hand, we also know that Elizabeth was much older than Mary. She gave birth to John after her child-bearing years while Mary was just a young girl when Jesus was born. We don't know how long Elizabeth might have lived. So we can only imagine that John and Jesus had some kind of relationship.
So, here's John, baptizing the people and telling them about the coming of the Christ and Jesus shows up at the Jorday, asking to be baptized. Jesus, the Son of God, present at the creation of the universe, came down from heaven, wants John to baptize Him. Why? What's the point? He's sinless. He has absolutely no need for baptism.
Well, God sent His Son to be one of us. He may be God but He's also a man. He knew that actions speak louder than words. He was to be like us in all things except sin. He wanted us to be baptized so He showed us that even He must be washed in the water. And of course, the result was the famous scene where the heavens opened up, the Spirit descended on Him and the voice came down from heaven saying "You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased!"
While we may not see the physical signs, isn't that exactly what happens to us when we're baptized? Heaven is opened to us. The Holy Spirit descends on us. And God calls us His beloved sons and daughters and He is well pleased.
The workbook that we give to all our lectors, which gives a commentary on the day's readings, points out that we don't know if anyone besides Jesus heard God's voice. In fact, the writer seems to think that only Jesus heard it. I'm not so sure. But either way, Jesus heard it and Mark is passing the story along to us in the Gospel. Did the people present at the time have less information than we do? We don't know.
What we do know is that Jesus was the Son and that His Father was encouraging Him. At this point Jesus really hasn't done anything spectacular. His mission is just beginning. But we all have earthly parents and we know how important it is for them to give us encouragement. We long to hear the words that Jesus heard that day.
So we begin so-called ordinary time with words of encouragement to Jesus and to us. We're God's beloved sons and daughters. And because God is love, He's well pleased with us, even when we're not well pleased with ourselves. We've followed Jesus' example and been washed in the waters of baptism. We've received the Holy Spirit. Like John, it's up to us to go before the Lord and prepare His way because He will be coming again.
posted by Mike at 10:53 AM
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