At Christmas we celebrated the birth of Jesus. The gospel narrative of Jesus’ birth is not just a story. The gospel contains a deep message in Jesus. We learn something vital about the identity of Jesus through the way he was shown through the circumstances of his birth.
In the grotto in Bethlehem, Jesus was born into this world through Mary and Joseph and then first manifested to poor shepherds in the humility of a simple manger. The key to understanding the identity of this new born child was first indicated not to the powerful and influential but the poor.
At the Feast of the Epiphany the manifestation of Jesus becomes much wider, he is manifested to the Magi who represent not power or a group above all others, but as representatives of all people throughout the known world. Jesus comes to bring salvation to all. On the day of His Baptism, the manifestation of Jesus and his identity to the people of Israel begins, as Jesus makes his first appearance in public as an adult
Jesus enters the public scene for the first time after leaving Nazareth. At the age of 30 and in all humility he joins the multitudes that had gone out into the desert to encounter John the Baptist and to be baptized by him.
Jesus appears alone and almost anonymous, in the line of sinners who turn to John for a Baptism of repentance and conversion from sin. Even the sinners go out into the desert to confess their sinfulness, and Jesus, without sin, mingles with that crowd no different in appearance from them.
The one who is without sin makes His first appearance in his public ministry almost disguised in a line of sinners and in humility accepts the Baptism of John.
At His birth, the God of power and might revealed himself in Jesus in the extraordinary simplicity of a manger, a wooden box where animals feed.
Now, the Son of God, the one who is without sin, introduces himself and his mission from within a line of sinners. Jesus takes upon his shoulders the weight and burden of the sins of all humanity. He begins his mission by putting himself in our place and demonstrates God’s love and closeness to us even in our weakness and sinfulness.
As Jesus emerges from the waters of the Jordan River, after his Baptism, The skies break open. Jesus stands there in prayer and, “The heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him” and extraordinary words are heard, “You are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased”. At that moment, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are present, one God. God reveals to us his great love that saves, his begotten son, Jesus.
That revelation of the Father is in Jesus as he stands with sinners. It takes place as Jesus is in communion with his Father in prayer. It takes place at the moment in which Jesus rises from the water giving a sign of the resurrection and of his victory over sin and death.
As Deacon Clark mentioned in his homily last week on the Feast of the Epiphany, Jesus came into the world as the light to the world and through our own baptism, we all received this light of Christ symbolized by the baptismal candle lit from the Easter candle. As we hear in our first reading today the Lord says, “I formed you and set you as a covenant of the people, a light to the nations.”
As we strive to become like Christ, we become also the light in a world that needs the words of Jesus in the gospel so much. We take on his mission, to bring the Fathers love to all.
We are Christians baptized in the Spirit and have become disciples of Jesus and members of his Church. In our baptism we have been freed to become like Christ in our inner selves, but how much have we become like Jesus in our daily lives? In this moment we come to know that God, revealed in Jesus Christ, is a God of mercy and love, not a distant God but a God who reaches out to sinners.
We have to ask ourselves if we do in fact believe in the power of Jesus to be with us, to transform us in love, to believe in the power of Jesus to lead us to conversion of heart and if we truly understand that power of Jesus? Jesus does not work with idol threats of punishment but the appearance alongside sinners with a merciful love which goes far beyond what we can imagine.
There can be no way the message of Jesus can be honestly preached by all of us if this dimension of his reality, his merciful love, is obscured. In the current debates on abortion, for example, the Church is called to preach the truth of its message, but always within its message of God’s love and care for all to include the unborn child.
We have to ask ourselves how many women in the past may have been driven to despair through the Judge-mentalism which they encountered in the Christian Community. The Community of believers, yes, to include us, must be the place where those who suffer and are troubled are never rejected but are encountered with love, mercy, and support. AS for abortion, the same goes for those with drug abuse, domestic problems, those who are battling alcoholism; anyone who is struggling in life.
The challenging teaching of Jesus will only be understood if it is presented within his love and within a community which is caring. Our baptism calls us to a New Evangelization that is not about an ideology, it is the way in which we encounter Jesus and how we allow him to change us and make us like him, as God created us to be, rejecting the outward clinging to power and popularity and the fashions of the day as John the Baptist did in the wilderness to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus who would reveal himself as the God of humility and mercy.
Isn’t this our role as baptized Catholic Christians who reach out to others in humility and love as Jesus did? Jesus began his public life by being lovingly present alongside sinners. He has been called a friend of sinners. He was crucified between sinners and his final mission to his disciples was to show them how to announce to all people the remission of sin by his sacrifice.
The message of Jesus can free us from sin and free us to be who God wants us to be, free not to be entrapped by selfishness, but free to bring that same love to all.
We are called by Jesus through our own baptism to stand on the side of sinners like us and to be the merciful, Loving, and understanding followers of the Baptized Jesus. Then we just might hear the words, “You are my beloved. In you I am well pleased”.