Today we close out the Christmas season as we celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus.  For me as we journey through the Christmas season – with the great feasts of the Nativity, the Epiphany, and the Baptism of Jesus – we see a sort of progression of God’s revelation, good news, and love.  It is a great season in our Church year as we contemplate the revelation of God’s love for us and our response to that love. 

At Christmas we saw promise and prophecy fulfilled with the birth of Jesus – the Savior promised by God from the days of old.  We see the Kingdom of God breaking through our world with God incarnate.  We have Mary – in her obedience, trust, and faithfulness – as our model.  And we realize that we are called just like Mary to carry Christ into the world. 

With the Epiphany, God reveals himself to the gentiles and bestows His salvation on all the world.  And we realize that the journey of the three Kings – a journey of steep mountains, deep valleys, unexpected twists and turns, and great uncertainty – is our journey.  But like the three Kings, our journey is navigated by the light of God in which we hold supreme trust and confidence.

 And we close out the season with Jesus’ Baptism.  We have John the Baptist – in his humility, his courage, his commitment, and his austerity – as our model.  And 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, and to point them to Him. 

We see Jesus, holy and perfect, in no need of baptism, humbly submitting himself to John’s baptism so that he could become one with us – so that he could immerse himself in our humanity and our sinfulness as he begins his work of salvation.  And we can reflect on our own Baptism – where we are immersed in Jesus’ divinity, so that we can find new life in Him, so that we can be one with Him and one with each other.  With Jesus’ baptism we hear our Father proclaim “You are my beloved son with whom I am well pleased” (Luke 3).  And we know that at our own baptism, and every day since, God says the same thing of us.  For we know that God loves us, not for what we do, not for what we accomplish, not for what we attain, but for who we are – beloved children of God, created by love, out of love, to be love. 

And as we now go forward in our Church year we will hear Jesus embarking on his mission – a mission that we share.  For 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 and those in captivity.  His was a mission to bridge the gap between us and God – to bring God to us, and to bring us to God.  And Jesus’ mission is our mission also.  As disciples of Christ, we are called to live out our baptism each day, to spread the gospel and to promote love and justice in our world.    And we rejoice in our identity as beloved children of God, living lives of hope, optimism and gratitude.  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 and bring salvation to our world.