1/12/2025 - The Baptism of the Lord

Stamping God-Experience on Our Memory Lane

Today marks the formal end of the Church’s Christmas season with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The event of the baptism of the Lord is very intriguing and paradoxical.  All of  the three synoptic Gospels mention the baptism of the Lord (Lk 3:21-22; Mt 3:13-17; Mk 1:9-11). However, there is a problem: we are told that the baptism offered by John the Baptist was “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Lk 3:3).  John began with the message: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand” (Mt 3:2). And Matthew adds: “and as [the people] were baptized by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins” (Mt 3:6). If Jesus was without sin (1Jn 3:5) why did He go to John to be baptized?

The event of the Baptism of Jesus is not only a special irony but is a central image of the redemptive mystery. Jesus enters into radical solidarity with all men and women, taking upon Himself even the condition of our sinfulness, Himself having not sinned. The “one mightier” assumes the position of weakness. It is precisely in this that He is the beloved son of the Father. And it is from this baptism sign that He is sent to establish the Kingdom of Heaven which we humans are invited to be part of. He was like us in all things but sin, the author of Hebrews reminds us, when discussing Jesus’ high priesthood. And yet we balk at the statement. “If He did not sin, how could He really be like us? How could He be fully human?”

We misunderstand this because we misunderstand our humanity as well as our sin. Christ has come not only to reveal divinity to us; He has come to reveal us to ourselves. Not only is He truly God. He is truly human. And He is truly human precisely because He does not sin. All of our sin is nothing other than the rejection of the truth of our humanity. Jesus’ utter acceptance of our humanity, His drinking of our cup fully, His sharing of our wounded condition, reverses our sinful rejection of our creatureliness.

His baptism, then, is at the heart of His mission to heal us. He even  enters  the wounds of our self-rejection, without having made the rejection Himself. He accepts full solidarity with us even if it means being seen as sinner. Jesus’ baptism is one of His earliest great transformations of our human condition, regaining the image and likeness of God we are created in. The first was that the Word itself could take human flesh which we celebrated at Christmas. The second step of human experience was His baptism. Did Jesus need to repent and convert? Certainly not. And yet, He who is without sin, places himself among sinners to be baptized, to perform this gesture of repentance; the Holy One of God joins with those who recognize their need of forgiveness and ask God for the gift of conversion, that is, the grace to return to Him with all their heart, to be completely His. Jesus wishes to place Himself among sinners, making Himself in solidarity with them, expressing God’s nearness. Jesus shows Himself to be in solidarity with us, with our effort to convert, to leave our egoism behind, to turn from our sins, to tell us that if we accept Him in our lives, He is able to lift us back up and lead us to the heights of God the Father. As John the evangelist tells in John 1:12, "But to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God". The next step in modeling our spiritual growth as believers, will be Jesus allowing Himself to be tempted and then triumph over the tendencies of the pathways to evil.

We were all baptized, some of us as infants. If we were baptized as infants, then we should be grateful to our parents who gifted us with the faith that they had received. They evangelized us. We received the Sacrament of Confirmation after we reached the age of reason.  We had at least some say in that, as I am reminded of it as I am reading the Letters to the Pastor by our children who are preparing to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation this year.  In the letter they state that they choose this step as a growth experience after their Baptism.  

It is interesting to note that according to Luke, Jesus had the ‘God-experience’ when Jesus was praying after the baptism (v.21).  It could be the same for us.  Our God experience could get deepened every time we make a choice to be available to God.  We as believers, need ‘high points of God-experience stamped into our memory lane’ like Jesus at His Baptism. This does not mean we will be walking in the clouds and temptations are not there.  Let us not forget that the Gospels also speak about the temptations of Jesus occurring soon after His baptism.  Temptations are moments of discernment. Through the sacrament of Baptism, we are reminded that God’s Grace – His free help – is always available to us.  It is up to us to gratefully accept His gratuitous gift.  By our baptism, we are given the privilege of being part of the believing community. This community, the church, accompanies us on our own journey through our crosses to our own Resurrection.  And we are invited to support each other in this journey. 

Fr Tom Kunnel, C.O