BAPTISM OF THE LORD – YEAR C (Is 40:1-5, 9-11; Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-7; Luke 3:15-16, 21-22) Theme: We Are Reborn In The Spirit Of The Lord Reflection: Baptism reveals the identity of Jesus: his persona and his mission - Entry into the Ordinary Time of the Year C: Today, we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus in the River Jordan. We are in the period of the fullness of manifestation of Jesus. Jesus manifests himself to his people and to the entire world. It is this self-manifestation of the Lord that we have been celebrating all these festive days, from the Nativity of Jesus right to the Epiphany. We have completed the period of Christmas with the last Sunday. Now we enter into the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical year. In fact, apart from the Baptism of the Lord, today is the First Ordinary Sunday of the Year. The special celebrations come, we enjoy them and they go away. So also the time of Christmas. Yet, the manifestation of the Lord continues. The baby Jesus has grown into an adult. He is young boy and he is now ready to take upon himself his vocation and his destiny. What is his vocation and his destined mission? It is manifested here in today’s feast of the Baptism. In a word, today Jesus is revealed to the world publicly with his Baptism and with the mission it entrusts to him. - Two testimonies for the revelation his identity: With the Baptism the identity of Jesus is revealed: his person and his mission are exposed to the world. Who is Jesus who appeared on earth and what is his task in the world? The question is answered by the two testimonies that are offered by the gospel passage of today. The two testimonies are: human and divine. Human testimony is in the person of John the Baptist and the divine testimony comes down from the heaven with three signs. Three signs are opening of the heavens, coming of the Spirit in the form of a dove and the voice that penetrates the ears of the people. Let us just have a glance at these testimonies and these signs. - Human Testimony: John the Baptist gives testimony to the coming of the Messiah and what he will do. The first part of today’s gospel is very clear in this (Luke 3:15-16). People were in the expectation of the Christ and the Messiah. They were waiting eagerly for his coming. Whenever there appears a man of God/man from God or any prophet speaking in the name of God, people think of him as the expected Christ. The same thing happened even in the case of John the Baptism. It is not they soon misunderstand these God-Sent messengers. It is only the “eagerness of their desperate cry”, the “hope in the promise of God” and their “need of liberation” that made them to see in them a savior. But John the Baptist immediately clears their doubt and answers to their anguish: “I only baptize with the water, but the one who is coming after me is stronger than me and I am not worthy of taking off his sandals; and he will baptize in the Spirit and in the fire” (Gospel). With this proclamation John gives testimony for two things: one, he says that he not the one whom they expect and wait for and two, he says that the Messiah is on the way and is very near. His testimony goes little further: the True Messiah and the Promised Christ will give baptism of the Spirit and of fire, that is the baptism of Renewed Life. It is here that John reveals the identity of Jesus: Jesus, true Christ and Messiah brings the world into the divine life of God. - Divine Testimony: There is another testimony presented in the Gospel and that is the testimony from above. It is from above, therefore from the divine will, that the identity of Jesus’ person and mission is revealed to the world. This testimony appears in the three signs: heavens are opened, spirit hovers over him and the voice from the clouds. o The first sign is that the heaven is opened. Before the appearance of Jesus on the earth, the heavens were closed because of the sin of man. The wall of separation is built with the pride of man between God and human being. The identity is Jesus is proclaimed through this sign: with the arrival of Christ the heaven were reopened and the passage is prepared for man to enter into the divine life. This is the mission of Christ. He has come to lift up man from the dust of fear and anguish to the joy to the heavens of joy and glory. o The second sign is the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. In the scriptures the role the Spirit is to lead a person to the proper vocation and destiny. Here with the coming of the Spirit upon him, after the baptism, Jesus is entrusted with a specific and particular mission. He is called and sent for offering to the world a new life in the Spirit. He is to pour out his spirit for the life of the world. o The third sign is the voice from the clouds. It is not just any voice from the heavens. It is the voice of God, the Father. How can we say that the one who speaks is the Father? Answer is clear in the words that he speaks. He calls Jesus as his Son. “You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased”. The revelation is evident: Father gives testimony to the presence and the work of His Son in the world. It is in Baptism that he reveals it openly with the voice which will happen also little later in the moment of the Transfiguration. - With the two testimony of both human and divine persons Jesus is given the mission of fulfilling the loving will of God for the world. The purpose of his entry into the world is revealed in the time of baptism. It is therefore, the Baptism is the primary manifestation of Jesus’ identity to the world as he starts his public ministry. It is apt that with this Baptism that the salvation of man is initiated concretely and publicly. In Baptism – the mystery and the mission of the Trinity is revealed to the humanity - Baptism of Jesus reveals the reality of the Trinitarian God at work in every event of salvation: Our Christian faith confirms and proclaims that our God is Triune