THE DEMAND OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD  

Isa 42:1-4,6-7; Ps 29:1-4,9-10; Acts 10:34-38; Mt 3:13-17

The Testimony of the Father

We celebrate the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. The celebration marks the end of the Christmas season. The celebration is situated within the Christmas season and is considered its endpoint, as it is part of the Epiphany of the Lord. It is a continuation of the revelation of the Son of God now present to us in our human nature. We have read different scriptural accounts of various testimonies concerning the infant born for us by the Blessed Virgin Mary. We have heard the angels, the Magi from the east, the old Simeon as the representative of the priestly caste, the old prophetess, Anna, as a representative of the prophets, John the Baptist sent to reveal him to Israel, and finally, God the Father, who spoke at his baptism to testify that truly the Son of Man is the beloved Son of God. The Church collects all these testimonies before us as we celebrate Christmas, to call our attention to the great responsibility that has been placed on our shoulders by the appearance of God the Son in our human nature. If our creator, who is invisible to mortal eyes, is now visibly present to our senses, it is our bounden duty to pay attention to what he is communicating to us. His purpose for coming into our nature is that we may see, touch, taste, and have communion with him. This is what Saint John confirms at the beginning of his first letter.

By taking our human nature to himself, he came to our home, who live in mortal tents. The intention of every worthy visitor to our homes is to encounter us in our place of comfort and ease. He spared us all the stress of seeking him out through tedious journeys or processes. The least we can do is to pay attention to what he has to say to us. He does not demand our entertainment, though he has every right to it; the only demand he makes of us is our attention or listening ears. He illustrates this for us by going to John to be baptised and did not wait for John to come to him, which would be the right order, as recognised by John the Baptist himself. “Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John. John tried to dissuade him. ‘It is I who need baptism from you’ he said, ‘and yet you come to me!’ But Jesus replied, ‘Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that righteousness demands.’ At this, John gave in to him.” By his coming to us in human nature, and through every one of his actions, the Son of God teaches us the demand of righteousness. Righteousness is the basis of our dwelling with God, which constitutes salvation for us. Without holiness no eye shall see God.

The principal demand of righteousness is that we humbly pay attention to the word of God to discern or know the will of the Father. The Father’s testimony to him at his baptism points to this demand. “As soon as Jesus was baptised, he came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice spoke from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him.’” The Father’s testimony or witness clears the ground for us to pay attention to what he says and does. Subsequently, whoever pays attention to the word of God, to do his bidding, becomes part of the people of God. By sending his Son in our human nature, God has opened the way of salvation in our flesh and thereby made it accessible to all peoples and nations. His favourites are now those who hear his word and keep it. “Peter addressed Cornelius and his household: ‘The truth I have now come to realise’, he said, ‘is that God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.

To know what is right and acceptable to God, we only need to listen to the Son of Man, who made his home among us. Saint Peter confirms this, speaking to Cornelius and his household. “It is true, God sent his word to the people of Israel, and it was to them that the good news of peace was brought by Jesus Christ—but Jesus Christ is Lord of all men.” He is this by his assumption of our nature and consecrating it to God in his continuous life of baptismal consecration. This is the reason the Church celebrates this feast as the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Ordinary Time. Our everyday life ought to be a continuous baptismal consecration to the Good News of Jesus Christ. It is by this continuous consecration to the will of the Father that Jesus Christ successfully preached the Good News of God’s salvation to us and accomplished our salvation as prophesied by Isaiah. “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have endowed him with my spirit that he may bring true justice to the nations.” The role of the Holy Spirit, who is love, is to keep the communion or fellowship alive, which the Son has with the Father, through attention to his will. He does the same work with and within us, through our baptismal consecration. The effectiveness of our baptism does not lie in external activities, but in our faithful devotion to God’s will in Jesus Christ. “Faithfully, he brings true justice; he will neither waver, nor be crushed until true justice is established on earth, for the islands are awaiting his law.”

Therefore, the celebration of the baptism of our Lord calls us to a single-hearted devotion to the Son of Man and living out his Gospel as expressing the Father’s will for us. We renew our own baptismal consecration by taking the presence of the Son of God in our human nature very seriously. We give God the glory of his name by giving our attention to his enduring presence with us, defining every thought, word, and action as Christians. “O give the Lord, you sons of God, give the Lord glory and power; give the Lord the glory of his name. Adore the Lord in his holy court.” By his Incarnation, the Son of God has made our nature his holy court. We pray for the unction of the Holy Spirit to live as true sons of God.

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, who, when Christ had been baptized in the River Jordan and as the Holy Spirit descended upon him, solemnly declared him your beloved Son, grant that your children by adoption, reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, may always be well pleasing to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.