Are we true to our baptism?

ARE WE TRUE TO OUR BAPTISM?

Mt 3:13-17

For the occasion of my Golden Jubilee to the Priesthood I was given permission to spend a whole month in the Holy Land.  I can’t blame you if you are envious.  One of the places I was able to visit was the River Jordan where John the Baptist baptised Our Lord.  Can you imagine my feelings?  I sat for some time on the steps leading into the river, my feet in the water being nibbled by hundreds of little fish.  My thoughts recalled the great and solemn moment when John the Baptist baptised Our Lord.

Matthew relates the event for us very briefly.  We know thousands of people from different walks of life heard about this man John the Baptist, who had lived a very frugal life in the desert and was preaching a baptism of repentance, came to listen to him and repent of their sins and be baptised.  One of the many who came was his cousin Jesus.  There is so much we would love to know about John and Jesus’ previous meetings.

John had been telling his hearers that if they had been impressed with his message, there was One to come after him who would baptise them, not just with water, but with the Holy Spirit and fire.  How would they understand that?  Jesus had not yet revealed the Holy Spirit.  John would certainly have some knowledge of the Holy Spirit for Mary may have revealed to her cousin Elizabeth how she had become pregnant.  She had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.  John added that the One to follow him was so great that he was not even worthy to carry or undo his sandal straps.

When Jesus came to be baptised by John he recognised Jesus as the Messiah, that He was sinless and did not need his baptism.  If anything John needed to be baptised by Him.  Jesus insisted that John baptise Him.  He said, “Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that righteousness demands.”  I wonder what John made of that.  In so many words Jesus was telling John that He wanted to identify Himself with the rest of humankind.

So Jesus stepped into the water and John obediently baptised Him.  As soon as He came out of the water three things happened; there was a break in the clouds; a dove appeared and descended on Jesus and a voice spoke from heaven.

What are we to make of this?  The ancient Jews thought of God living somewhere above the sky.  They believed that if God wanted to speak to them He would have to separate the clouds and speak.  The prophet Isaiah believed this and so he wrote, “Oh, that you would tear the heavens and come down.” (Is. 64:1).  The psalmist too said, “Lower your heavens, come down to us.” (Ps.144:5).

Next, a dove flew above Jesus and the water.  This takes our mind back to the book of Genesis at the beginning of creation when “God’s Spirit hovered over the water”.  This indicated that with the baptism of Jesus a new creation was being heralded.  God was renewing His world.

Finally, a voice from heaven is heard.  It is obviously the voice of Jesus’ Father for He says, “This is My Son, the Beloved; My favour rests on Him.”

Now what are we to make of all this?  We can turn to St. Paul to help us understand the significance of this happening.  He explains this in 1 Cor. 15:45-49.  Jesus is the “new Adam” of the new creation.  Paul compares Jesus and Adam this way: “The first man, Adam, was created a living being; but the last Adam (Jesus) is the life-giving spirit…The first Adam…came from the earth; the second Adam came from heaven…”  “As the earthly man was, so are we on earth; and as the heavenly man is, so are we in heaven.  And we, who have been modelled on the earthly man, will be modelled on the heavenly man.”

With St. Paul’s help we can summarise the meaning of the baptism of Jesus in these words:  Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan marks the start of a “new era” in history.  This new era is a “new creation” in which Jesus is the “new Adam”.

The baptism of Jesus naturally makes us think of our own baptism.  His baptism was not just an isolated event in His own life, it was the beginning of a new era in God’s relationship with humankind, and has implications for us all, as it affects each of us at the deepest and most personal level.  At baptism the Spirit of God took possession of us in a very special way, to direct and guide us in the footsteps of Christ.  Baptism unites us with Jesus in the most intimate manner, bringing us into the family of God with the right to call God our Father.

Heavenly Father, we thank Jesus through His baptism for identifying Himself with us and giving us the example of how we should live our lives.

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