FEAST OF THE LORD’S BAPTISM

(Sunday after Epiphany-

1^st Sunday in Ordinary Time)

 

Readings: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7

                Acts 10:34-38

                Mark 1:7-11

 

 

“And the moment he came up out of the water,
heaven  opened before him…”

 

 

Today is the Feast of the Lord's baptism. In our gospel, Mark narrates to us how Jesus submits himself to John's baptism of water. But more importantly, as Jesus submits himself to it, we also learn a nobler kind of baptism: baptism of the Holy Spirit. For indeed, the moment he came up out of the water, heaven opened before him… and his true person is revealed: the Son whom the Father is well-pleased. Let us, then, meditate on the significance of today’s feast along these points: first, on John’s reformative baptism of water; second, on Jesus' redemptive baptism of the Holy Spirit; third, on the baptism which we all share.

 

1. “I have baptized you with water.” --- John's baptism is that of water. He himself says it. But what is baptism of water? What is the symbolism of water in the scripture?

 

Among others, biblical writers use water to depict different situations where the divine encounters with the human. This encounter is positive and negative, destructive and constructive, damnating and salvific. Thus, if in the flood, water means death to the sinful and the wicked, it also means life to Noah and his house. If in exodus, it means destruction to the Egyptian soldiers, it also means salvation to the Israelites. In the New Testament, the waters of Jordan would inaugurate a baptism that certainly beholds a washing from wickedness and a passage from death to life, so likened unto Noah's flood and the exodus of Moses.

 

As we see, therefore, the salvific sense of baptism must have always been at the back of the Baptist's .head as he performs his baptism at the Jordan. However, he is equally conscious that his is not that salvific in the fullest sense of the word. John knows that his is only reformative. Meaning, it is the sinful man's response to his call to reform, to repent and be converted because the messianic reign is at hand. It is only a baptism of repentance. It is a baptism of and for change, i.e., a change of heart, a metanoia. It is that baptism which prepares one to the messianic baptism of Christ. Thus, it is salvific only as far as it leads man to Christ’s baptism of the Holy Spirit.

 

2. "On coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, ‘You are my Beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” - - - This seems to be one of the important highlights in today's gospel narrative. The first public revelation of the person of Christ coincides with his baptism at the Jordan. And not only is his divine person revealed, but the Triune God as well. For the first time, the Blessed Trinity unveils his divinity to humanity, and man discovers this most sublime truth that there are indeed Three Persons in One God. And this happens at the baptism of Christ.

 

Now, we must remember that Jesus - being God and the Person of the Trinity - needs not any baptism of repentance. He is of no sin whatsoever. But he now joins the ranks of ordinary people – indeed, of sinners - in order to inaugurate his messianic minnistry of saving the world. By his baptism, he carries upon himself the sins of mankind so that he can give them total forgiveness in his perfect atonement in Calvary. Jesus himself would later talk about a dreadful kind of baptism when he would finally drink the cup of suffering (cf Mk 10:39). No doubt, he was referring to his passion and death, his self-emptying, his total kenosis which brought about the redemption of the world.

 

Christ's baptism, therefore, carries the reformative aspect of John’s baptism in the sense that baptism in the Holy Spirit necessarily includes genuine change of heart. But more than that, Christ’s baptism redemptive. And the reason why Christ's baptism is redemptive is, of course, rooted upon the person of Christ himself. He is the promised One who is to come, the one who is more than John. John himself says: "After me comes one who is more powerful than I am…he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.” Christ is the Son of God, and thus, he alone can baptize in the Holy Spirit.

 

3. Christ's baptism must, therefore, remind us of our own baptism. Like Christ who submitted himself to the waters of Jordan, we too are washed by the waters of the font. But upon such washing, we receive not only the baptism of the Holy water, but the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the baptism we receive is that of a sacrament, i.e., the sacrament of Christ. So, among others, we have these effects of the sacrament of baptism in our lives.

 

a. Ontological. The sacrament of baptism changes our being. It not only means the forgiveness of sins, but together with it is a change of being, a change of status: from sin to grace; from slavery to freedom; from enmity to friendship; from anonymity to sonship; from being aliens to being heirs. Thus, it is called the sacrament of rebirth. By it, we, become truly sons and daughters of the One and Only True God, calling him “Abba, Father!” (cf Rom 8:15) This change of being - our being adopted children – is the seal of Christ imprinted upon us in baptism. It is our sacramental seal which is indelible and can never be taken away from us not so much because we are worthy of it, but because Christ himself made us worthy of it once and for all by the price of his cross.

 

Thus, since it is indelible, it cannot be repeated. So, we cannot and must not seek and expect for another "baptism of the Spirit" which we do not clearly understand and may just even confuse our catholic orthodoxy. We are baptized with the baptism of Christ (i.e., in the Holy Spirit), and are indeed baptized but once. And so, like Christ who was never baptized again neither by water nor by imposition of hands (and praying over), we who receive the baptism of the Spirit can never be baptized again.

 

b. Ecclesiological. By the sacrament of baptism, we become members of the church. Hence, we share rights and duties, privileges and obligations as members of the Body of Christ. We share in the three-fold office of Christ as priest, prophet and king; and so we are priests by our prayers, prophets by our witnessing and kings by our humble service to everyone and anyone. Much more, through our own sufferings, we participate in the paschal mystery of Christ's own suffering. And through constantly obeying the father's will, we may please him and become his worthy sons and daughters.

 

By this, we make ourselves one with the mission of Christ. We too make ourselves proclaimers and builders of God's kingdom on earth even as we journey towards our promised inheritance. And surely, by this, we express the Christian fulfillment of our own baptism.