Experiencing God 250 - Baptism of the Lord

For over two weeks now we have been celebrating the birth of Jesus. This weekend, however, we are changing directions. We are returning to the readings about Jesus during His adult life. Under the circumstances, it is appropriate that this change begin with Jesus’ first public appearance as an adult, His baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan.

In many ways, the story of the baptism of Jesus can be strange one for us. In fact, even John the Baptist was puzzled by its occurrence. We know that in previous Gospel accounts, John the Baptist had already spoken about Jesus as the one who would baptize others, not with water, but with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Yet in today’s Gospel, we have Jesus presenting himself to John the Baptist for this sacred ritual. John himself, of course, acknowledges his own confusion, and even suggests that this whole matter should be turned around; that Jesus should be baptizing him, not the reverse. But Jesus’ response to John reveals that He has something else in mind. “Let it be so for now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness”.

And we read that as Jesus comes up out of the water of the Jordan, what follows speaks clearly of that sacred Trinitarian relationship that He has with the Father and the Holy Spirit. All three of the Trinity are present and visible during this event.

This revelation, as the other gospel accounts also makes clear, is not just for Jesus, but for all present to see. And I believe it acknowledges two things: First, it acknowledges that Jesus’ baptism is an inauguration of God’s unfolding plan for His people, for us. This Trinitarian relationship among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is something that we are all invited into. And secondly, Jesus’ baptism signifies the beginning of His own public ministry as God’s Son which eventually leads to the cross.

Most of you were probably baptized as babies and therefore would have no memory of the event. But through your participation in Catechesis and growing up in the church, you would have developed an understanding of what your baptism was for you. I was baptized in 1967 at age 21. And I have to admit that, at that time, I didn’t have a very deep understanding of what it was all about. During the years before my baptism, at different times, I had been a member of various groups, so I was certainly aware about group involvement and sharing a common interest with others, including family and friends. These groups would have had certain disciplines and certainly responsibilities that had to be shared by its members.

Perhaps I thought of my baptism as something like this. But as time went on, I soon discovered that baptism was so much more than being a member of a group. If anything, at least for me as an adult, it had more similarities to getting married. 

The purpose of marriage is not to share some common interests with a new spouse, although that may be part of it. We enter into marriage as a covenant relationship of love with our spouse and later family, in order to share our lives with one another. 

In baptism, much of the same thing happens. In baptism we enter into a covenant relationship of love with Christ our guide, and His extended family of faith, the Church. The Church becomes a living organism, where Christ is the head and each of us a part. In both marriage and baptism, there is a death to an old way of living in order to embrace the new.

That’s why the witness of Jesus’ baptism in today’s Gospel is so important for us. Where His baptism announced the relationship of love that exists with the Father through the Holy Spirit, our baptism announces our desire and willingness to be a part of that Divine relationship. Where His baptism inaugurates His own public call to ministry, our baptism signifies our own mysteriously incorporation into that relationship with the Trinity in order to respond to our own unique call in building up the Body of Christ.

By way of an analogy, St. Paul uses our own human anatomy to explain what it means to be incorporated into the body of Christ. Our own human organism is made up of cells and organs which must work together for everything to function properly. If you look at a cell under a microscope, you will see that it can be separately identified and can operate on its own. Yet its function is incomplete unless it works with other cells to achieve its purpose, usually as an organ. Correspondingly, organs must work with other organs in the human body in order for the whole body to function properly. It is of no value for one cell to say to another; "I don’t need you. I’m happy working on my own." Every now and again we have rogue cells like that. We call it cancer. And if they are not corrected or surgically removed, they will contaminate the surrounding cells and eventually the whole body. For all to survive, these cells must work together. In the same way, the heart cannot say to the lungs; "I don’t need you. I am happy on my own." Their failure to work together will destroy the whole body.

So it is the same for us who are incorporated into the body of Christ through baptism. You cannot say to me, and I cannot say to you; "Hey, I don’t need you." We all need each other. We need to work together, depend upon each other, in order to be Church, because through our baptism, we all have been incorporated into this living organism we call the Body of Christ.

One could argue that Saul (later St. Paul) was once a rogue cell. He persecuted Christians. And then on that road to Damascus, he was struck to the ground by that great light. The words that he heard that led to his conversion were not: "Saul, why are you persecuting those Christians?"  Or even: "Why are you persecuting the church?" The words he heard from Jesus were: "Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" The “me” is the Christ of which we are all a part because we have been baptized into a relationship with Him. And this relationship requires that we, as cells, be responsible for one another, to work and care for one another, just as Christ works and cares for us.

