A Reflection on the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord
Dennis B. Mercurio
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ and this, of course, signals the end of the Christmas Season in the Catholic liturgical calendar. It may seem unlikely that it should be placed as part of the Christmas Season considering that Jesus was baptized by his cousin John the Baptist not as an infant but as an adult. Yet it is so because it completes the meaning of the several events where Jesus’ true person and mission are revealed.
By sifting through the several Gospel readings we heard during the Christmas Season, we will realize that Christ has been revealed to us in various ways. In Luke, Jesus was revealed by the heavenly host of angels to the shepherds as “a savior born for you who Christ and Lord; an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” This corroborates the theological verse in John that pointed to Jesus as “the Word made flesh” who made his dwelling among us.
In Matthew, the birth of Jesus was revealed to the magi as the fulfillment of a prophecy and their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh we already know by now as the sign of Christ’s future mission as servant-king, high priest and suffering prophet.
The scene of the Presentation at the Temple (the Gospel reading from Luke during this year’s Feast of the Holy Family), revealed the personality of Jesus through Simeon’s declaration of the infant as “the salvation prepared in the sight of all peoples; a light to be revealed to the Gentiles; and, the glory of God’s people Israel.”
What was common to all the above-mentioned Scriptural events is that Jesus was revealed through words or actions of several people or important biblical characters. However, the event of the Baptism of Jesus at Jordan begs to differ in a sense that God no longer used persons to speak for Him. Here in this biblical scene, the Gospel writer made sure that this time it would be God’s own voice to reveal who Jesus indeed is.
In today’s Gospel from Mark, we heard that “the Spirit, like a dove, descended upon him and a voice came from the heavens, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased’.” What therefore can be the ultimate kind of revelation other than the one coming directly from God Himself? Beyond that, the uniqueness of this biblical event lies on the point that God the Father’s vocal revelation accompanied by the Holy Spirit has sealed for us believers the divine personhood of Jesus Christ within the Holy Trinity. The presence of all three divine persons in that scene alone with Jesus being presented as essential part of the Triune God is supposed to totally erase in us any doubt regarding the divinity of Jesus Christ who is both God and human, whole and entire. This ultimately sums up all the meanings of all the readings on the various biblical theophanies, meaning, the self-manifestations of God to humankind.
In short, the inclusion of Christ’s baptism in the Christmas observance comes with the hope that all may finally believe. This is also why Christ’s adult state at the time of His baptism never mattered in the choice of this important feast as a fitting conclusion to our lengthy celebration of His birth and infancy. With this we will end the Christmas Season, bearing in our hearts the fullness of God’s revelation in the very person of His Son Jesus.
In our ordinary lives today, can we say that God has already manifested His presence in us in unexpected ways? Or are we still waiting for our own experience of some theophany, whether dramatic or otherwise? And, if it ever happens, are we ready for it and can we be as humble as John the Baptist who, in the presence of Jesus, has found himself “unworthy to stoop and untie the thong of his sandals?”
PRAYER: God our Father, we thank You for sending us Your Son whom we acknowledge as the fullness of Your revelation to the world. Grant us the awareness of Your divine presence in our lives and, with the humility of John the Baptist, help us to prepare for Your silent manifestations in our ordinary experiences so that we may fully embrace the richness of Your patiently, constantly, lovingly being here with us as Emmanuel, thus erasing our expectations of some spectacular theophany. Amen.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario