20210110 A NEW BEGINNING
10 January, 2021, Sunday, Baptism of the Lord
First reading | Isaiah 55:1-11 © |
Come to me and your soul will live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you
Thus says the Lord:
Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty;
though you have no money, come!
Buy corn without money, and eat,
and, at no cost, wine and milk.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
your wages on what fails to satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and you will have good things to eat
and rich food to enjoy.
Pay attention, come to me;
listen, and your soul will live.
With you I will make an everlasting covenant
out of the favours promised to David.
See, I have made of you a witness to the peoples,
a leader and a master of the nations.
See, you will summon a nation you never knew,
those unknown will come hurrying to you,
for the sake of the Lord your God,
of the Holy One of Israel who will glorify you.
Seek the Lord while he is still to be found,
call to him while he is still near.
Let the wicked man abandon his way,
the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn back to the Lord who will take pity on him,
to our God who is rich in forgiving;
for my thoughts are not your thoughts,
my ways not your ways – it is the Lord who speaks.
Yes, the heavens are as high above earth
as my ways are above your ways,
my thoughts above your thoughts.
Yes, as the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.
Responsorial Psalm | Isaiah 12 © |
The rejoicing of a redeemed people
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
Truly, God is my salvation,
I trust, I shall not fear.
For the Lord is my strength, my song,
he became my saviour.
With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
Give thanks to the Lord, give praise to his name!
Make his mighty deeds known to the peoples!
Declare the greatness of his name.
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
Sing a psalm to the Lord
for he has done glorious deeds;
make them known to all the earth!
People of Zion, sing and shout for joy,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
Second reading | 1 John 5:1-9 © |
Jesus Christ came by water and blood
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ
has been begotten by God;
and whoever loves the Father that begot him
loves the child whom he begets.
We can be sure that we love God’s children
if we love God himself and do what he has commanded us;
this is what loving God is –
keeping his commandments;
and his commandments are not difficult,
because anyone who has been begotten by God
has already overcome the world;
this is the victory over the world –
our faith.
Who can overcome the world?
Only the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God:
Jesus Christ who came by water and blood,
not with water only,
but with water and blood;
with the Spirit as another witness –
since the Spirit is the truth –
so that there are three witnesses,
the Spirit, the water and the blood,
and all three of them agree.
We accept the testimony of human witnesses,
but God’s testimony is much greater,
and this is God’s testimony,
given as evidence for his Son.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Jn1:29 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
John saw Jesus coming towards him, and said:
This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 1:7-11 © |
'You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you'
In the course of his preaching John the Baptist said:
‘Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’
It was at this time that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised in the Jordan by John. No sooner had he come up out of the water than he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit, like a dove, descending on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.’
A NEW BEGINNING
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISAIAH 55:1-11; 1 JOHN 5:1-9; MARK 1:7-11 ]
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord marks the beginning of the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical year. Indeed, it gives us all a new start in life. At His baptism, “no sooner had he come up out of the water than he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit, like a dove, descending on him.” The baptism of our Lord makes a clear allusion to the work of recreation. The Spirit and the Dove are closely connected with the beginning and renewal of creation. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Gn 1:2 NIV) Then Noah after the flood “sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground.” (Gn 8:6)
Furthermore, a voice coming from heaven saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you” reminds us of how Jesus, like Isaac, would bring blessings to the world. Abraham’s sacrifice of his only son at Mount Moriah is akin to Jesus as the Son of the Father whom He sacrificed for us at Mount Calvary. God said to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” (Gn 22:2) Because of his faith and obedience, the Lord said to Abraham, “Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Gn 22:17f) Jesus who was sacrificed for us too is the source of blessings for the whole world.
The baptism of our Lord therefore is our hope for a new beginning with God. It is the answer to the exiles in the first reading when Isaiah said to them, “Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come! Buy corn without money, and eat, and, at no cost, wine and milk. Why spend money on what is not bread, your wages on what fails to satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy. Pay attention, come to me; listen, and your soul will live.” Only Jesus can satisfy our hunger for life, truth and love. All the material things of this life cannot quench our thirst and hunger. Jesus as the Bread of life will give us real bread, and as the Living Water will quench our thirst.
