13 Jan – Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
All God’s Children
Under the title “All God’s Children”, in his book “Who Speaks For God?”, Jim Wallis narrates a story he heard on the radio.
In war-torn Sarajevo, a reporter who was covering a battle that was going on, saw a little girl shot by a sniper. Moved by compassion, he threw down his pad and pencil and rushed towards the injured girl. A man had already picked up the child. The reporter helped them both into his car.
The reporter drove as fast as he could to the hospital. But the man who was holding the bleeding child said, “Hurry, my friend, my child is still alive.” A couple of moments later, the man said again, “Hurry, my friend, my child is still alive.” Again a few moments later he said, “Hurry, my friend, my child is still warm.” Finally, “Hurry. Oh, God, my child is getting cold.”
When they arrived at the hospital, the girl was dead. The two men then proceeded to the toilets in order to wash the blood off their hands and their clothes.
Suddenly the man turned to the reporter and said, “This is a terrible task for me. I must go tell her father that his child is dead. He will be heartbroken.”
The reporter turned to the grieving man in amazement. “I thought she was your child,” he said.
The man looked at him and said, “No, but aren’t they all our children?”
- What thoughts, feelings, occurred to you while you went through the story?
- What do you think is the ‘moral’ of the story?
- taken from “Persons Are Gifts”, by Hedwig Lewis, SJ
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Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Thus says the Lord:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom my soul delights.
I have endowed him with my spirit
that he may bring true justice to the nations.
He does not cry out or shout aloud,
or make his voice heard in the streets.
He does not break the crushed reed,
nor quench the wavering flame.
Faithfully he brings true justice;
he will neither waver, nor be crushed
until true justice is established on earth,
for the islands are awaiting his law.
I, the Lord, have called you to serve the cause of right;
I have taken you by the hand and formed you;
I have appointed you as covenant of the people and light of the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to free captives from prison,
and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.
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Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38
Peter addressed Cornelius and his household: “The truth I have now come to realise,” he said, “is that God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.
“It is true, God sent his word to the people of Israel, and it was to them that the good news of peace was brought by Jesus Christ – but Jesus Christ is Lord of all men. You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea; about Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil.”
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Matthew 3:13-17
Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John. John tried to dissuade him. “It is I who need baptism from you,” he said, “and yet you come to me!” But Jesus replied, “Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that righteousness demands.” At this, John gave in to him.
As soon as Jesus was baptised he came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice spoke from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him.”
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Today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. It is also a mystery, why the Lord chose to be baptised. A mystery of light, actually, since it is the first Luminous Mystery, and one that I have been reflecting on for some weeks now. John the Baptist was the expert on baptism (he even got named after it!) and here he was trying to dissuade Jesus from getting baptised. Why? Because John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, a turning away from sin. “Why did Jesus need to be baptised?” was a question that was probably on John’s mind, and has been on the minds of theologians, scholars and many of us laity ever since. In today’s reflection, I offer two possible reasons why Jesus was baptised.
The first reason is the reason that Jesus cryptically gives to John: It is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that righteousness demands. John himself was a prophet, once who prophesied that there would be One coming after him that is greater than him. John himself was fulfilling prophecies of old, so Jesus’ response to John was simply saying that they were doing this to fulfil the prophecies of old. This was something that John could not argue against, since that was what his entire ministry was about.
The second reason focuses on the meaning of baptism. We normally believe that in order for a person to be saved, he or she needs to be baptised. What happens to those who are not baptised? The Church leaves them to the mercy of God. We Catholics don’t say that those who are not baptised cannot be saved. Oh no, we do not presume that of God’s love. Even Peter had came to realise that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him, so it is quite possible and likely that we will see in heaven many who were non-Christians in their lifetimes.
However, those who are baptised have a special responsibility on which they take on their shoulders. Those who choose to receive the gift of baptism are those who the Lord has called to serve the cause of right, to be light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from prison, and those who live in darkness. And this is what Jesus did. He got baptised not because he needed to repent from sin, but because he was called to be the light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from prison, and those who live in darkness.
The reason why God calls people to baptism is simply because He has no favourites – He wants us all to be saved.
Let us pause for a moment to recall our own baptism and what being baptised means.
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Prayer:
Dear Lord, we pray for the faith to live out our call as baptised Christians, to be the light of nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from prison, and those who live in darkness. Amen.
Give Thanks to the Lord for: The gift of baptism.
Upcoming Readings:
Mon, 14 Jan – 1 Samuel 1:1-8; Mark 1:14-20
Tue, 15 Jan – 1 Samuel 1:9-20; Mark 1:21-28
Wed, 16 Jan – 1 Samuel 3:1-10; Mark 1:29-39
Thu, 17 Jan – 1 Samuel 4:1-11; Mark 1:40-45; Memorial for St. Anthony, abbot
Fri, 18 Jan – 1 Samuel 8:4-7; Mark 2:1-12
Sat, 19 Jan – 1 Samuel 9:1-4, 17-19; Mark 2:13-17
Sun, 20 Jan – Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34; Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
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