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Baptism of the Lord
January 11, 2009 Year: B
Is. 55:1-11; 1 Jn. 5:1-9; Mk. 1:7-11
It is the Spirit who bears witness.
First Reading...
"Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on
them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the
earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it." [Is.
55:1-11]
Second Reading...
"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been
born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the
child. By this we know that we love the children of God,
when we love God and obey his commandments.
For the love of God is this, that we obey his
commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,
for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this
is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.
Who is it that conquers the world but the one who
believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus
Christ, not with the water only but with the water and
the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for
the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify;
the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three
agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of
God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he
has testified to his Son." [1 Jn. 5:1-9]
Gospel Reading...
"John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness
of sins.
In his preaching he proclaimed, 'The one who is more
powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to
stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have
baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with
the Holy Spirit.'
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and
was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was
coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn
apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.
And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the
Beloved, with you I am well pleased." [Mk 1:7-11]
ANECDOTE:
A man once visited a temple under construction where he
saw a sculptor making an idol of God.
Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby.
Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two
statues of the same idol?"
"No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need
only one, but the first one got damaged at the last
stage."
The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent
damage.
"Where is the damage?" he asked.
"There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the
sculptor, still busy with his work.
"Where are you going to install the idol?"
The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a
pillar twenty feet high.
"If the idol is that far, who is going to know that
there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked.
The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the
gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."
The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether
someone else appreciates it or not.
"Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside.
Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for
your own satisfaction and excellence.
As he came
forth from the waters of the Jordan, his life took a new
direction.
As his followers, we emerge from the waters of baptism
as new people, who with God’s help are willing to
counter the chaos of our world. On this day we do not
look back to Christmas, but forward to the task ahead,
trusting that some day it may be said of us, “Here is my
servant whom I uphold.” We are called in Baptism for
EXCELLENCE, or to EXCEL in whatever we do and are not
satisfied with just the minimum.
This Sunday
is not simply a celebration of who Jesus is. It is a
celebration for each of us, for baptism is the beginning
of our ministry. In our Lord’s life, his offer of
himself for baptism was followed by his full commitment
to ministry. We see it more as a rite of passage, as a
time of naming rather than as full membership in the
body of Christ. We need to affirm baptismal ministry by
living out our faith in every sense of the word. We need
times of reminders of our baptismal promises. That is
why at every baptism there is an opportunity to renew
our covenant.
So what
difference will it make in your life? We are redeemed
and reconciled by the Spirit. We are called to follow
Jesus, the one sent by God. We have the task of being,
as Isaiah puts it, “a light to the nations”. We are
called to “open the eyes that are blind, to bring out
the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those
who sit in darkness”. We are called to shed light on the
issues that blind so much of the world, that hold people
prisoner. We are called to be Christ to a broken world.
We live in a
time of great unrest. The world seems poised on the
brink of chaos; businesses and individuals face
financial instability; the turmoil within the church
threatens its longstanding foundation. No one is
untouched by some form of the chaos that threatens to
swallow us alive. Where can we turn when the
institutions meant to give refuge from chaos are
themselves the source of its threat?
Baptism in Jewish practice was the submerging in water
of an article or the submerging in water of oneself in
order to become ritually clean. A man (or woman)
performing this rite was not physically assisted by
another person. He walked into the water alone and
dipped himself.
This
was the actual practice in Biblical times. Elisha gave
this message to Naaman, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven
times . . . So he went down and dipped seven times in
the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God;
and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little
child, and he was clean.” (2 Kn. 5:10,15)
There
are a few scriptural points that support the teaching
that baptism is administered with head bowed in the
likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ’s death.
1.
Romans 6:5 states: “For if we have been united together
in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be
in the likeness of His resurrection, . . .” What is the
likeness of the Lord’s death? John 19:30 gives us the
description how Jesus died. “So when Jesus had received
the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” and bowing
His head, He gave up His Spirit.” The Lord Jesus Christ
died with His head bowed. To be united together with
Jesus in the likeness of His death during the baptism
would mean that the Christian is immersed in the water
with “head bowed”.
2. Romans
6:6 states: “knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done
away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”
Water baptism symbolizes the Christian’s crucifixion
with the Lord Jesus Christ. The “old man” refers to the
unregenerate or sinful person, who must be crucified
with the Lord . How is a person crucified during the
baptism? By being immersed with the Lord “in the
likeness of His death”, that is, “with head bowed”. By
being baptized in this mode, the Word of God says: “. .
. that the body of sin might be done away with,”
3. Romans
6:7 states: “For he who has died has been freed from
sin.” The mode of baptism with head bowed, that is in
the likeness of the Lord’s death, enables a person to be
freed from sin. In the New Testament there are three
elements for the remission of sins. The first one is
baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38;
22:16). The second is to be washed by the blood of
Jesus Christ (1 Jn. 1:5; Rev. 1:5). The third is to be
baptized with head bowed in the likeness of the Lord’s
death. The baptism that includes all these three
elements is the most powerful mode for the remission of
sins.
4. Acts
2:38 states: “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and
let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Baptism is preceded by
repentance. All the people who came to John the Baptist
for baptism in the River Jordan were told to repent and
they were “confessing their sins.” (Mt. 3:1-2, 5-6)
What should be the attitude or posture of a repentant
sinner who comes to receive baptism? The Lord Jesus
Christ told the parable of the repentant tax collector,
who “would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven,” (Lk.
18:13). Because of sin the prophets of old would not
lift their faces up to God in heaven (Ezra 9:6; Psm.
40:12). A person who comes to receive water baptism
must repent and confess the sins with head bowed.
5. John
3:5 states: “Jesus answered, ‘I say to you, unless one
is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
Kingdom of God.” Our Lord further explained that “born
of water” refers to water baptism, and “born of the
Spirit” refers to baptism of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:5;
3:38).
Water
baptism has many corresponding features with natural
childbirth. The baby is placed inside a “bag of waters”
that corresponds with baptism by full immersion. As the
time of delivery approaches the baby’s natural position
is with the head downwards. If the baby’s head is in the
upward position there would be birth complications.
Whatever we may say of Baptism, it is a Sacrament of
Excellence.
We are called to excel in our work, relationship, we are
called to be the best. We cannot be just satisfied with
what we have to do, but we are people of excellence
through the grace we receive, of course we are called
“sons of the Most High”.
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