This Sunday we celebrate the fact that Jesus was baptized by John
the Baptist in the waters of the Jordan River in the Holy Land. John
calls the sinners to be washed in the river before doing penance.
Jesus comes to John to be baptized. Did He therefore confess himself a Sinner? Certainly not.
Then, why did Christ, the Innocent, go to the Jordan to be baptized?
We can answer this question with St. Jerome: “For a threefold reason the Savior was baptized by John. First, because being born man like others, He must respect the law with justice and humility.
Second, to demonstrate with his baptism the effectiveness of John’s baptism. Third to show, by sanctifying the waters of Jordan through the descent of the dove, the advent of the Holy Spirit in the washing of the believers “(Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 1, 3, 13).
Another question arises. Why do we celebrate and live this mystery of the Baptism of Jesus?
To express our gratitude to Jesus. In his Baptism Christ, the sinless, took upon him all our sins, showing the closeness of God to man’s journey of conversion, and came in solidarity with us.
This act of extraordinary humility was dictated by the wish to establish a full communion with each one of us, and by the desire to achieve genuine solidarity with us in our human condition.
This act of Jesus anticipated the Cross, the acceptance of death for our sins and those of all humanity.
Jesus takes upon his shoulders the burden of guilt of all humanity and begins his mission putting himself in the place of sinners, in the perspective of the cross.
With this act of belittling himself Jesus wanted to conform totally to the loving plan of God the Father.
If, then, we wanted to revisit the questions expressed just above in another way “Why, then, did the Father desire this? Why did He send his only Son into the world as the Lamb to take upon himself the sins of the world (cf. Jn 1:29)? “, the answer is: to give to humanity the life of God and his spirit of love so that every man can draw from this inexhaustible source of salvation. This is why Christian parents bring their children as soon as possible to the baptismal font, knowing that the life which they have given to them calls for a fullness and a salvation that only God can give. Parents therefore become collaborators of God, transmitting to their children not only physical but also spiritual life.
2) Our baptism.
Certainly Jesus’ baptism was a baptism different from the one we, as children or adults, have received, but not without a profound connection to it. Basically the whole mystery of Christ in the world can be summed up by the word, “baptism”, which in Greek means “immersion”. The Son of God, who from eternity shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit the fullness of life, was “immersed” in our reality of sinners to make us participating in his own life. He became man, was born like us, grew up like us and, on reaching adulthood, manifested his mission which began precisely with the “baptism of conversion” administered by John the Baptist. His first public act, as the Gospels tell us, was to go down to the Jordan, mingling among repentant sinners, to receive baptism. John was naturally reluctant, but Jesus insisted, because that was the will of the Father (cf. Mt 3, 13-15).
Finally, to the question “What does it mean for us to live this feast of the Baptism of Jesus?” the answer is “It means to live in the baptism of Jesus up to the point when he has taken everything from each of us and has given us everything.” How does He take all from us? Through our Baptism.
Therefore, since Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father, was baptized, the sky is truly open and continues to open up, and we can entrust every new life that blossoms or that, already adult, wants to immerse itself in the true God, in the hands of one who is more powerful than the dark powers of evil. This is Baptism: to give back to God what came from him.
Baptism, in fact, is more of a washing and a purification. It’s more than becoming part of a community. It is a new birth. It is a new beginning of life. In Baptism we give ourselves over to Christ – he takes us unto himself so that we no longer live for ourselves, but through Him, with Him and in Him. We live with Him and thus for others.
In Baptism we surrender ourselves, we place our lives in his hands so that we can say with St. Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
Baptism implies this news: our life now belongs to Christ, no longer to ourselves. For this reason we are not alone even in death, but we are with Him who lives forever. Greeted by Christ in his love, we are free from fear and we live in and of the love of the One Who is Life.
3) The Baptism of the Author of Baptism.
The Gospel passage, proposed in this Sunday commemorating the baptism of the Lord, opens with two statements by John the Baptist: “After me comes he who is mightier than I” “ I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit “(Mk 1,7-8). The preaching of John the Baptist is encapsulated in the function of drawing attention to Jesus. In its extreme simplicity the story of the baptism of Jesus is full of important meanings.
First: Jesus – in Mark 1: 7-11 – is presented in two dimensions of his mystery: a man from humble beginnings (“came from Nazareth of Galilee”) and the beloved Son of God.
Second: the opening of the heavens, the descent of the Spirit, the heavenly voice, everything converges in indicating that, with the manifestation of Jesus on the banks of the Jordan, the Messianic times begins. The heartfelt invocation of Isaiah 63:19 (“you would rend the heavens and come down”) has been heard.
After remaining closed for a long and silent time, the sky opens, the Spirit is back among the people and the word of the Lord returns to resonate.
In Baptism it is the movement of Christmas that repeats itself: God descends again, enters in each of us, is born in us so that we are born in God and Christ becomes the center of all Christian life.
