Sharing the Word – January-13-2019 – The Baptism of the Lord (Year C)
The Readings: 1st Reading; Isaiah 40 : 1 – 5, 9 – 11.
Responsorial Psalm; Ps 103:1-4, 24-25, 27-30.
2nd Reading; Titus 2 : 11 – 14, 3 : 4 – 7.
Gospel; Luke 3 : 15 – 16, 21 – 22.
Our first reading is a continuation of Isaiah’s prophesy of the Messiah, the special person God is going to send. God is going to call out and point to this special servant of His. The servant is going to be gentle both in word and action.
In the Gospel, just after Jesus is baptised, the Heavens open, and the Holy Spirit descends upon Him like a dove, and the voice of the Father thunders: ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’. The voice from Heaven confirms Jesus as the beloved servant foretold by Isaiah in the first reading. This is the peak of the inauguration of Jesus’ divinity and mission, on earth. ‘You are my son, the beloved, my favour rests on you’. The Father knows Him well, trusts Him and favours Him.
Who really knows you? Can Jesus say the same of you?. ‘You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased?.’ Thus right from the start of His public mission Jesus received affirmation from His Father. Has Jesus affirmed us too after our Baptism? Can He with trust and confidence tell us that we are His beloved?
One of the deepest needs of the human heart is the need to be appreciated. Every human being wants to be valued. We all need someone who will help us unfold. We need someone to believe in us, who will help us to be ourselves. We need someone who understands us, someone who can see the hidden self in us that is perhaps afraid to come out into the open. Only such a person will help us to share all we are, making us believe in our own goodness and awakening in us a desire to share it with others.
At our Baptism we too became children of the Father and we received the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will help us to unfold and grow, bringing His love to our brothers and sisters. Thus we will become more and more pleasing in the sight of our Heavenly Father if we live by the promises of our Baptism. Then we can also hear Him say ‘You are my beloved, in whom I am well pleased’.
One of the deepest needs of the human heart is the need to be appreciated. Every human being wants to be valued. We all need someone who will help us unfold. We need someone to believe in us, who will help us to be ourselves. We need someone who understands us, someone who can see the hidden self in us that is perhaps afraid to come out into the open. Only such a person will help us to share all we are, making us believe in our own goodness and awakening in us a desire to share it with others.
At our Baptism we too became children of the Father and we received the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will help us to unfold and grow, bringing His love to our brothers and sisters. Thus we will become more and more pleasing in the sight of our Heavenly Father if we live by the promises of our Baptism. Then we can also hear Him say ‘You are my beloved, in whom I am well pleased’.
Paul tells us in the second reading how to live as Christians following the vows we took at our Baptism, so that we too can be saved by the cleansing water of Baptism and that by this same Baptism, we can be renewed by the Holy Spirit. These are also the motivations for being Christians. We are therefore, called to a prophetic career.
Our prophetic careers may vary from person to person. To be prophetic is to be involved in spreading God’s word and promises that must come true. Our Baptism makes us such prophets. It fills us with boldness, confidence and enthusiasm to preach the gospel of truth, not only by word of mouth but most importantly, by our actions. This demands faith. A faith that makes us tell truth from lies, a truth that makes us tell good from bad, right from wrong, pleasant from evil without fear or favour. A faith that inspires us to know God more and live as He asks us to. In this faith, the person Jesus the Christ, for whom the Heavens opened and God’s voice spoke to all and on whom the Holy Spirit descended, will be revealed in us. When Jesus is revealed to us, we hear the same message ‘You are my beloved, in you I am well pleased’.
This affirmation should not be a once for all affirmation. Jesus baptises with the Holy Spirit and with fire. It should take a lifetime for us to be wholly purified. Baptism is not over and done with the day we were taken to the Baptismal font. We are baptised by all that happens to us in life. We are baptised by hardship; in its turbulent waters, we are purified by all that is false and useless. We are baptised by suffering; in its murky waters, we grow in humility and compassion to others. We are baptised by joy; in its gurgling waters, we experience the goodness of life. We are baptised by love; in its singing waters, we blossom like flowers in the sun. Baptism is like the planting of a seed. It will take a lifetime for this seed to grow and ripen. Let us keep receiving it as we falter in our human frailties.
A Little Prayer.
Lord Jesus, thank You for filling me with the Holy Spirit and inflaming my heart with the joy of the Gospel. May this joy make me to continue to seek you as you found joy in pleasing the Father. Amen.
Have a Blessed Week.
Bobe Talla Toh.
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