A Reflection on the Reading for The Baptism of the Lord, January 12, 2025
Reading 1: Is 42:1-4, 6-7or Is 40:1-5, 9-11
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10. or Ps 104:1b-2, 3-4, 24-25, 27-28, 29-30
Reading 2: Acts 10:34-38 or Ti 2:11-14; 3:4-7
Alleluia: Cf. Mk 9:7
Gospel: Lk 3:15-16, 21-22
This week, we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is also the first Sunday of Ordinary Time. We will then be in Ordinary Time until we enter the Season of Lent on Ash Wednesday.
As you can see from the above, we have several options for our first and second readings this week. However, the gospel from Luke is specific for Year C. Although there are several options, there is a common theme among them, and that is JUSTICE; God wants justice in our earthly relations and justice cannot coexist with sinfulness. Sinfulness is injustice to God.
If our first reading comes from chapter 42 of Isaiah we will be hearing from the first of four “Servant of the Lord” oracles in the Book of Isaiah. I know I have mentioned them before but if you care to look them up they are 42:1-4 & 5-9; 49:1-7; 50:4-11; and 52:13 – 53:12. These oracles (also known as the Suffering Servant Oracles) all point to one who will come into the world to establish peace and justice, and Christianity, of course, sees these prophetic oracles as fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. For that reason, the early church fathers often referred to the Book of Isaiah as the “Fifth Gospel” or “The Gospel before the Gospel.”
If we understand sin to be the ultimate injustice done to God, then if justice is to be established, sin must be abolished, and it is for this reason that the Suffering Servant came into the world. He did so to establish the church and the sacraments of the church through which sin is abolished through the forgiveness of sin. But God also bestowed on man the supernatural grace of reason, and with the grace of reason comes the gift of free will, a gift that ideally should cause man to turn to God out of love, but it can also cause man to turn away from God in sin. As man is the only creation of God that possesses the gift of free will, man is the only creation that can commit sin.
As Catholic Christians, we understand that baptism removes all stain of sin, and the other sacraments of the church help us to remain free of the stain of sin. When Jesus descended into the waters of the Jordan River to be baptized by John, he did so not to be cleansed of his personal sins, as he was never guilty of sin. He did so to sanctify the waters of baptism for us and to give those waters the power of a new creation in which the entire Trinity is present. In the Baptism of Christ, we see the parallels of our own baptisms. At Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove; at our baptism, the Holy Spirit descends into our soul. At Jesus’ baptism, God declared Jesus to be his beloved son in whom God was well-pleased; at our baptism we become the adopted sons and daughters of God. At Jesus’ baptism, the heavens were opened; at our baptism, the heavens were re-opened, which were once closed by the sin of Adam. At Jesus’ Baptism, Jesus prayed; after our baptism, we must pray for the strength to avoid sin and to partake in the sacraments of the church when we do sin.
Christ was baptized not for himself but for us. If he had not sanctified the waters of baptism for us, then our baptism would have been like that of John the Baptist. John’s baptism moved men to repent of their sins and to confess those sins, but John’s Baptism was not sacramental. It took Jesus to give us the Sacrament of Baptism.
What we celebrate this week is that Jesus was baptized to give us the opportunity to re-enter the Garden of Eden, Paradise, Heaven, whatever you prefer to call that state of existence we all long for. And we should celebrate with joyful and grateful hearts as it is through the Sacrament of Baptism that the opportunity is presented to us.
Reference: Graphic ©LPi
