20200112
IDENTIFICATION
WITH CHRIST AND OUR FELLOWMEN AS THE WAY TO SHARE IN CHRIST’S REDEMPTIVE
MISSION
12 January,
2020, Sunday, Baptism of the Lord
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7 ©
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Here is my servant, in whom my soul delights
Thus says the
Lord:
Here
is my servant whom I uphold,
my
chosen one in whom my soul delights.
I
have endowed him with my spirit
that
he may bring true justice to the nations.
He
does not cry out or shout aloud,
or
make his voice heard in the streets.
He
does not break the crushed reed,
nor
quench the wavering flame.
Faithfully
he brings true justice;
he
will neither waver, nor be crushed
until
true justice is established on earth,
for
the islands are awaiting his law.
I,
the Lord, have called you to serve the cause of right;
I
have taken you by the hand and formed you;
I
have appointed you as covenant of the people and light of the nations,
to
open the eyes of the blind,
to
free captives from prison,
and
those who live in darkness from the dungeon.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 28(29):1-4,9-10 ©
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The
Lord will bless his people with peace.
O
give the Lord, you sons of God,
give
the Lord glory and power;
give
the Lord the glory of his name.
Adore
the Lord in his holy court.
The
Lord will bless his people with peace.
The
Lord’s voice resounding on the waters,
the
Lord on the immensity of waters;
the
voice of the Lord, full of power,
the
voice of the Lord, full of splendour.
The
Lord will bless his people with peace.
The
God of glory thunders.
In
his temple they all cry: ‘Glory!’
The
Lord sat enthroned over the flood;
the
Lord sits as king for ever.
The
Lord will bless his people with peace.
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Second reading
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Acts 10:34-38 ©
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God had anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit
Peter addressed
Cornelius and his household: ‘The truth I have now come to realise’ he said ‘is
that God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who
fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.
‘It
is true, God sent his word to the people of Israel, and it was to them that the
good news of peace was brought by Jesus Christ – but Jesus Christ is Lord
of all men. You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea; about Jesus
of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism.
God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was
with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the
power of the devil.’
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cf.Mk9:8
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
The
heavens opened and the Father’s voice resounded:
‘This
is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 3:13-17 ©
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'This is my Son, the Beloved'
Jesus came from
Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John. John tried to dissuade him. ‘It
is I who need baptism from you’ he said ‘and yet you come to me!’ But Jesus
replied, ‘Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should,
in this way, do all that righteousness demands.’ At this, John gave in to him.
As
soon as Jesus was baptised he came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens
opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on
him. And a voice spoke from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour
rests on him.’
IDENTIFICATION
WITH CHRIST AND OUR FELLOWMEN AS THE WAY TO SHARE IN CHRIST’S REDEMPTIVE
MISSION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ISA 42:1-4.6-7; ACTS 10:34-38; MT 3:13-17]
The Feast of the Baptism
of the Lord concludes the liturgical season of Christmas. Moving forward, we now find
ourselves before Jesus who is now an adult being baptized in the Jordan River
by John the Baptist. This was His first public appearance after living a
hidden life in Nazareth under the tutelage of Mary and Joseph. It was now
time for Him to undertake the mission that God had entrusted to Him, to be the
Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
How did He do it?
The Second person of the Holy Trinity assumed our humanity. He wanted to be identified
with us in every way except sin. Although without sin, He chose
to suffer all the consequences of sin for our sake. St Paul wrote, “For
our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21) Jesus carried our sins in
His body. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so
that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you
have been healed.” (1 Pt 2:24) For this reason, Jesus
approached John the Baptist for baptism. In truth, Jesus had no need for
baptism since the reason for baptism is for our sins to be washed clean.
But Jesus had no sin. Secondly, Jesus did not need to be born again as a
child of God as we do since He is the Eternal Son of the Father. Baptism
gives us a rebirth in the Spirit of God. But Jesus was the bearer of the
Holy Spirit and the One through whom the Father would send the Spirit to us in
His name.
But for our sake, as
Jesus told John the Baptist, He should be baptized when “John tried to dissuade him.
‘It is I who need baptism from you,’ he said, ‘and yet you come to me!’ But
Jesus replied, ‘Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we
should in this way, do all that righteousness demands.’ At this, John gave in
to him.” The baptism of Jesus was not for His sake but for
ours. By His baptism, it was not that the waters sanctified Jesus, but
rather upon immersing into the waters of Jordan, Jesus sanctified all water
that is used for baptism so that our sins could be forgiven. By His death and
resurrection, the full meaning of baptism was manifested. It is an
invitation to continue to die to the Old Adam in us, so that we can share in
the resurrected life of the New Adam in Christ.
More importantly, His
baptism was both a Christophany and a theophany because we read that after being
baptized, as He came out of the water, “suddenly the heavens opened and he saw
the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice
spoke from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the beloved; my favour rests on
him.'” By His baptism, Christ was revealed as the Messiah, the Son of
God; and that God was His Father and had bestowed His Spirit upon Him without
measure. It is this full consciousness of His divine sonship that
inaugurated His public ministry, a ministry which He carried out in the power
of the Holy Spirit. As the Son, Jesus was called to show us the
face of His Father.
Every baptized Christian
therefore is called to undertake the mission of Christ. Hence, by virtue of our baptism, we are
called to be missionaries for Christ wherever we are, at home, in our offices,
in our church community, in our neighbourhood, or country.
Just as Christ was anointed and sent out on a mission to restore the People of
God, we, too, filled with the same Spirit that anointed our Lord to do good,
must also do likewise. St Luke wrote about, “Jesus of Nazareth and how he
began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism. God had anointed him
with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went
about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil.'”
To be anointed means that we are called to be Christ and to exercise the
kingly, prophetic and priestly office according to our calling in life.
This is the purpose of the anointing. The Holy Spirit which is given
through the anointing of Holy Oil is always given for a mission.
Before we can undertake
the mission of our Lord, we must first be identified with the Lord in His
sonship by encountering the undeserving love of the Father and experiencing for
ourselves His adoption as sons and daughters. We must be identified with the Father’s
love and compassion for humanity. Unless we have heard the voice, “You
are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”, we will not be able to reach out
to others selflessly. It is only when we encounter God’s unconditional
love for us that we can in turn love ourselves, know ourselves, accept and
appreciate ourselves. Only integrated persons can reach out to others and
love them for who they are instead of abusing them.
Consequently, the
baptism of Jesus becomes for us Christians, the means by which our sins are
forgiven, and filled with the Holy Spirit, we become the children of God. Like Christ, we are anointed by the
Holy Spirit through the waters of baptism and the Oil of Chrism. We are
configured in Christ and born again in Him, sharing in His life and
love. We are called to undertake the same mission of Jesus in
revealing the Father’s love and mercy to humanity by carrying on our body the
sins and suffering of the world. In other words, we are called to be like
the Suffering Servant, to be the “light of the nations, to open the eyes of the
blind, to free captives from prison, and those who live in darkness from
dungeon.”
Secondly, we must be
identified with the sufferings, struggles and aspirations of our
fellowmen. Just
as Jesus carried upon Himself our sins because He shared with us our humanity
by living in our midst, we too must always be in touch with the feelings, pains
and confusion of our fellowmen. The danger is that quite often, as Church, we
can proclaim the gospel in such a way that it no longer speaks to the young
people, especially those belonging to the Millennials, Gen Y and Z. Their
needs, anxieties, confusion and challenges are relatively different from those
of the Baby Boomers and Gen X. We must understand how they are living in
darkness and the things that are enslaving them before we can bring them light
and freedom from slavery.
Indeed, being in touch
with our fellowmen is a pre-requisite for ministry. No wonder, Jesus
spent 30 years living a hidden life in Nazareth. This was the seminary where Jesus
undertook His formation for His future ministry. There He learnt how to
be responsible in His daily work. He learnt from Mary and Joseph how to
pray the psalms and the scriptures. Most of all, He was inspired by their
examples of love and charity, not just towards each other but to those around
them. For the first 30 years of His life, He was mixing with His people,
observing and learning about their challenges in life, the work of a farmer and
the fisherman, the life of a shepherd, the work of a homemaker, the anxiety of
widows without children, the sick and the suffering. Later on in His
ministry, He employed all these examples from daily life to proclaim the Good
News of the Kingdom of God, what it meant to encounter God, to experience His
love and mercy, to have our lives changed. So too, we need to reflect on
the signs of our times, the challenges and the future ahead of us. We
need to take heed of the developments in history, whether technology, morality
or values that are promoted, and see whether they promote authentic human
development or the destruction of humanity.
We are called to be the
servant of the Lord and to be servants of compassion. This is what the Prophet Isaiah
says. “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul
delights. I have endowed him with my spirit that he may bring true
justice to the nations. He does not cry out or shout aloud, or make his
voice heard in the streets. He does not break the crushed reed, nor quench the
wavering flame. Faithfully he brings true justice; he will neither waver
nor be crushed until true justice is established on earth, for the islands are
awaiting his law.” Our work as servants of God is to bring justice,
peace, reconciliation and unity in humanity. This is what we are called
to do to witness to Christ and live out our mission.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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