Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This feast is the third in a series of divine manifestations of Jesus that we commemorate during the Christmas season. The first is the nativity of Jesus on Christmas day, the birth of Emmanuel, God with us. The second is the Epiphany when God revealed his plan for salvation to all the nations as represented by the Magi. And today we see Jesus revealed as God the Father's “beloved son” in whom God is “well pleased.”
We heard the first part of today's gospel, Luke 3:15-16, four weeks ago during Advent when we focused our attention on expectation and preparation. The people of Judea sought the messiah and they thought John the Baptist "might be the Christ." In the text we hear today, St. Luke makes clear to us that the Christ has arrived. And it is not John the Baptist. The Christ is Jesus, God's son, filled with the Holy Spirit and anointed to “bring glad tidings to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19). The time of expectation and preparation is finished. Advent and Christmas are over. Now the real work of Jesus Christ begins; Jesus is launched into his mission.
With baptism, we become beloved daughters and sons of the Father. When we receive baptism, we are launched into the mission of Christ. At our baptism, God the Father grasps us "by the hand," and makes each of us "a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness" (Isaiah 42:6-7). Our baptism is a lifelong commitment to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ continuing the good work he began until he comes again in glory.
God our Father,
with your whole people reborn in baptism
we give you thanks.
In Jesus, each of us has become
your beloved son or daughter.
Fill us with the fire of the Holy Spirit
who guided Jesus in life and death.
Let this Spirit set us free
to serve you and one another
with unselfish, grateful love.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
with your whole people reborn in baptism
we give you thanks.
In Jesus, each of us has become
your beloved son or daughter.
Fill us with the fire of the Holy Spirit
who guided Jesus in life and death.
Let this Spirit set us free
to serve you and one another
with unselfish, grateful love.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Amen
