Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord year C
✠ A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke 3:15-16,21-22
A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now, when all the people had been baptised and while Jesus after his own baptism was at prayer, heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily shape, like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.’
1. The baptism of the Lord with the solemnity of Epiphany and the wedding feast at Cana are the three feasts that are classified as the manifestation of God in Jesus Christ. Today, we celebrate the baptism of the Lord. This marks the beginning of Jesus’s earthly ministry. With this celebration, the Christmastide ends, and the ordinary time of the Church begins. Baptism is the sacrament that brings us to spiritual birth, purifying us from original sin, making us children of God and members of the Church. Jesus is already a spiritual being, has had no sin, and is the son of God. He does not, therefore, need any baptism. Why then was he baptized by John the Baptist?
2. One of the reasons for incarnation was for Jesus to teach humanity how to be fully human. For this reason, Jesus submitted to many things that are purely human. He accepted baptism to confirm its necessity for human salvation. By entering the water of Jordan, he empowered water to have the capacity of purifying human soul from original sin when used in baptism. By accepting baptism, Jesus made it possible for God the Father and the Holy Spirit to manifest themselves and confirm the existence of a Trinitarian God. Today’s gospel says that after baptism, Jesus, while praying, received the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and the voice of the Father was heard, calling him the Beloved Son.
3. Today’s first reading from Isaiah (40,1-4,6-7) speaks of the consolation that God will bring to his people through the coming of his Servant, the Christ. He invites the people to prepare for his coming. The baptism of the Lord marks the beginning of the promised consolation. According to Peter, baptism empowered Jesus to go about doing good, healing the sick and liberating those in captivity (Act 10:38).
4. Like Jesus, we, too, have been empowered through baptism to go about doing good. We are cleansed from the original sin. We have received the Holy Spirit and the Father has declared us to be his beloved sons and daughters. During his visit to France on 1 June, 1980, Pope Saint John-Paul II, speaking on how so many people render their baptismal empowerment ineffective, asked the French people what they had done with their baptism:”France, eldest daughter of the Church, what have you done with your baptism?” Yes, what have we done with our baptism? A story was told about a man who was working in a car manufacturing factory. A day after his baptism, he came to work with a load of car spare parts. He told the manager he brought back all that he ever stool in the company since he started working there because of the baptism that he received. The manager called the CEO to report the incident. The latter praised the young man and then recommended that all the workers must be baptized. He thought that baptism automatically makes people honest.
5. You may have been baptised for some years. Is it possible that you still live a dishonest life? Do you have any stolen property in your possession? Do you have a stolen money in account? Are you still withholding people’s payments or documents because you want to exercise your authority? Have returned what you borrowed to the owner? Yes, baptism can make you to go about doing good but you must accept to follow where the Spirit leads you. As today’s second reading puts it: “God’s grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race and taught us that what we have to do is to give up everything that does not lead to God, and all our worldly ambitions; we must be self-restrained and live good and religious lives here in this present world” (Titus 2:11-12). The spirit is willing to lead, the body must also be willing to follow.
@Vitalis Anaehobi
12/01/25
