The Baptismal Difference!

Sunday, January 12, 2025

Baptism of the Lord

Is 42: 1-4, 6-7; Acts 10: 34-38; Lk 3:15-16; 21-22

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord!

What does the feast mean for us? 

Why did Jesus descend into the baptismal waters though he was sinless? What made him identify with the sinners standing in line to be baptized by John? In what way does the baptism of Jesus throw light on our baptismal call? 

If we approach today’s Gospel with these questions, we find our answers. 

The Gospel text notes that ‘The people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ.’ Unlike what we might think, the people were eagerly expecting the messiah. However, their mistake was their inability to find Jesus as the Messiah. It is John the Baptist who testifies to Jesus the Messiah, falsifying their expectations of him being the expected one. 

Now, when the messiahship of Jesus was revealed to them, did his followers still hold on to their messianic expectations? Yes, indeed! But did Jesus fulfill their expectations? I don’t think so; at least not in the way they expected! Jesus was in total contrast to the usual depictions of the Messiah. The difference he embodied was more visible after his baptism. 

Including his disciples, the people could not understand why Jesus never aligned with their expectations. Why was he the way he was – embracing the poor, dining with the downtrodden, sympathizing with the sinners, and scandalizing the aristocracy? 

At the time, the followers of Jesus could hardly recognize the fact that Jesus turned the very difference into his message. The failure to recognize Jesus in his entirety blinded his followers to the invisible face of the Divine Father in Jesus. This explains also why they were disillusioned about the ways and methods of Jesus. 

The radical mission of Jesus following his baptism reminds me of the words of St. Oscar Romero, one of the revolutionary saints of the Catholic Church. ‘A Church that does not provoke any crisis, preach a gospel that does not unsettle, proclaim a word of God that does not get under anyone’s skin or a word of God that does not touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed: what kind of gospel is that?’

St. Oscar Romero’s quote helps us understand the person that Jesus evolved into after his baptism. Jesus was provocative; he upset the then order of his society; he pierced the hearts of his listeners with the new gospel; he called them to action. This is how Jesus meant to be different. The difference was the Messiah. The difference was his identity. The difference was his message. 

Today’s celebration invites us to reflect on at least three themes. 

Impartiality of God’s Love: Jesus is addressed as God’s beloved son at his baptism. But was that experience only limited to Jesus? No, it was our experience too. The visitation of the Holy Spirit happened for us too at the time of our baptism. Affirming the same, Peter explains to those gathered at the house of Cornelius: ‘In truth, I see that God shows no partiality’ (Acts 10:34). The first reading reminds us of the assurance of God’s love for His ministers. We all became God’s beloved children at our baptism and received God’s Spirit within us. And Jesus did not receive any more than we all did in our respective baptisms. Nevertheless, what differentiates Jesus and us is the process of realization. Jesus realized his blessedness and gave expression to it in his acts of difference. Unfortunately, we align with the world, burying the invitation to a life of Christian difference we received at our baptism. 

Radical Identification of Jesus: Why did Jesus identify himself as one with the sinners through his baptism? It looks as if Jesus is boasting of his sinfulness by joining the line of sinners. Looking at the radical way in which Jesus identified with sinners, we only understand that his love for the world makes him descend to any level. The selflessness of Jesus was such that he did not hesitate to be baptized by John, though it was a baptism of repentance meant for the sinners. It is this radicality of Jesus that gives life to his mission. Jesus reminds us that our mission begins with a radical identification with our missionary context. 

From Being to Becoming: The baptism of Jesus invites us to do some soul-searching to examine who we are called to become. Through his public ministry after baptism, Jesus disseminates his baptismal blessedness to all. When Jesus dares to extend the same blessedness to others, making everyone equal as carriers of God’s image and likeness, Jesus encounters troubles and threats. However, opposition and enmity could not stop Jesus from beating a new path for his Church to follow. By his words, ‘Unless your righteousness exceeds that of’ (Mt 5:20) others, Jesus invited us to inherit the difference and proudly display it in our Christian lives. To be a Christian is to manifest such difference and uniqueness in our thoughts and actions, even if it means to stand up and walk alone as Jesus did. 

Let us pray to the Holy Spirit to ‘infect’ us with what made the person of Jesus and pray for the grace to become the very person. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar