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Through our baptism, we join Jesus in His mission. In the 1st Reading, God called Israel to be His servant. More than bringing Jacob back, the Lord wants Israel to be a light to the nations. In the Gospel, John pointed Jesus out to be the Lamb of God and in a way, he tried to direct the undecided seekers to gravitate toward Jesus.
The Responsorial Psalm provides the key to these two readings. Lord, I have come to do your will.
Right at the start of the Ordinary Time, we get a taste of the meaning of baptism. It is true that the baptism is a sacrament of salvation. But sometimes we narrowly interpret it as the condition for salvation meaning that in order to be saved, one needs to be baptised. What today’s readings do is to expand our understanding of this sacrament.
We are baptised not merely for salvation. It is true that the Lord intends to save, but more than that, our baptism also initiates us into Christ’s mission to save. We are supposed to be the light of the nations. We are called not just to share His message but also to be His message to the world.
I was reflecting on this mission and one of the things which has made me think further is the listlessness of our modern lifestyle. How many of us while and waste our lives away? Another way of looking at it, we are mindlessly being entertained to death. Can you imagine how much time we have lost that we can never get back as we swing and sway from one “adrenaline high” to another.
The one truth about fulfilment or gratification is that it is temporary. What a high or a rush does for us is to grant us a temporary contentment because when the high dies down, we will be left hungering for more. The alternative to this endless oscillation is a sense of purpose.
During a Camino in 2018, I came across a tomb of a person who died along the Way and reading the tombstone I was struck by the reason for the tomb being located along the Camino. The person had spent his final years looking after the stretch of the Camino. Picture the deceased who had found a purpose and dedicated his life to the mundane and thankless task of making sure that people who walked the Camino can have a safe passage.
Likewise, John the Baptist came and he had only one purpose in his life which was to point out the Lamb of God. He did what he had to and that was it. His mission may have felt like it was meaningless but it was not in vain. The meaning of his existence was to be found in the fulfilment of his purpose and reason.
Perhaps the loss of purpose can help explain the lack of vocation in the Church. There is a need for more priest and religious but why has the vocation well run dry. It cannot be that the Church has no need of priests to provide the Sacraments. Our life of comfort coupled with the need for personal autonomy makes for a life in which rewards must be tangible in form. It is deeplymaterialistic. Whereas a life of service itself is a reward on its own. But that is hard to promote because we have been socialised into tangibility—or materialism. As someone said, “Cash is king”. Furthermore, everything we do needs to be highlighted, promoted and acknowledged. The incessant drive for social media presence basically hides a fear that if nobody knows us, then we are basically non-existent.
Thus, the humility of John the Baptist is instructive. His sense of identity was not tied to self-adulation but instead to making sure that Christ be known to all. That Christ is known and loved by all is our answer and our guarantee against our fear of being forgotten. It is not an assurance that we will never be lost but rather, it is an assurance that we will never be forgotten by God. Without the promise that we will be remembered by the Father, nothing of the sacrifices we make will mean anything.
The mission of Christ is not proselytisation per se. We are supposed to be agents of sanctification. It is a call to serve the Lord by making His presence felt in the world. Not by drawing attention to ourselves but by leading others to God. When Jesus asked Peter who he thought of Him, Peter answered “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”. The Pope, if there is one task associated with him, it is to assert unequivocally the very profession of Peter: You are the Christ. In a subsidiary manner, St Paul in the 2nd Reading reminded the Corinthians that they had been set apart to sanctify the world. We have a mission too, to be like both John the Baptist and St Peter, to point to those who seek, “There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”.
In that way, we sanctify the world by our proclamation. But more than mere proclamation, we sanctify the world by our holy presence. Can you imagine how rich the world could be because of a genuine Christian presence. The contrary is also a possibility: imagine how impoverished the world is because of the Christian absence. In this country, we may be a minority but the impact we had on the education of the nation far exceeded our number. We are becoming even more of a minority with the loss of the schools and low birth rate. However, rather than curse the darkness perhaps we should light the candle of Christ’s presence. At present, we can criticise the government and thank God we still have the right to speak but maybe more than just migrating to escape the injustice of this country, perceived or otherwise, imagine what we can become if each Catholic were to engage more robustly in the political processes of the country. Some may express a modicum of disdain or cynicism toward this idea but really the best thing we can do is not what we can achieve. We can always start with praying. Right now the most effective way is to prepare for the upcoming election is to pray for the country. Surely that is possible. We bless the country and sanctify her by our prayers.
