The Baptism of the Lord
Fr Dominic’s Homily
So today we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus. The Christmas season has now ended and we are starting Ordinary time.
Why did Jesus needed to be baptised? He was fully God and fully human but he never sinned. Mary was the only other human never to have sinned. But in the baptism of Jesus just as the Israelites were liberated from slavery in Egypt Jesus now liberates us from the slavery of sin.
If you remember in the Exodus there was a journey through the parted waters of the Red Sea to an earthly promised land with the help of Moses. However, in this baptism of Jesus, this New Exodus, we have a parting of the clouds and our final destination is into a heavenly promised land which will now be made possible through Jesus who is the New Moses.
By being baptised Jesus bears our sinfulness onto his own shoulders down into the waters of the river Jordan. Jesus begins his ministry, he inaugurates this ministry by stepping into the place of sinners.
He will eventually complete the action of forgiving our sinfulness and repair our relationship with God the Father through his crucifixion. When Jesus rises from the waters – the world rises with him.
So by Jesus being baptised he is giving us an indication of his plan, a sign of his accepting his eventual death for the sins of humanity.
We hear that the heavens were torn open a bit like the curtain that separated the holy of holies from the people in the temple. The Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove onto Jesus and through Jesus we too now receive this same spirit.
We all need baptism because we are all born into a world affected by sin. The line separating good from evil cuts through the hearts of all of us. We don’t choose this state of Original sin – we are born into it. A bit like the baby born to a mother with a drug addiction. We don’t blame the child. But we know the problem is there and the child needs help.
It takes an external medical influence to extricate the child from the situation to save it. Grace needs to break through from the outside to save the child.
So it is with Baptism. Grace breaks through. It frees us from the effects of Original sin, it enables us to become a member of the Christian community and a Child of God.
People say sometimes:
“Well Fr. I am a good person so why do I need to be baptised? I don’t need religion!”
But that really misses the point. Christianity is not about just being a nice person and doing the right thing. Baptism is God’s gift to us that we desperately need. It’s sacramental.
Baptism gives us a new identity. We are given a name in the family of God. God uniquely identifies us in who we are. We become a child in His family.
Baptism isn’t just a pretty ceremony that is part of our family’s tradition. And it’s so more than just a Christening. We don’t bring our babies to church and have them baptized simply just to please our parents and our grandparents and then celebrate.
Baptism is an initiation into a whole new way of living, It’s our own initiation into Christ’s life; our own inauguration into a way of living that is often rejected by this world.
When we are baptised we are grafted onto Christ and we can call God our Father on that day. The flame of divinity is lit in our souls.
We hear that God says to Jesus “You are my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.” This message applies to all of us. And this ultimately is the deepest meaning of Baptism for all of us.
Therefore, let us resolve today to try our best to live out those loving words from God:
“You are all my beloved children in whom I am well pleased!”