The Baptism of the Lord

First things first: it has been far too long since I offered a reflection here, and for the better part of Advent, I wondered whether I would be able to sustain this blog as a regular commitment. Sadly, just as the church calendar calls us into a more quiet, reflective stance as we prepare for Christmas, the academic year goes into overdrive making December very, very hectic. But I missed this as a spiritual practice in that the work of crystalizing and expressing reflections based on the liturgical readings, or other seasonal texts, is a sort of soul sustenance for me. It also helps me to stay honest about my prayer, and remain rooted in the liturgical cycle, as well as the wider world of the church. So, apologies to you if by any chance you count on such things for your spiritual life too! While I do intend to occasionally include postings on other topics, especially leadership, I am going to make a concerted effort to keep up with the spiritual themes.

Today as you may know is the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and unlike the rest of the secular materialist world, which was ready for the end of the Christmas on the 26th of December, whereupon it began to focus on New Year's Eve, for the Church today is the actually the official conclusion of the Christmas season.

Our gospel reading from Luke struck me today. I enclose it below and will offer a brief reflection...

Lk 3:15-16, 21-22

The people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

After all the people had been baptized
and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,
heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him
in bodily form like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven,
“You are my beloved Son;
with you I am well pleased.”

There are really a number of things that struck me today as I meditated on this reading. First, I don't know that I ever noticed that in Luke's version, it is after Jesus has been baptized by John and while he is in prayer that he has the experience of the Holy Spirit coming upon him, and that he hears this profound, divine affirmation that he is God's beloved one. In Luke's gospel, Jesus is portrayed praying at key moments, usually by himself in a quiet and remote place. Here, he must have been on the bank of the river Jordan, perhaps near the crowd of people that gathered to hear John's preaching and to be baptized. I can only speculate, but this event must have had unique and momentous importance in the life of Jesus. It is described as occurring on the threshold of his "hidden life," the period of time between his birth and his late twenties or early thirties, and his "public life" of itinerant preaching, miracle work, and teaching. While other people came to John for a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of their sins and as a way of beginning to reform their lives in anticipation of the messiah, for Jesus, whatever his intentions might have been, he experienced the baptism as "theophany," a revelation of God, and specifically, as an experience of being chosen, blessed, and soon, being sent by his Father. And perhaps, most importantly, the chief quality of his experience of his Father is not fear, but of being loved... literally, that he is beloved by the Father.

I know that all this might seem very obvious, but I think that the emphasis on God's love as the foundation of who Jesus is and everything he does is essential. Whereas John the Baptist's preaching is foreboding, even angry, and suggests that God is waiting with fiery judgment for those who stray from the law, this is not Jesus' experience. In fact, though he does condemn recalcitrant sinners who refuse to change, Jesus goes out of his way to demonstrate that God's love is overflowing and abundant, available to all who turn their hearts to God's ways. Strangely though, I think that many church's, the Catholic Church included, tend at times to embrace John the Baptist's God, rather than the the Loving Father of Jesus. For some reason, people are drawn to a God who thinks and judges in black and white terms, rather than the Father who lovingly cherishes sinners even before they repent.

May we all come to know the Loving Father of Jesus and ourselves as his Beloved Ones.