John the Baptist came one day to the Jordan River to begin his ministry of preaching and baptizing. His message was very simple: â€God is about to do something big. Don’t be caught unprepared. Turn from your sins and be baptizedâ€.
There was also something simple about John. People came from all over to hear what he had to say. Soon some people began to wonder. Could this unusual man be the promised Messiah? John answered them: â€One mightier than I, is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.â€
John, of course, spoke about Jesus. “I have baptized you with water….He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.â€
John’s point was that his baptism with water was only a baptism of repentance. It was only a “sign” that people who stepped into the river to be baptized by him repented their sins of their past. They wanted to have them washed away and begin new lives.
Jesus’ baptism with Spirit, on the other hand, would be something different. It would be a baptism of rebirth. It would communicate to people the new life they were seeking.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers
The Solemnity of the Baptism of our Lord also speaks to our own baptism. We are baptized into this same Jesus Christ. We become one with Him after our sacrament of Baptism. We are one with the Lord and yet we do not always choose to live from that unity with Him. Today’s solemnity can remind us that we have a power: the grace to live in the Lord if we are baptized.
There are two aspects of living in Christ: dying to ourselves and living in Him. These aspects cannot be separated except in our thinking. As we die to all that is darkness, sin, and brokenness within us, we come to new life in Him.
We are invited today to live our baptism. We are invited today to wonder at the Lord’s baptism. Jesus is baptized unto death. Jesus dies so that we might live. Jesus rises and changes the whole earth.
Let us rejoice in Him.