Indeed, we are all facing lots of struggles living in this world today. St John asked, “Who can overcome the world?” There is so much confusion and division. With relativism, materialism and atheism, no one is sure of his destiny, his identity and his purpose in life. No one knows what is truth or love anymore. With the amoral values of the world, the rejection of the gospel, and individualism, we feel so helpless in overcoming the world. We are overwhelmed by the worldly and individualistic values of the world.
The answer is clear. “Only the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God: Jesus Christ who came by water and blood, not with water only, but with water and blood; with the Spirit as another witness.” In this one sentence, St John summarizes for us what it takes to have faith in Jesus as the Son of God and how we can share in His sonship as well. Faith in Jesus as the Son of God is critical if we are to overcome the world. St John wrote, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten by God; and whoever loves the Father that begot him loves the child whom he begets.” We too can become God’s adopted sons and daughters as well only because Jesus is the Son of God.
Jesus as the Son of God reveals to us our identity by revealing to us the Father. Only Jesus who is truly man and truly God can reveal the invisible Father. In His incarnation, we see the face of the Father. Jesus told Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn 14:9) In His life, ministry, passion and death, Jesus revealed to us the Father’s unconditional love and mercy. This is why we need to believe that Jesus is not just truly man but that He is truly God. This was the theological battle St John was combatting in the early Church against the heresy of Gnosticism. They were teaching that Jesus was only a man. Such an erroneous doctrine would rob the power of the salvific death of Jesus on the cross. If God did not suffer in Jesus, then He would not have understood human suffering. We need to be saved by one who is truly human and yet divine. This explains why the early Church sought to underscore that Jesus is one divine person with two natures, divine and human. God became man so that man can become God, so says St Athanasius.
Because of Christ’s death which reconciles us all with God, we who are baptized in Him now share in His Sonship. St John says, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten by God; and whoever loves the Father that begot him loves the child whom he begets.” In Romans, St Paul wrote, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Rom 8:14-17)
Because we share in His sonship and recognize that God is our Father, not only do we love Jesus but all whom God loves, all whom He has begotten in Christ. In other words, we belong to the Family of God. We are no longer alone. Baptism therefore makes us children of God and members of His Family. And since we are one family of God, it is required of us that we love each other as brothers and sisters. St John says, “We can be sure that we love God’s children if we love God himself and do what he has commanded us; this is what loving God is – keeping his commandments.” The foundation of loving our brothers and sisters is because we love God who also loves them. Loving our Father means to love those whom He loves. Loving our Father also means that we obey His commandments because we believe in His guidance, wisdom and His love. Hence, St John says, when there is love, “his commandments are not difficult, because anyone who has been begotten by God has already overcome the world; this is the victory over the world – our faith.”
But that is not all, we share His sonship and become witnesses of Jesus and the Father’s love because we have been empowered by the Spirit. St John says, the Spirit is our witness, “since the Spirit is the truth – so that there are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water and the blood, and all three of them agree.” It is the Holy Spirit at work in the Sacrament of baptism that makes the water cleansing and purifying of our sins. It is the same Holy Spirit that led Jesus to the cross and die for us so that the Spirit could raise Him from the dead, and then after His resurrection, give His Spirit to us all at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit therefore transforms the water of baptism and makes it efficacious, and the same Spirit transforms bread and wine into the Body of Christ to feed us spiritually, uniting us with His body; and finally, the same Spirit bestows gifts on all baptized Christians so that we can be witnesses in the world.
Indeed, the end purpose of baptism is to be a witness to Christ and to lead everyone to Jesus so that they too will come to know God as their Father and that we are all His children. In this way, we all share the eternal life of God. As Isaiah promised, “the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.” The Holy Spirit is given to us not just to build the Body of Christ and our personal faith but also to be His witnesses in the world. Only by testifying to Christ our entire life by our words, can we draw others to the Lord as we grow in our faith and love for Him. Indeed, baptism is the beginning of our mission, as it was for Jesus. Let us give testimony to Jesus as the Spirit enables us to do so by empowering us with new life, in the outpouring of God’s love and leading us in truth. This is the surest way to grow in our faith.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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