I would like to conclude with a quote from Fr. John Main which for me speaks about Baptism: “The mysterious thing about the Christian revelation is that we are no longer living as if we were exhausting a limited supply of life that we received at birth. What we know from the teaching of Jesus is that we become infinitely filled with life when we are at one with the source of our being: The One who describes himself as “I AM”. In the Christian vision we are led to this source by a guide, and our guide is Jesus, the person wholly open to God. That is why the Christian journey is always a journey of faith. But as we approach the center of our being, as we enter our heart, we find that we are greeted by our guide, greeted by the one who is leading us. We are welcomed by the person who calls each one of us into personal fullness of being. The consequences or results of our prayer are just this fullness of life; harmony, oneness, and energy, a divine energy that we find in our own heart, in our own spirit. It is this energy, often referred to as love, that is the energy of all creation. It is this energy of love that unites us and holds us together in Christ.

Experiencing God 249 - The Holy Family

During this Octave between Christmas and the Epiphany, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family.  Over the last several weeks, we have most certainly seen many familiar illustrations of the Holy Family.  We’ve seen Jesus, Mary and Joseph on the many Christmas cards given to us by family and friends. We’ve seen the Holy family in our nativity scenes at home and in church. And perhaps you were fortunate enough to see them also in the actions of the children at our Christmas pageant.  While each depiction tells us the same essential story, the question that I asked myself (and I throw out to you) is whether these familiar scenes represent the complete story of how we should see the Holy Family. Have we raised these familiar Nativity scenes to such heights that they have become, what we may call, “other worldly”, or just symbols of devotion.  Or can they be an effective influence and guide to our understanding of holiness as it relates to our own families in 2019.

   

This weekend, the Church puts before us this great Feast Day of the Holy Family, not primary as a symbol of devotion, but as a model of faith.  This model of faith of the original Holy Family is there to inspire and to guide us in the work that we must do within our own family on its journey towards wholeness and New Life. 

We call Jesus, Mary and Joseph “the Holy Family”, but that does not mean, for a moment, that they did not have problems. Just as we in our family circumstances have to face many problems, and work at ways of overcoming them, so also the Holy Family had to face and deal with the many problems that came there way as well.

 

We only have to read the scriptures to see the many difficulties they experienced, most of them greater than our own. And we all know the reasons for this.  They lived during a time of great persecution, when their land was occupied and controlled by foreign powers, and governed by corrupt rulers. They had none of the freedoms that we currently have in our own lives. No social programs existed to help them in times of need. From Matthew, we hear the story the Holy Family having to flee to Egypt as refugees because Jesus’ life was in danger due to the corruption of King Herod. So they were forced to leave the comfort of their home and land in much of the same way as refugees today must leave their war-torn countries to find safety in other places.  I understand that the distance from Bethlehem to the borders of Egypt is about 430 kilometers. To avoid the dangers imposed by Herod, they had to travel by donkey and on foot, which would have taken them many weeks.  It’s hard to imagine the hardships they must have experienced making this trip under such difficult circumstances.

What kept the Holy Family together, what kept them sane through these trials is the same thing that keeps us together during our own trials, even though they may be different in nature.  It was the love they had for each other.  It was the guidance and trust they had in the God of their ancestors.  Who else could did they have to turn too?  Who else could they reach out to for guidance and comfort?  They found in God, their own source of inner strength, a foundational rock on which they could build their lives. It was to this personal God they could pray and consult in the decisions they had to make.

 

And when you think about it, during our own times of uncertainty, during our own times of confusion, during those times when we are facing our own storms, who do we have to reach out to?  When we reach out to each other, when we reach out to God, then we model the Holy family; we become that holy family.  We discover in Christ our own foundational rock.

I believe at times we elevate the image of the Holy family to that “other worldly” plane because of the ways that we hear that God interacted with them.  After all, Mary was visited by an angel who asked her to conceive a son. And Joseph received his directions from God through dreams.  How often has this happened to us?

But the holiness we see in them as a family does not come from how God communicated to them, but from how they responded; how they were willing to step beyond their own fear, their own comfort and security to embrace the will of God.   Mary’s own great act of faith becomes the model that we are inspired to use in our own lives:  “With God, all things are possible. Let it be done to me in accordance with your will. ”   And Joseph’s willingness to listen through prayer, and to follow the course laid out for him, despite the inconvenience and risk to himself can become our own way of seeking guidance.

   

In our second reading of our mass today, St. Paul is speaking to the Colossians about holiness.  He is not talking about the Holy family but he is using them as a model of faith for the Colossian to follow.  He says:  “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.  Bear with one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  And above all, clothe yourselves with love.”  These are the attributes we see in the Holy Family.  These are the attributes we can see and practice in our own families as well.

 Perhaps one of the greatest threats facing our families today is simply that we do not spend enough time being together, praying together.  We have become so busy with other things: working or socializing on the internet or watching TV that we seem to have less time to be with each other.  Spending time together is the primary way of showing others that we love them. 

And as St. Paul expresses to the Colossians: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, to teach and admonish each other in all wisdom, but with gratitude in your hearts because you are called to be one body, one community.”

As we celebrate this Feast Day of the Holy Family, let us remind each other that faith and family is the vehicle for our journey that leads to wholeness and new life with Christ: In summary, they must include two things: the love we have for each other, and of equal or greater importance, the love that we each have for God.