and three persons who are the ‘communion of reciprocal love’; in love three become one; theology also elaborates this truth by saying that ‘in love which is the binding force of union each person of the Trinity moves towards the other two with complete self-offering and with the total openness to be filled by others’. It becomes a play of love; in love there is total self-giving and total receptiveness; in love there are no conditions; in love there are no limits; in love there are no boundaries; therefore in perfect giving and receiving each stands before the others: because of love and it is for this reason we say that ‘God is Love’. - In every event that God intends and brings into realization there is the presence of the Triune God: in the act of creation – there is the Creator, the Word he utters and the Spirit who hovers over the waters: and we say it is an act of the Father in the Son and in the Spirit; in the act of incarnation – there is the Father who wills and makes his Son enters into the world, the Son Jesus who obeys the Father and makes himself to appear in human form and the Spirit who makes this will of the Father and the incarnation of the Son possible with his power; now in the event of Baptism – there is the Son who stands there for the baptism, the Voice of the Father who testifies him as the Beloved Son, and the descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove; in this way, the Baptism of Jesus reveals the presence of the Trinity in the work of renewal of human being through the grace of baptism. - The consequence of the revelation of the Trinitarian mission in the Baptism is that each baptized person becomes a person in the Trinity: He becomes the beloved child of the Father, he becomes the brother of the Son and he becomes the agent of the Spirit’s sanctifying life. The baptized is inserted into the eternal design of God’s love. He receives a call to interior divinely life and a vocation to give testimony to the life received. It is this mission that we have received during our Baptism: to renounce the evil inclinations and to cling on to the divine power of faith. It is wonderful opportunity to recall those moment and to renew our promise of Christian faith and vocation. Let us be the spirit-filled children with whom God has well pleased - What can we carry with us – and in us – by the celebration of and the participation in this feast? We can do one thing important: we can recall to our mind the moment of our entrance into faith and carry in us the task of Christian vocation. It is with the Baptism that we are immersed in the life of Christ. We become persons in Christ. We can renew our promises of keeping ourselves away from the seductions of the evil spirits and of taking upon ourselves the armor of the Spirit of Christ. We receive the life of grace with the Baptism. We receive not only to keep it for ourselves but to share it with the others. Here is our testimony: we need to spread the fragrance of faith to those around us, with the loving words and kind deeds. The Christian vocation of being in the world as the disciples and as the heralds of Jesus is what we are entrusted with the profession of faith in Baptism. - We are no more children of darkness and followers of the Satan. We are children of God and the members of the faithful community. Thus, we are spirit-filled people. As the children of God we need to lead a life that is pleasing to God: it is possible by offering ourselves as the sacrifice of his love. As the members of the Church, we need to build up the community through the bricks of collaboration and solidarity. The Spirit within is always active. He is dynamic in his presence and in his power which will be manifested though the testimony of our life. - We have received an identity through the baptism. We are no more of this world. We do not belong permanently to this passing time and history. We are children in the Spirit. This is our identity as Christians. Our identity is revealed through our person and our vocation. When we preserve our faith then even our identity is safeguarded. If we neglect our faith, we lose our identity. If the salt loses its saltiness, it is useless and is thrown away to be stampeded. If the light loses its power to shine, it is just a thing to be dumped into the garbage. Jesus proclaims that those who receive him and follow his are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Math 5:13-16). We are his salt and we are his light. We receive this identity only through the baptism. We are not only called to faith but also enabled and empowered to be the witnesses for the taste of love and for the splendor of divine glory. We need to recognize our Christian capacity. We can do anything and everything without fear and without any hesitation, just because it is not we who do, but the Spirit who does in us and through us. - Witness in the difficult moments of life: Often the Christian vocation demands for the committed life and dedicated action. It is not so easy when the human values and above all, the spiritual qualities are losing their place both in the mind and in the heart of modern man. Yet, we need to set out to change and to call the people into the true life. Jesus has set out into the public ministry and started inviting each and everyone into the kingdom of fraternal love and the starting point for this is his baptism. Now as we renew the promises of our baptism, let us fill our mind and heart with the mission of Jesus. Let us walk along with him so that we also reach the destiny he has reached. The destiny is not the death as it appears in the first glance. But the destiny is the life of glory through the resurrection which is possible only “by dying with him”. The nature of true baptism consists in this: we take part in every single event of Jesus so that we are with him, for him and in him. This is what we are invited today to do: to give testimony to the Life of Christ in the world because we are spirit-filled and well pleasing children of God.