The baptism of
the Lord begins a new kind of life for Jesus.
At his baptism, Jesus gives up his anonymity and takes on his public
mission. The baptism of Jesus is his public
anointing to bring about justice and peace. His only motivation in taking on
this mission is his love for God and for all that belongs to God. The heart and soul of his mission is to show that
love is a matter of living in a right relationship with God, with all of creation,
and with each other. In this way, Jesus
proves that love is a matter of justice, and the fruit of justice is peace. This is the peace that Jesus left us, the
peace of heart that comes from living the right way. Because we unite ourselves
to Christ in baptism, love and justice are the heart and soul of our own
baptismal call as well.
God himself
bears witness to this call in the first reading from Isaiah. In that reading, God testifies on behalf of
an unnamed servant, whom He has chosen and anointed with His Spirit to carry
out his justice. On one level, we know
that God is testifying about Jesus. On
another level, however, God is also testifying about us. By virtue of our own baptism, we become followers
of Christ and servants of God, chosen by Him and upheld with His Holy Spirit to
carry out His mission of justice and peace.
Through his own
life and mission, Jesus shows us that the servant of justice opens the eyes of
the blind and sets captives free. A true
servant of God lives in peace, neither breaking a bruised reed, nor quenching a
smoldering wick (Is 42:3). All the
while, the servant works quietly without attracting needless attention. Jesus makes this clear when he goes to the synagogue
after his baptism and sojourn in the desert.
Once there, Jesus declares that he is anointed by God to bring glad
tidings to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom for captives and
the oppressed (Lk 4:18-19). In this way,
Jesus reveals himself to be the true Servant of Peace and Justice, the Son in
whom the Father is well pleased. This is
the new life that Jesus took on with his baptism.
For us, baptism also
means taking on a new life. Through
baptism, we are consecrated to God in a formal way and anointed to embody the values
of Jesus in our words and our deeds, to bear witness to the truth of his
message. Our calling therefore is to seek
justice and peace by giving of ourselves to each other through ministry in our
families, in our faith community, and in society. With gentleness and patience and without
drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves, we heal the bruised reed and
protect the smoldering wick; we do not destroy them.
In Jesus’ time, the
bruised reeds and smoldering wicks were the poor, the outcast, the oppressed,
and the sinner. We might ask who are the
bruised reeds and smoldering wicks in our own time. And, how can we open the eyes of the blind, bring
prisoners out of captivity, and free those who live in darkness?
We might think
of the bruised reeds in terms of those who no longer stand as strong and
straight as they once did. This might
include the old and those who are mentally and physically weak due to
infirmity, disease, or lack of resources.
It might include our parents when they are infirm, or family and friends
who seem to always have their hands out. These are the bruised reeds and smoldering wicks
in our own time, while those who live in darkness are those we think of as stubborn
or arrogant; those who give the appearance of refusing to see the light of
truth. They are not inherently blind,
however. Their stubbornness or arrogance
arises from their fear of others or fear of failure.
Prisoners are
those we hold captive with our criticism, our judgment and condemnation. This might
include our children when they do not meet our expectations or follow our
advice. It also might include those who
are different from us, the homeless, the foreigner, the immigrant, or the poor.
Because these persons do not measure up to our standards, they never escape the
captivity of our scrutiny. In our day, the
bruised reed and smoldering wick are our vulnerable brothers and sisters
wherever and whenever we meet them.
A very human
response is to shun those we find different and unacceptable. Our baptism with Christ, however, calls for a
different response. The example of Christ
requires that we not turn our backs on our own. We give others their just due because they are
children of God. We are selfless in the
pursuit of our own goals. In everything
we do, our goal is to be like Christ by doing our part to fulfill his mission
on earth. Peter claims that Jesus fulfilled
his role in God’s plan by doing good works and healing the afflicted. God calls all of us through our own baptism to
continue that same mission inaugurated by Jesus. For that reason, we respond to those around
us, especially those closest to us, with the love of Christ. This is our new life in Christ, and it begins
with baptism.
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