20240108 BAPTISM AS SHARING IN THE SONSHIP AND MISSION OF CHRIST
08 January 2024, Monday, 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.
When a Feast of the Lord falls on a weekday, there is no reading after the Psalm and before the Gospel.
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.’
BAPTISM AS SHARING IN THE SONSHIP AND MISSION OF CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISA 55:1-11; MK 1:7-11]
Yesterday, we celebrated the Feast of Epiphany, when Christ was manifested as the Saviour, not just of the Jews but of the whole world. Today’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord reinforces this truth that Jesus is truly the Saviour of the world. At His baptism by John, we read that “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.'” Whereas in the Feast of the Epiphany, the Magi came to recognize that Jesus was the Saviour, in the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, it was John the Baptist who was called to baptize Him and, in the process, God revealed from heaven, the identity of His only Son, His beloved in which His favour rests on Him. God confirmed the testimony of John the Baptist and consequently, we can be confident that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, the One appointed by God to be the light to the Gentiles and the people of Israel.
The baptism of our Lord also marks the beginning of His public ministry. To be called the Son means more than just His divine identity or the Father’s beloved. A son is always the reflection of His Father. Every child bears the image of his father and mother. A child seeks to bring glory to his parent. Every parent feels very proud when his or her child does well in life. Indeed, the success of every child is the success of his or her parent. We see this especially at graduation ceremonies when parents feel so proud that their son or daughter have made it. So too, Jesus, who is the Son of the Father, sought to please His Father by revealing the love and divine plan of His Father to us all. Already as a child in the Temple, when He was supposedly lost, He told His parents, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49) In His ministry, He told Philip, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” (Jn 14:9f) In St John’s gospel in His last testament in Chapter 17, Jesus made it clear that His whole life was to glorify the Father and to make His name known. He said, “I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (Jn 17:26)
How did Jesus proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom? Jesus came to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah. He has come to give us the bread of life, which is both the Word of God and the Eucharist. The prophet said, “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.” Jesus came to offer us the true meaning and purpose of life. He came to show us the way to live like God’s children by being faithful to the gospel of mercy and compassion. He revealed to us how we should give up our lives in humble service for the love of our fellowmen, especially those who are poor, marginalized and excluded from society. He demonstrated to us the Father’s mercy by His acceptance and forgiveness of sinners. By His death and resurrection, He showed us the way to fullness of life by His triumph over sin and evil, hatred and revenge by love and forgiveness.
Today, by virtue of our baptism, we too are called sons and daughters of God by adoption because we share in the Spirit of Christ, not His nature though. The words spoken to the Suffering Servant, of which Jesus is the fulfilment of that prophecy, is now also applied to us because we share in His mission by virtue of our baptism. “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.”
In our own ways, we are called to be the light of the nations by proclaiming the truth and mercy of God both in words and in deeds. We are called to bring justice and serve the cause of right. We can do this by enlightening people in the truth. In this way, we will free the captives of their blindness and their chains to the evils of this world. In the final analysis, we must call people to repentance by proclaiming the Lord’s mercy. His mercy is beyond our imagination. “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.”
However, to do what Jesus did, we must acquire the same pre-requisites if we were to be effective in our ministry. What are these? Firstly, we need to be baptized with the water of repentance. This was the purpose of the mission of John the Baptist. Repentance is the beginning of conversion. We must recognize our own brokenness and sinfulness and seek for a new life, a metanoia. Unless we are aware of our own suffering, emptiness, pain and struggles, we cannot be identified with others. This was why the Son of God took upon our humanity to suffer with us and be identified with us in our suffering. Indeed, this explains the Lord is all mercy and compassion because He knows how difficult it is to overcome temptations and live with our human frailties. Only through metanoia are our sins forgiven. The moment we seek a change of heart, new life has already begun. Only with the experience of forgiveness will our hearts be more receptive to the presence of God in us.
Secondly, we are told that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit that empowered Him in His ministry. God spoke through Isaiah, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” (Isa 42:1) For this reason, John the Baptist says that Jesus is more powerful than him because He is the one who will baptize us with his Spirit. Baptism makes us sons and daughters of God because He gives us His Holy Spirit. Unless we are filled with the Spirit of Jesus, we will be powerless to proclaim the Good News, much less to live it out. Not only must we be baptized in the Holy Spirit, but we must continually seek for a constant renewal of that Spirit in our hearts.
To receive His Spirit is also to receive the love of the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the common gift of love that they give to each other unceasingly. This spirit of mutual love, mutual giving, mutual empowering is the Holy Spirit. Without the experience of the Father’s abiding love for us in our ministry, we will not be able to give the Father’s love. If Jesus could share with us His Father’s abiding love, it was precisely because the Father told him, “You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.”
Thirdly, we must listen to the Father through Jesus, just as Jesus listened to the Father through the Spirit. It is the voice spoken by the Father that continued to affirm Jesus in His ministry. We, too, need to listen to the voice of the Father through Jesus in His Spirit so that we will feel directed and affirmed in our ministry. The prophet Isaiah assures us of the power of the Word of God at work in our lives. “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.” This is why we constantly need to be guided by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. Indeed, we must with joy, as the psalmist invites us, draw water from the well of salvation. Let us then live out our baptismal calling by proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom as God’s unconditional love and forgiveness. It is the invitation to metanoia and reconciliation with the Father. By our words and deeds of compassion, may we bring others to the Lord.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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