Sunday 13
January 2013
Cf.
Mt 3: 16-17
The Baptism of the Lord C
Is.40:1-5.9-11. Ps 103: 1-2. 3-4. 24-25. 27-30. Rv.1.
Titus 2:11-14.3:4-7Lk.3:15-16.21-22
Say to the towns of Judah, ‘here is your God; the Lord is
coming with power’.
Send forth your spirit and they are created and you renew
the face of the earth.
We are justified by his grace and become heirs, expecting
to inherit eternal life.
He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
First reading
Isaiah
42:1-4,6-7
Thus says the Lord:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom my soul delights.
I have endowed him with my spirit
that he may bring true justice to the
nations.
He does not cry out or shout aloud,
or make his voice heard in the streets.
He does not break the crushed reed,
nor quench the wavering flame.
Faithfully he brings true justice;
he will neither waver, nor be crushed
until true justice is established on
earth,
for the islands are awaiting his law.
I, the Lord, have called you to serve
the cause of right;
I have taken you by the hand and formed
you;
I have appointed you as covenant of the
people and light of the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to free captives from prison,
and those who live in darkness from the
dungeon.
The historical
setting. This
is written around 539 BC. The Israelites have been in captivity in Babylon for
fifty years. A prophet, whose name we do not know, writes to tell them that the
exile is now at an end. Cyrus captured the Babylonian empire and he had the
enlightened policy of sending captives back to their own countries and allowing
them to live their own lives, as long as they paid their dues to him. With the
advance of Cyrus’s armies, the prophet could see this coming. He even calls
Cyrus the anointed of the Lord. It is doubtful whether the prophet refers to
one person or to Israel taken as a whole. The nation of Israel has the mission
to establish justice on earth. Israel or the ideal king will do this without
violence and in a peaceful manner. He will open the eyes of the blind – that is
that people understand God’s will and he will free captives – that is he
will liberate them from captivity in
Babylon.
However
with the coming of Jesus, we through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who
inspired this in the first place, see how this passage applies to Jesus. Luke
applies this to him. However he changes ‘Servant’ into ‘Son’. This is a further
inspired development of this text. Jesus is both the Servant of Yahweh and the
Son of Yahweh. As a man, he is the Beloved of the Father in whom the Father
delights. The passage also describes the character of Jesus. He is gentle and
humble of heart. He does not condemn the sinner. He has come to save sinners by
his love for them. He has suffered himself so that he can encourage those who
suffer and struggle. Jesus will pronounce God’s judgement on the world as he
hangs on the Cross. It is ‘Father forgive them, they know not what they do’.
For everyone who turns to him, he will say, ‘This day, you will be with me in
Paradise’.
Jesus
in Nazareth will quote a similar passage from Isaiah (61:1-2) and written by
the same prophet. “He has set me to proclaim liberty to captives and sight to
the blind; to free the oppressed and announce the Lord’s year of mercy”.
God
calls us who by baptism share in the mission of Christ Jesus to do the same.
God sends us to proclaim liberty to captives. The captivity may be physical,
intellectual, mental and certainly spiritual. He sends us to open the eyes of
the blind so that they can see the goodness of God in Christ. As the mission of Christ was a mission of
love for humanity so is our mission. Jesus is to be present in the world
through us.
Psalm
Psalm
103:1-4,24-25,27-30
Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how
great you are.
Lord God, how great you are,
clothed in majesty and glory,
wrapped in light as in a robe!
You stretch out the heavens like a tent.
Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how
great you are.
Above the rains you build your dwelling.
You make the clouds your chariot,
you walk on the wings of the wind,
you make the winds your messengers
and flashing fire your servant.
Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how
great you are.
How many are your works, O Lord!
In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your riches.
There is the sea, vast and wide,
with its moving swarms past counting,
living things great and small.
Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how
great you are.
All of these look to you
to give them their food in due season.
You give it, they gather it up:
you open your hand, they have their
fill.
Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how
great you are.
You hide your face, they are dismayed;
you take back your spirit, they die.
You send forth your spirit, they are
created;
and you renew the face of the earth.
Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great
you are.
When the Son of God became a man like all of us,
God embraced the whole of material creation. God has become one with this
material world through becoming man in Jesus. Jesus has come from this earth,
having a body derived from Adam. Therefore, we can find God in material
creation. The whole of creation is sacred.
Second reading
Acts
10:34-38
Peter addressed Cornelius and his
household: ‘The truth I have now come to realise’ he said ‘is that God does not
have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does
what is right is acceptable to him.
‘It
is true, God sent his word to the people of Israel, and it was to them that the
good news of peace was brought by Jesus Christ – but Jesus Christ is Lord
of all men. You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea; about
Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching
baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because
God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen
into the power of the devil.’
Jesus is truly man. He is not
pretending to be a human being while all the time being able to use his divine
power to get out of a difficult situation or to use it to do a mighty work of
healing. He had no more power or knowledge than anyone else did. This is to be
human. However, he receive the Holy Spirit in a way no one else has ever done.
If I will receive the Holy Spirit as he did, then God can use me as he used
Jesus.
Jesus always had the Holy Spirit
but now at his Baptism is he is publically anointed for his mission. The Holy
Spirit comes upon him to equip him for the work the Fathers wants him to do.
From that time on, he was full of the Holy Spirit in order to manifest the love
of God in Word and Deed.
____________________
Gospel
Acclamation
cf.Lk3:16
Alleluia, alleluia!
Someone is coming, said John, someone
greater than I.
He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit
and with fire.
Alleluia!
____________________
Gospel
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.’
Luke mentions that John baptizes Jesus.
Jesus was sinless and in no way needed Baptism. However as one of us and
identified with us, he receives Baptism. He is surrounded by sin on all sides
and though sinless himself, he belongs to a contaminated race.
May your fire blaze
The mystery of
Jesus Son of God is that he could live with people so intimately for years and
no one ever dreamt who he was. Did he? Did Jesus as Man, living and working in Nazareth , realize who he
was? He knew he was special, had a vocation from God but for what? The Gospel
tells us He had to grow physically and in wisdom and gain favour with God. He
heard of John in the desert. People were flocking to him. Here was a man of
God, a prophet. Jesus too went and John deeply impressed him. However, why
should Jesus be baptised? He was not conscious of sin. Yet he was baptised.
Everything
happened after his baptism. Jesus was in
prayer, offering his life to God his Father. His heart was ready. He had come
to fulfil his Father’s commands. It was then that he experienced the Spirit
coming down upon him and recognized the Father’s voice proclaiming: “You are my
beloved Son in whom I am so pleased.” He did not just hear the voice and know
the Spirit had descended on him. It was a profound realization. He could never
be the same again.
This
experience was the turning point of his life. Now he knew that his body was the
temple of the Holy Spirit, full of power and love. He had heard that God was
his beloved Father. What more did he need? He was ready to embark on his
mission. Who could stand against him now? He will vanquish Satan himself. The
hidden life of Nazareth
and carpentry were behind him. He sets out to win the world for God.
He wants you
and I to have the same experience that he had at the Jordan
River . This is the reason why all his disciples are to be
baptised. The ritual is not the important thing. It is the experience of the
coming of the Holy Spirit with love and power and to know that God, the mighty
God, is your beloved Father. Who can stand against you?
Jesus had no
charmed life. He did not preach and work miracles because he was the Son of
God. He was able to preach and work miracles because he was the Son of Man
filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. If you and I can receive the Holy
Spirit as Jesus did, then we will do similar things to him. We can do even
greater things than he did because he is now glorified with His Father. Have
you a sense of mission fired by the Spirit? Have you had the experience being
baptised in the Holy Spirit and in fire?
Father,
may we fan into flame daily the gifts given us by the Spirit in Baptism and
Confirmation.
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