FROM THE PULPIT FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
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FROM THE PULPIT
FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11; Psalm 104; Titus 2: 11-14; 3: 4-7; Luke 3: 15-16, 21-22.
REFLECTION: BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND FIRE.
Fr. Benoit Mukamba, CSSp.
The story of today’s gospel shows us the completion of the mission of John the Baptist and the inauguration of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. The good news in the story is that God shows himself as a very merciful God who offers redemption to all people. God gives an infusion of his own life in those who believe in his Son, purifying them of all sins and empowering them to live temperately, justly and devoutly in the present age so that we may be united with the Lord and savior, Jesus Christ when he returns in the age to come.
The Evangelist Luke tells us of rising sense of expectancy of the people of the Messiah. For many centuries Israel learned through many prophets to wait for a leader that would be anointed by God and endowed with the priestly, kingly and prophetic powers. Israel expected a civil and religious leader, human and capable of dealing with temporal, social, economic and political issues. John’s preaching and baptizing raised high excitements and wonders whether he was the expected Messiah. The word Messiah means the Anointed and translated in Greek as Christos which is Christ in English.
John the Baptist, not wanting to entertain any confusion, honestly declares, “I am baptizing with water but one mightier than I is coming. “ I am not worthy to perform the service of his slave. I consider myself lower than his servant. I am less important than his servant who removed his sandals and washes his feet. John shows us his humility and the greatness of Jesus. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”. The Baptism of John was a symbol of interior change, a resolve to love God and do good to fellow human beings. It isn’t the real thing; it did not make any body child of God but one who has expressed a willingness to follow God’s laws.
John’s ministry had also a hidden reality. We find it in John 1: 30-34 “This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” Hence, with the appearance and identification of Jesus, John’s mission became completed. He baptized the giver of baptism; he was the Holy Spirit descend on him; he heard the voice from the Father declaring him, his beloved Son. The Baptist’s job was over and done. But the work of Jesus began by entering into prayer or union with his Father God.
John could not give the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the one that gives the Holy Spirit because he possesses the love and life of his Father God. Jesus is capable of giving the Holy Spirit. Those who will receive the baptism of Jesus after being prepared by John, will get grace (the infused divine life), the friendship of God, indeed the sonship of God and the other empowering gifts of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit is also the Sanctifier making us wholly friends of the Son and the Father. The reception of the Holy Spirit makes us live and behave as people moved and motivated by the invisible God. Those who have been baptized with the Holy Spirit will disclose the hidden presence of God through their words and deeds.
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire”; the life of God enters person, it cleanses that person’s interior self, the heart, and filled him with zeal, the energy to serve and love God single mindedly. This is the kind of devotion and love that sends a person to martyrdom and unwavering loyalty. The gift of the Holy Spirit, God in us, is giving us out of the kindness and generous love of God, not because of any deserving act on our part, but because of God’s mercy, so that we may become heirs in hope of eternal life.
Beloved, let us not be like the people who heard John the Baptist present the Messiah and rejected Jesus. They refused the gift of God to them, for their purification and salvation so that they live with God eternally. They wanted what they desired’ a political and a liberator from the occupying power. They forgot that such a politico-liberating leader would last only a short period and they were likely to fall under a new occupying power. Jesus, our spiritual liberator frees us one’s for all and leads us to eternal life of joy with his Father, God.
