Today we celebrate the
baptism of Jesus. Baptism for the Christian is a transforming experience in which God lives in us and we live in God. That’s our indelible
identity. God empowers us, by his
grace, to live godlike lives
as sons and daughters of God.
In the Gospel according to Mark, John here is baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River. And as
Jesus comes up out of these waters, the
power of God overwhelms him and all fired up, Jesus begins his public
ministry in Galilee, proclaiming a new purpose for us.
John the Baptist’s
vocation was to point to Jesus as
the Messiah. As we reflect upon this, we might ask whether, by virtue of who we
are and what we do, we reflect Jesus
Christ in our relationships.
John is baptizing: inviting
people to turn their lives around, to turn toward God and away from a self-centered life. To
understand Christian baptism, we have to understand who we are in relationship
to God.
In the beginning, the
Book of Genesis says, man and woman walked with God; they had friendship with God and with one another. Somehow they
lost that. They hid from God; played a blame game; and even the earthly
elements began to work against them.
Ever since, the human
family cried out for God’s friendship
again. So God became flesh in
Jesus of Nazareth. God, through Jesus Christ by the power of the
Spirit, re-established that friendship with us.
Baptism initiates us
into a community of disciples of
Jesus, a fellowship of grace.
And this new
relationship makes very straight-forward demands upon us, summed up in the
so-called Ten Commandments, which are really statements about freedom from attitudes and behaviors that undermine
our relationship with God and one another.
The Ten Commandments say
very simply that our God is a God of
love; and our response to God’s love is gratitude. This planet of ours, and the people on it, reflect the image of God. So everything God has created –
God’s people especially -- is worthy
of reverence.
Yes, God deserves our
time, and we take time to get in touch with God especially Sunday after Sunday
in mass. This same God challenges us to be men and women of virtue: caring for aging
parents; cherishing life; being faithful with our promises; respecting the
rights of others; speaking the truth; not exploiting people or treating them as
objects; and being generous rather
than greedy.
The Ten Commandments
underscore virtues we should practice every
day to nurture our relationship with God.
And so,
as we reflect upon the baptism of
Jesus, I invite us to renew
our own baptismal promises, to live as sons or daughters of God. Pray
for the grace to be a living gospel, so that others will recognize in us the
presence of God.
