The Baptism of the Lord
Lectionary: 21
Reading I
Thus says the LORD:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
a bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.
OR:
Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says
your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that
her service is at an end,
her
guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double
for all her sins.
A voice
cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make
straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every
mountain and hill shall be made low;
the rugged land shall be made a plain,
the
rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all
people shall see it together;
for the
mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain,
Zion,
herald of glad tidings;
cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem,
herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out
and say
to the cities of Judah:
Here is
your God!
Here comes with power
the
Lord GOD,
who
rules by a strong arm;
here is his reward with him,
his
recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his
arms he gathers the lambs,
carrying them in his bosom,
and
leading the ewes with care.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (11b) The Lord will
bless his people with peace.
Give to the LORD, you sons of God,
give to
the LORD glory and praise,
Give to the LORD the glory due his name;
adore
the LORD in holy attire.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters,
the
LORD, over vast waters.
The voice of the LORD is mighty;
the
voice of the LORD is majestic.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The God of glory thunders,
and in
his temple all say, “Glory!”
The LORD is enthroned above the flood;
the
LORD is enthroned as king forever.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
OR:
Ps 104:1b-2, 3-4, 24-25, 27-28, 29-30
R. (1) O bless the
Lord, my soul.
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
you are clothed with majesty and glory,
robed in light as with a cloak.
You have spread out the heavens like a
tent-cloth;
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
You have constructed your palace upon the waters.
You make the clouds your chariot;
you travel on the wings of the wind.
You make the winds your messengers,
and flaming fire your ministers.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you have wrought them allC
the earth is full of your creatures;
the sea also, great and wide,
in which are schools without number
of living things both small and great.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
They look to you to give them food in due time.
When you give it to them, they gather it;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
If you take away their breath, they perish and return to the dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are
created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
Reading II
Peter proceeded to speak to those
gathered
in the house of Cornelius, saying:
“In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him.
You know the word that he sent to the Israelites
as he proclaimed peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all,
what has happened all over Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good
and healing all those oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him.”
OR:
Beloved:
The grace of God has appeared, saving all
and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires
and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age,
as we await the blessed hope,
the appearance of the glory of our great God
and savior Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness
and to cleanse for himself a people as his own,
eager to do what is good.
When
the kindness and generous love
of
God our savior appeared,
not
because of any righteous deeds we had done
but
because of his mercy,
He
saved us through the bath of rebirth
and
renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he
richly poured out on us
through
Jesus Christ our savior,
so that
we might be justified by his grace
and
become heirs in hope of eternal life.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The heavens were opened and the voice of the Father thundered:
This is my beloved Son, listen to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
OR:
Cf. Lk 3:16
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
John said: One mightier than I is coming;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The people were filled with
expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
After all the people had been baptized
and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,
heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him
in bodily form like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven,
“You are my beloved Son;
with you I am well pleased.”
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
Today marks the end of The Christmas Season and where we celebrate The Baptism of the Lord. This is where Jesus Christ kneels in The River Jordan and is baptized by John the Baptist. It was during this event that The Holy Trinity was revealed to the world in its fullest form and wonder. Jesus the Son was baptized while the Holy Spirit descended like a dove upon Him and the voice of The Father could be heard: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Everything in history previously was leading up to this point where Jesus the Son is presented for the world to see. With the Son present, each part of The Trinity is given its specific roll and we are invited into that relationship to experience it. God the Father is the Creator, Christ is the Redeemer, and The Holy Spirit is The Advocate. The Father created us, the Son saves us, and The Holy Spirit brings us the Love of God. We are all truly blessed to be present in this final age where we can partake in these truths and experience them in the present, using them to enrichen our spiritual lives and relationship with God. The Baptism of the Lord is such an important event that it is mentioned in all four of the Gospels and is celebrated twice, once during the Epiphany and again today.
Jesus did not have to be baptized. John the Baptist was performing a Baptism of Repentance. Jesus, fully God and fully perfect, had nothing to repent for. The reason why He let John baptize Him was to demonstrate a model for us to live our lives by. We come to Jesus broken and wrecked by sin. We confess our sins and repent for our wrongdoings. When we do this, The Divine Mercy and love of God will heal us. Jesus the Son will lead us to The Father and The Father will love us. We will be invited into The Trinitarian experience and will enter into relationship with our God. The Baptism of the Lord is part of our salvation story and is an intricate part of our lives. Jesus wants to be a part of our lives and He wants to live it with us. That is how much our God loves us. He wants to participate in all of our thoughts and actions. He doesn’t want to be separated from us. That is one of the beauties of The Incarnation. Jesus entered this world fully human and fully divine to be intertwined with all of us. At the center of everything is relationship.
We all are a part of different groups, coming from different backgrounds and different families. We have and always will be influenced by our interactions. We are social creatures by design and will take up habits and behaviors of those around us. The Christian Community is the overarching commonality that we all have along with the relationship we have with our God. This commonality is the foundation of the new life we have committed ourselves to lead with Jesus. Jesus said that we are the light of the world. When His presence shines through us, then it affects everyone we come into contact with positively. We are the truth-bearers and we are the watchmen. Jesus is the gate where we all are being guided through to reach The Father. As we know, it is not all rainbows and unicorns, but we do have a God who is always ready and willing to help when times get tough.
This is what it is all about. Jesus’ baptism is our baptism. We are invited constantly to come forward to repent, be healed, and have our sins washed away. The more we sin, the more opportunities we have for redemption and forgiveness. There is a cycle that develops. We hurt ourselves and Jesus heals us. We screw up and Jesus forgives us. We cry in hopelessness and Jesus gives us hope. We are victims of hate and Jesus gives us love. Only good things come from Jesus. That is all He wants to give us. In return, He asks that we accept the good and try to remain good. When it doesn’t work out sometimes, don’t worry, He will always be there to pick us up.
Deacon Tom
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