Baptism of the Lord, 2016, Year C

(Those in a hurry should scroll to the bottom for a simplified reflection)

Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

Pay Attention to my Life, not Only my Words: I am a Christian!

“Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern,” writes Friedrich Nietzsche, “in the bright morning hours, ran to the market-place, and cried incessantly: ‘I am looking for God! I am looking for God!’ As many of those who did not believe in God were standing together there, he excited considerable laughter. Have you lost him, then? said one. Did he lose his way like a child? said another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? or emigrated? Thus they shouted and laughed. The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances. Where has God gone? he cried. ‘I shall tell you. We have killed him – you and I. We are his murderers.'”

How did it come to this, that Christianity is ridiculed, yet there so many people baptized and so many call themselves Christians? Do not get me wrong: I do not intend to cast the first stone at the adulterous woman, I just want to confess the audacity of what my God teaches in sacred Scripture. This is the teaching I want to recall, in order for us to understand what is happening at the Baptism of Jesus: God displays three inter-related elements in his works – planning, anticipation and execution.  Anyone with a sense of history sees these aforementioned elements in the pages of the Christian Scriptures, and in the continued teachings of Christianity. The reason these three elements (planning, anticipation and execution) go together is because they originate from God and link up human beings to their maker, who displays rationality in the planning of creation and redemption of his creatures. For Christianity is a purposeful religion, and Christians are ordered towards an end – to be like their maker upon earth, and act as his viceroys there. But do they? Who gives speech to Nietzsche?

Let’s take the element of “planning” as an example of how God acts. The book of Genesis opens with an account of creation (Genesis 1:1-2:4a). While God creates everything on earth, the creation of human beings came last, suggesting human beings are the crown or apex of creation. The proof for this can deduced from God’s instructions to human beings (Genesis 1:26-30): 1) the imperative “to eat from created things,” 2) “to increase and multiple,” and 3) “to be custodians of creation.” Simple logic shows, if there had been nothing created prior to human beings, there would have been nothing either to reign over, to eat immediately or to use to feed subsequent generations.

“Anticipation” merges with planning in the account of creation, and follows continuously therefrom  with God’s involvement in human affairs as sacred Scripture shows. This point of unity between anticipation and planning is necessary because the perfection, which God plans for his creatures, has been tainted by sin; no wonder Nietzsche has a field day of criticism of Christianity. It is precisely the reality of sin and how to eradicate that bring to limelight the attributes of God as an anticipator, planner and executor: sin has to be defeated, so puts machineries in motion for that purpose. However, the “anticipatory” participation of God in the lives of his creatures shows itself as a divine plan which requires human involvement. This plan comes in the guise of God’s pro-activeness: God anticipates human needs, especially that which humans cannot provide for themselves and grants those to us. A case in hand is God’s plan for human redemption from sin, which is the message of this Sunday – the Baptism of the Lord. Just as creation is a divine initiative, so is redemption at the instance of God’s love.

The prophecies of old, as we will see from our first reading, reveal that God executes his plans. It is in connection with God’s plan for human salvation that our first reading today becomes relevant. The prophecy of Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 provides a scenario, where only those who do God’s will are actually his “servants”: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations” (Isaiah 42:1). Here, Isaiah prophesies that someone will be sent by God, called “servant,” who will defeat sin. Our first reading underscores the absence of justice, that should be in creation; the theological term for this lack is “sin.” In addition to noticing the presence of sin, Isaiah talks about a “servant,” invariably he means a human being, with the Spirit of God will defeat sin. This puts in perspective the necessity for human agency and its participation to bring about the defeat of sin. For, sin goes against the original divine instruction to human beings to be custodians of creation – they transformed themselves into bad executors, so justice is lacking in their activities. Just as injustice is caused by human failure to obey divine injunctions (Genesis 1:26-30), so will the restoration of justice come from human agency. This human agency, called “my servant,” will restore justice through fidelity: “he will faithfully bring forth justice” (Isaiah 42:3b). “Faithfulness” connotes playing by the rules or manual of operation of the maker of human beings – God; a departure from this manual wrecks creation and disrupts the order of creation.

The kind of job God anticipates for his servant is spelt out: “I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness” ( Isaiah 42:6-7). The servant of God is both a sign or covenant as well as an executor of justice, where injustice exists: he is known through what he/she does, not through what he or she says – “He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street” (Isaiah 42:2).

The Acts of the apostles (our second reading) shows, in reality, the identity of this servant of the Lord: “So Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him'” (Acts 10:34-36). This means anyone, irrespective of race, gender, status and religion, who does God’s will is God’s servant or restorer of justice. The temptation, at this juncture, is to think that good actions are sufficient as proofs of being the servant of the Lord – wrong! The servant of the Lord has also to be a “covenant”: doing what he/she does because of God. The covenant here is the covenant of baptism, which Cornelius received and Christ as well. Although Cornelius’ sacrifices as a pagan were accepted by God, yet God asked him to send for Peter so he might be baptized. Although Christ needed no baptism, yet he underwent it to leave us an example of its (baptism’s) importance.

