THE BEGOTTEN SON MAKES US CHILDREN BY ADOPTION.
January 10, 2021
The Baptism of the Lord - B.
A Hungarian proverb says, “With the traps of sin, the devil
removes the baptismal water from somebody.” And an Irish proverb adds, “Your
own deeds will long be baptized on you.”
About the Holy Baptism, here is what the Catechism of the
Catholic Church says: “Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life,
the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), and the door which
gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and
reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the
Church and made sharers in her mission: ‘Baptism is the sacrament of
regeneration through water in the word.’” CCC. 1213.
In the Economy of Salvation, Baptism is the sacrament of spiritual
regeneration. It makes of us children of God. For, through Baptism in water,
God adopts us as his own children. From that moment onwards we are part of his
Church, the great family of Christians. The person who receives the Sacrament
of Baptism promises to do his very best to live a good Christian life, and to
reject all that is evil. Based on our Catholic faith, we believe that this
sacrament washes away our ‘original sin’, the evil that we inherited from our
ancestors. All the sins that the baptized person has committed until that
moment are also ‘washed off’ and forgiven. In this way, our new life as a
Christian starts with a clean slate! From the moment of our Baptism, the Holy
Spirit helps us to live as good Christians (I Cor. 12:13). These are the effect
of the Baptism on us, as Christ-followers. But then, what about Jesus Christ?
Why was he baptized and what are the effects of his baptism? The answer is
simple, for the fulfillment of all (Matthew 3:14). For if for us baptism gives
a new identity, in Jesus, it reveals his real identity, it makes him public. He
was to pass through it so that all the people may know him as the One Begotten
and sent by the Father.
We are celebrating today the feast of the Baptism of the
Lord, marking the liturgical end of Christmas time. This feast also puts an end
to the hidden life of the child Jesus in Bethlehem and opens us to his public
life. We are now put on a journey in the ordinary life of Jesus and the
ordinary of our life. God, in Jesus reveals himself as our companion of the
journey, the one to whom we must listen and whom we should follow. After the
manifestation of the Epiphany, God today, goes public. The Begotten Son shares
in our daily life to make us adopted children.
The word of God, for this Sunday, is all about the baptismal
purification and its implications on our daily existence. The prophet Isaiah,
in the first reading, invites the people of God to come to the waters and find
a life for their starving and wavering souls. This sounds like a firm and
assuring universal call: “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!” This
call from the Lord is not only for us to receive something we need for a
moment, but also, and mostly, to get something more permanent: the gift of
listening: “Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life.”
The Lord has seen that we spend our life in nonsense and
passing realities. He wants us now to choose the eternal one. “Why spend your
money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy?” Our
satisfaction, the real answer to all our needs will only come from the Lord and
not from materialism and worldliness. In the ordinary of our lives, we are
surrounded by so many worldly things and we live in consumerism. The call for
us today is to embrace a life worthy of God, a life of God’s adopted children.
The Evangelist Mark, in today’s Gospel, tells us that all
for Jesus began at his Baptism. When he was baptized by John in the River
Jordan, the Spirit revealed him publicly and made manifest to all his identity,
his mission, and our obligation vis-à-vis of him. All is said in one sentence:
“a voice came from the heavens, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you, I am well
pleased.’” Here, a great similitude with what the Lord, through Isaiah gave as
instructions to his people: to pay heed, to listen. Jesus is introduced to our
humanity as the Only Begotten Son of the Father with the exhortation for us to
listen to him.
And St. Peter, in the account of the Acts, also tells us of
the origin and the starting point of all. Everything for Jesus Christ found its
“beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power” (Acts 10:37-38). From that
moment, as his followers, we make the journey with him, a journey of faithful
listeners, a journey of children by adoption to live after the example and
teachings of our Master and Lord.
Today, Jesus goes public. Today we too are to go public,
give witness to our faith and our baptism. We are children of God. How does
this identity affect our daily existence? Do you live your baptismal promises
day after day?
It will sound sad as reality, but many Christians have the baptism only as a certificate and rite without any implication on their daily life. We are baptized, but we live as people who do not know God and do not belong to him. Sin and all kinds of corruption are our ordinary lots. Celebrating the Baptism of the Lord, we are challenged to rediscover our own baptism. What have you done of it and what has it done of you? For, Christianity is not a title, but a daily lifestyle with its obligations. And the real goal of Christian life is to listen to Christ in order to become like him, sons and daughters of God. We are baptized to be Christ-like.
For god so loves the world that he gives his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall perish but have an everlasting life
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