January 12th this year is the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. In the new calendar, this Feast marks the official end of the Christmas Season and Ordinary Time will begin on January 13th. It is fitting that this feast be the end of the Christmas season as Jesus’ baptism marks the beginning of His public ministry. The transition point from his hidden life with his family into his public ministry. Why is this event so important in the life of Christ and why did Jesus Christ True God and True man, born without sin, need to be baptized in the first place?
The baptisms that John were performing were not the same as our Christian baptism. John told the people “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” John’s baptisms were an acknowledgment and acceptance and a sorrow for one’s sins, “a baptism of repentance.” They did not wash away a person’s sins, Jesus had not yet made that possible. So what was Jesus doing when he asked to be baptized?
He who was without sin could not be repentant for sin He did not possess. Jesus baptism did not echo repentance for His own sins, he had none, instead, He offered it for the sins of all mankind. It was at this moment that Jesus first accepts the cross. In fact, his words “Let it be so” in the original greek that the gospel was written are a foretaste of His Agony in the Garden. In the original language the words he uses indicate a certain agony in the answer, because He knows that from the moment he utters those words, “Let it be so” that the way to the cross becomes set. His full answer shows his knowledge of this, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness”. The catechism of the Catholic Church talks about this acceptance in section 536;
“The baptism of Jesus is on His part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God's suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already ‘The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". Already he is anticipating the "baptism" of his bloody death. Already he is coming to ‘fulfill all righteousness’, that is, he is submitting himself entirely to his Father's will.”
It is at this moment when Jesus publically accepts His cross and takes on our sins that the “heavens were opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”
During the Christmas season, we have the opportunity to rejoice in the coming of the Lord, to contemplate the hidden life of Christ from his childhood in his home with Mary and Joseph through to this day, Jesus Baptism when He accepts the weight of our sins to “fulfill all righteousness” and open heaven to us. After this feast day we will start a period of “Ordinary Time” which is far from ordinary as we are now able to walk with Christ as he fulfills his public ministry on the way to the Cross of Salvation which he accepted at His baptism.
No comments:
Post a Comment