The baptism of Jesus and the voice of the Father testifying to Jesus as his Son (gospel reading) bring together the meaning of “covenant” and “identity.” The ritual of baptism provides the opportunity for God to reveal the real identity of Jesus as his Son. Here, we see the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus as a mark of special identity and relationship with God. The baptism of every Christian creates this kind of vertical relationship with God.

In fact, the identity of Jesus as the Son of God continues God’s plan for the salvation of the world. Since the name “Jesus” means “savior,” Jesus’ shows us how God executes his plans for human salvation, and he invites us to be his servants – sons and daughters – to bring about the salvation of the world through the elimination of all forms of injustices. This human role to bring about a better world is all the more important today for all baptized persons because the chaos in the world will perpetuate itself, if human beings just sit back and complain, doing nothing to transform and change the negative situations of the world. As the saying goes, instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle!

Your life is your candle – you received one candle at your baptism, during which you were asked to keep it alive/aflame until the day of Christ. It is only when your life and mine mirror that of Christ that Nietzsche and his like can be shout up! Jesus Christ freely and lovingly accepted the mission of human redemption. In freedom and love, will we too stand up and boldly say: “Pay Attention to my Life, not Only my Words: I am a Christian”? The good news is Friedrich Nietzsche is wrong – God is not dead: the life and example of every good person, above all, every good Christian continues the life of God upon earth!

 

Assignment for the Week

Could you find out the date of your baptism and celebrate it as a day of your adoption or naturalization as citizen of Heaven?

 

 

An Exegetical Homily on Luke 3:15-16, 21-22, For Baptism of the Lord’s Sunday

Step I: What Does the Text Say?

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, (Luke 3:15 NRS) John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Luke 3:16 NRS) Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, (Luke 3:21 NRS) and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22 NRS)

 

Step II: What does the Text Mean?

1. As is customary with our simple exegetic style, we first look at the times/tenses of the verbs in our gospel reading. What we notice is that some verbs are in the present, future and past times. Why this differences? Because they tell us something about the principle actors or terms in the gospel passage.
2. In today’s gospel, the major actors or personalities are, 1) the crowd, 2) John and Jesus. So, the verbs of today establish the relations among these actors.
3. The verbs concerning the crowds are all in the past: “filled with expectation,” “were questioning,” “whether John might be.” These verbs described a past event, but from this past event, the identity of Jesus was what was at stake.
4. The response of John the Baptist uses verbs in present and future times/tenses: “I baptize you,” “is coming,””I am not worthy to untie,” “he will baptize you.”
5. The verbs regarding Jesus are both in past and present times/tenses: “when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, (Luke 3:21 NRS) and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22 NRS).
6. Two events are brought together: 1) the baptism of Jesus, and 2) the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus. The first, baptism, prepares the way for the second, the Holy Spirit. Also, “the heaven was opened,” is a passive sentence, which means someone did the opening of the heaven: God the Father? The “voice” from heaven speaks, first, in the present, then, in past: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22 NRS). The “past” is an inceptive aorist – establishing a relationship from the past, but which continues into the future.
7. John the Baptist’s ministry was pointing to Jesus’. This he makes clear to the crowds. Furthermore, John the Baptist distinguishes his baptism of water from Jesus’ baptism of the Holy Spirit. The era of the Spirit begins with Jesus, apparently in addition to water baptism.

 

Step III: Points for Homily

1. The central role of baptism in the life of a Christian can be a homily topic. Is there anything in the life of a Christian that suggests a difference between baptized and non-baptized persons. How can Christians revamp their baptismal calling today?
2. An emphasis could be laid on the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian: the Holy Spirit reveals the adopted children of God in a world of unbelief.
3. The humility of John is a possible homily topic: he did not arrogate to himself, what belongs to Jesus. This point can confront the pride of the preachers of the gospel today vis-à-vis the humility pope Francis is advocating for the Church today.
4. Another point for homily are the sacraments: their role in the lives of Christians and their importance in the Church.

 

(Simplified Homily)

“You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased” (Lk. 3:22)

Let me begin with a simple question: do you remember the date of your baptism? If you do not [like me], it is probable that you [like me] are not a good Christian, because you surely do remember your birthday’s date. Do you realize that it was baptism that made you a Christian, and you forgot the date you became a Christian, seriously?

Few weeks ago, the angels sang “glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased” (Lk. 2:14). And today, the baptism of the Lord, God declares that with Christ, “I am well pleased.” What is the link between peace on earth, and those who please God? Doing the will of God is the answer.

With the baptism of Christ begins Christ’s public ministry – a period in which Christ no longer does his own will, but the will of his Father. The Spirit and power which come with baptism call all the baptized to witness to the power and presence of God in the world. Baptism turns us into those who please God because we officially accept our mandates as children and ambassadors of God on earth at baptism.

Baptism makes us sons and daughters of God. This is confirmed today because God calls Jesus his Son after baptism. Jesus is the “beloved” of God because he comes to do God’s will. We will become God’s beloved, if we do God’s will – work for justice and peace. God is “well pleased” with Christ because Christ is obedient to God his Father. When we allow God’s word in the Scripture to direct our actions, we too are going to be the “well pleased” of God.

For this week, can you do the simple research of knowing the date of your baptism, and give God thanks for making you his child?