baptism_of_jesus - Year C

Last Sunday we reflected on “Travelling towards God” keeping the journey of the Magi in focus.“ Are we, the baptized Christians, travelling towards God with one heart and one mind?”, is a pertinent question when we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, this Sunday.  The question becomes more focused in the context of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that we observe this year from January 18th to 25th.

Lord’s Baptism is a sacrament of solidarity.  Jesus desired to be completely one with mankind, so it should not be surprising that he joined the crowd of self-admitted sinners at the Jordan.  In all he did he identified himself with every aspect of the human condition.  Eventually, Jesus’ solidarity with sinners would lead him to the suffering and death on the cross.  It was his loving and unquestioning acceptance that assured the demoniacs, lepers, paralytics, Roman Soldiers and sinful women of God’s care, forgiveness and healing.

Our solidarity with Jesus through Christian Baptism in water and the Spirit would not only  require the acceptance of all others as brothers and sisters, but also a share in his suffering and death.  In this aspect the gospel for today (Lk. 3:15-16, 21-22) offers both strength and encouragement.

At his baptism, while he prayed, the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus to grace him for all that lay ahead of him.  A voice from heaven identified him as Son and called him Beloved.  This enabled Jesus to say in the trying moments “I am the Beloved of God.  Others will leave me, but God will never leave me.  I am the Beloved of God.  I live by the hope and by the strength found in that identity”.  These same gifts are accorded to each of us who are baptized into Jesus’ dying and rising.

By virtue of our sacramental solidarity with Jesus, we, too, are graced by the Spirit, welcomed as children of God and pronounced “Beloved!”  When we face the struggles that are inherent to our solidarity with Jesus, we must remember and repeat the blessing, “I am the beloved of God”.  Then we, too, can live in the hope found in that identity.