Credits : Zenit News Service From Rome
Jesus comes to John to be baptized. Did He therefore confess himself a Sinner? Certainly not.
Then, why did Christ, the Innocent, go to the Jordan to be baptized?
We can answer this question with St. Jerome: “For a threefold reason the Savior was baptized by John. First, because being born man like others, He must respect the law with justice and humility.
Second, to demonstrate with his baptism the effectiveness of John’s baptism. Third to show, by sanctifying the waters of Jordan through the descent of the dove, the advent of the Holy Spirit in the washing of the believers “(Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 1, 3, 13).
Another question arises. Why do we celebrate and live this mystery of the Baptism of Jesus?
To express our gratitude to Jesus. In his Baptism Christ, the sinless, took upon him all our sins, showing the closeness of God to man’s journey of conversion, and came in solidarity with us.
This act of extraordinary humility was dictated by the wish to establish a full communion with each one of us, and by the desire to achieve genuine solidarity with us in our human condition.
This act of Jesus anticipated the Cross, the acceptance of death for our sins and those of all humanity.
Jesus takes upon his shoulders the burden of guilt of all humanity and begins his mission putting himself in the place of sinners, in the perspective of the cross.
With this act of belittling himself Jesus wanted to conform totally to the loving plan of God the Father.
If, then, we wanted to revisit the questions expressed just above in another way “Why, then, did the Father desire this? Why did He send his only Son into the world as the Lamb to take upon himself the sins of the world (cf. Jn 1:29)? “, the answer is: to give to humanity the life of God and his spirit of love so that every man can draw from this inexhaustible source of salvation. This is why Christian parents bring their children as soon as possible to the baptismal font, knowing that the life which they have given to them calls for a fullness and a salvation that only God can give. Parents therefore become collaborators of God, transmitting to their children not only physical but also spiritual life.
2) Our baptism.
Certainly Jesus’ baptism was a baptism different from the one we, as children or adults, have received, but not without a profound connection to it. Basically the whole mystery of Christ in the world can be summed up by the word, “baptism”, which in Greek means “immersion”. The Son of God, who from eternity shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit the fullness of life, was “immersed” in our reality of sinners to make us participating in his own life. He became man, was born like us, grew up like us and, on reaching adulthood, manifested his mission which began precisely with the “baptism of conversion” administered by John the Baptist. His first public act, as the Gospels tell us, was to go down to the Jordan, mingling among repentant sinners, to receive baptism. John was naturally reluctant, but Jesus insisted, because that was the will of the Father (cf. Mt 3, 13-15).
Finally, to the question “What does it mean for us to live this feast of the Baptism of Jesus?” the answer is “It means to live in the baptism of Jesus up to the point when he has taken everything from each of us and has given us everything.” How does He take all from us? Through our Baptism.
Therefore, since Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father, was baptized, the sky is truly open and continues to open up, and we can entrust every new life that blossoms or that, already adult, wants to immerse itself in the true God, in the hands of one who is more powerful than the dark powers of evil. This is Baptism: to give back to God what came from him.
Baptism, in fact, is more of a washing and a purification. It’s more than becoming part of a community. It is a new birth. It is a new beginning of life. In Baptism we give ourselves over to Christ – he takes us unto himself so that we no longer live for ourselves, but through Him, with Him and in Him. We live with Him and thus for others.
In Baptism we surrender ourselves, we place our lives in his hands so that we can say with St. Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
Baptism implies this news: our life now belongs to Christ, no longer to ourselves. For this reason we are not alone even in death, but we are with Him who lives forever. Greeted by Christ in his love, we are free from fear and we live in and of the love of the One Who is Life.
3) The Baptism of the Author of Baptism.
The Gospel passage, proposed in this Sunday commemorating the baptism of the Lord, opens with two statements by John the Baptist: “After me comes he who is mightier than I” “ I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit “(Mk 1,7-8). The preaching of John the Baptist is encapsulated in the function of drawing attention to Jesus. In its extreme simplicity the story of the baptism of Jesus is full of important meanings.
First: Jesus – in Mark 1: 7-11 – is presented in two dimensions of his mystery: a man from humble beginnings (“came from Nazareth of Galilee”) and the beloved Son of God.
Second: the opening of the heavens, the descent of the Spirit, the heavenly voice, everything converges in indicating that, with the manifestation of Jesus on the banks of the Jordan, the Messianic times begins. The heartfelt invocation of Isaiah 63:19 (“you would rend the heavens and come down”) has been heard.
After remaining closed for a long and silent time, the sky opens, the Spirit is back among the people and the word of the Lord returns to resonate.
In Baptism it is the movement of Christmas that repeats itself: God descends again, enters in each of us, is born in us so that we are born in God and Christ becomes the center of all Christian life.
Credits : Zenit News Service From Rome
No comments:
Post a Comment