Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17
Today, with the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism, we have the end of Christmas, and the end of the Epiphany. In the West from quite early times a separate Feast of the Baptism fell out of use, being simply absorbed into the Feast of the Epiphany. But in the East this Feast has always been celebrated and highly honoured. Now we have it restored, and in some ways we can think of it even as the climax or the high point of the whole Christmas Season.
We will never come to an end of trying to grasp, understand, wonder at, contemplate this mystery, in all its depths and its wonder.
What is going on here?
God so loved the world, says St. John, that he sent his only begotten Son (Jn 3:16).
That is: we were lost, exiled, in darkness; separated from God; spiritually blind and deaf; unholy, unclean, unrighteous, and under condemnation of death. But God in Christ came in search of us. He came down, in order to save us, to cleanse us, to heal us, to enlighten us, to give us light and life, to set us free, to lift us up.
Out of sheer love for us, through the Incarnation, God has entered, taken upon himself our humanity. In Christ, God has identified himself with us, in order that we could at last be identified with him. He came to us not just as to mortal creatures of flesh and blood: that would be astonishing, impossible, unimaginable enough. But no: even more than that, God came to us precisely as sinners. So in Romans Chapter 8 St. Paul says that “God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin” (Rm 8:3). So, here in the Gospel we have Jesus, who has no need himself of purification, no need of John’s Baptism of repentance, being baptised by John.
Jesus, the eternal Son of God, and the promised Messiah of Israel, is about to begin his public ministry. He now intends at last to manifest himself to the world. He does that by humbling himself before John, and by submerging himself in water, like any repentant sinner. Through the preaching of St. John the Baptist, this water symbolised a radical turning aside from sin, specifically in preparation for the coming Messiah. Clearly then, Jesus was baptised not for his own sake, but for ours. Having already been made one with us, he symbolically took us with him into the water, thereby inaugurating our own baptism. Of course the Baptism of Jesus is quite different from the Baptism of John. Not just a symbolic action, this is a divine action, in the sacramental order, so that it confers what it represents. That is, in our baptism we are truly washed clean from our sins, truly given a share in Christ’s death, and so we truly receive life and sanctifying grace. Our Baptism also gives us a true share in Christ’s resurrection, and through it also we truly receive the Holy Spirit.
So from being unrighteous, by our Baptism we are made righteous; from unclean, clean; from a state of separation from God, we are united with him. Through our Baptism into Jesus each of us becomes a beloved Son of God, pleasing to Him, worthy of being loved, and also able to love in return.
According to our Gospel account, as Jesus came up from the water, there was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and the voice of the Father was heard. This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Of course these words are fraught with theological significance, and laden with scriptural reference. Maybe in the first place: we have water, the Spirit hovering over the water, and the voice of God enthroned above the flood. So the scene evokes Genesis Chapter 1, and the first creation of the world. What is happening here is therefore not something of minor significance: it’s the inauguration of the new Creation, of which the Prophets had spoken. But then with the title Beloved Son, immediately any Jew would think of Isaac, the beloved son of Abraham. Isaac was the object and the inheritor of the divine Promise, and also the one who was offered in sacrifice on Mount Moriah. So the figure of Isaac also is being fulfilled here. Then the Jews could not fail to think also of King David, whose very name means “Beloved One”, and who, with his royal descendants, is several times in Scripture called a son of God. So Jesus is Son of David, the Messiah, inaugurating a new Kingdom; only this one is the Kingdom of Heaven, which relies on no force or violence, and will last forever. Then finally: the Jews would think of the passage in Isaiah we heard in our first reading. The mysterious Servant of whom Isaiah sings several times, is of course a figure of our Lord. He is my chosen one, says the Lord, in whom my soul delights, on whom I have put my Spirit, and who will bring justice to the nations.
And into all of that, we ourselves have been baptised.
Who could ever sufficiently grasp the significance, the effect of this Sacrament? What a privilege, what a grace, what a blessing it is for us! How to fathom the simple truth that God has chosen me, out of so many others, to receive so much grace? Baptism may seem externally to be rather ordinary, but it utterly transforms our life: in every way for the better. To be a Christian – to live in union with Jesus –– this is the difference for us between life and death, between light and darkness, between condemnation and salvation. Filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, we have sufficient grace henceforth to live in true holiness; to practice charity without limit; to pray without ceasing; to undergo martyrdom if necessary, and even with joy, in order to hasten to the consummation of our life with Jesus in heaven.
So we come now, weather permitting, to the Holy Eucharist: to Christ’s saving sacrifice, to his total self-gift, to his Church’s central act of worship and thanksgiving and praise. Today we hear, addressed to ourselves: You are my beloved Son. And we respond in our turn, with Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit: You my God are my beloved Father. I cry out to you – Abba! Father! - in intimacy, in love, in confidence, in joy, in thanksgiving: and I set my whole life towards you, until at last you take me to yourself for ever.