Today we close out the Christmas season with the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus.
As we’ve journeyed through this Christmas season – with the great feasts of the Nativity, the Epiphany, and the Baptism of Jesus – we’ve seen a progression of God’s revelation, good news, and love. This Christmas season has once again allowed us to contemplate God’s love for us and our response to that love.
We began on Christmas day where we saw Mary bring Jesus into the world, cradle him in her arms, and present him to anyone who was drawn to the child by God. We saw promise and prophecy fulfilled with the birth of Jesus – the Savior promised by God from the days of old. We saw the Kingdom of God breaking through our world with God incarnate. And we can look to Mary, in her obedience, trust, and faithfulness, as our model as we realize that we are called just like Mary to carry Jesus into the world, so that others, drawn by God, might come to know and love him.
With the Feast of the Epiphany, we heard about the Three Kings. We saw God moving beyond the Jewish people, revealing himself to the gentiles, and bestowing his salvation on the entire world. We realize that the journey of the Kings – a journey of steep mountains, deep valleys, unexpected twists and turns, and great uncertainty – is our journey. And we know that, just as it was for the Three Kings, our journey is navigated by the light of God in which we hold supreme trust and confidence.
And today as we close out the Christmas season with Jesus’ Baptism, we have John the Baptist, in his humility, his courage, his commitment, and his austerity, as our model. We realize that John’s mission is ours – that we are also called like John to be prophets in this world, to help make Jesus known, to help prepare others for him, to help point others to him.
In the gospel of today’s Mass we see Jesus, holy and perfect and in no need of baptism, humbly submitting himself to John’s baptism so that he could become one in solidarity with us – so that he could immerse himself in our humanity and our sinfulness as he begins his work of salvation. And this brings to mind our own Baptism – where we are immersed in Jesus’ divinity, so that we can be one with him and one with each other, so that we – all of us together – can find new life in him. At Jesus’ baptism we hear our Father proclaim, “this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17). And we know that at our own baptism, and every day since, God says the same thing to us. For we know that God loves us, not for what we do, not for what we achieve or attain, but for who we are – his beloved children, created by love, out of love, called to enter into that love.
In the coming weeks of our liturgical church year we will hear Jesus embarking on his mission – a mission that we share. Right at the outset Jesus tells us what that mission is about – bringing glad tidings to the poor, giving sight to the blind, providing freedom and liberty to the oppressed. His was a mission to bridge the gap between us and God – to bring God to us, and us to God. And we know that Jesus’ mission is our mission also. We know that as disciples of Christ, we are called to live out our baptism each and every day, to spread the good news, to promote love and justice in our world, to help bring God to others and others to God.
So, we continue onward. We rejoice in our identity as beloved children of God, aspiring to live with gratitude, optimism, and hope. And we thank Jesus for calling us to him, for providing a model that we can imitate, for bestowing his Spirit upon us, and for investing us with the greatest of responsibilities – joining him in his mission to reveal the glory of God to all people and bring salvation to our world.