In summary, whether in terms proselytisation,
proclamation or presence we always think of what we our might and what we can do. In other words, we strategise.
But the best way forward is to pray first not because we cannot achieve
but because we acknowledge God's strength and what He can accomplish.
We encounter yet another theophany this weekend. Last Sunday we marked the 1st epiphany which was to commemorate the visit of the Magi. Today Jesus is baptised in the River Jordan. All three Synoptic Gospel are in unison that this event marked the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus.
The end of the Christmas season signals the start of the Ordinary Time. The Baptism of the Lord is also an encouragement for us to look into our own baptism. To appreciate this sacrament, we take a look at why Christ decided to be baptised. After all, He Himself was sinless. In fact, right from the start of the cousins’ encounter with each other, the Baptiser resisted. His reticence was technically an acknowledgement of Christ’s sinlessness and divinity.
But Jesus insisted and John relented.
In so doing, Christ reconfirmed that He was truly Emmanuel. He not only took on human flesh. More than mere identification and solidarity, He also substituted and submitted Himself to take our place. He embraced our humanity in every respect except sin in order to save us.
Secondly, He sanctified the waters of our Baptism. The catechism from the Council of Trent spoke of it this way: “(w)hen our Lord was baptised, water, by contact with His most holy and pure body, was consecrated to the salutary use of Baptism”. St Augustine put it in a better way. “The Lord is baptised, not because He had need to be cleansed, but in order that, by the contact of His pure flesh, He might purify the waters and impart to them the power of cleansing”. Thus, as Jesus entered the Jordan, He not only signalled the forgiveness of sins, He also removed Original Sin. The door is opened for each baptised to embrace a life of holiness.
Thirdly, through His baptism, in a way, He foreshadowed His own death and Resurrection. The water of the Jordan is both a symbol of death and of life. The river is a symbol of death, reminiscent of the destruction of the Great Deluge. But a stream is also a symbol of life. In that way, when we are baptised, we enter into death with Christ so that as He rose from the dead, we can rise with Him. According to Pope Benedict, Jesus used the word “baptism” to refer to His death but not just His. If baptism signals Jesus acceptance of death for the sins of humanity then the voice that announced over the baptismal waters, “This is my beloved Son” is an anticipatory reference to His Resurrection and ours too.
All in, this event of Jesus’ baptism has profound implications for us. Firstly, through His baptism, Jesus makes public His mission to sanctify and save the world. Secondly, we are not only privy to the inauguration of His mission. We are also privileged to catch a glimpse of who Jesus is and who God is as the Blessed Trinity. It is precisely the manifestation of the Three Persons that the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan is also known as a theophany. We hear the Father speaking, we witnessed the Holy Spirit descending, we see the Son being baptised. As the Son submits to the Father’s will, both the Father and the Holy Spirit confirms the divinity of Jesus
Baptism into Christ’s death has become an essential definition of our identity. It is not merely the gateway to salvation. If, through His baptism, Christ signalled His desire to enter into the messy human landscape, then, through our baptism we are invited to enter into the life of the Trinity. Through the Sacrament of Regeneration, we are brought into communion with the Father, Son and Spirit. Thus, this sacrament empowers us to live as children of God. If present liturgical sense concludes Christmas with the Baptism of Jesus then it is a fitting transition for us as we move from the festive mood surrounding Christ’s birth to the humdrum of ordinary time.
The human scene is NOT the ideal landscape for the practise of our faith. It is the only place we have to profess our faith because the mysteries of Christ’s life is to be lived through our daily rhythm and not in some idealised fantasy world. Baptism is much like our birthday through which we are reborn as God’s children. That means we are not just the mission of Christ, meaning that we are not merely the target of His mission to save. We are also invited to participate in His mission to save.
We are grafted into His Body, the Church thus sharing in Christ’s priestly, prophetic and royal mission. In fact, baptism provides a common basis for all Christians to cooperate, especially with those who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church. Baptism is valid as long as the rite involves immersion or pouring, done with a Trinitarian formula and the intention to baptise. The Catholic Church accepts the baptisms of Protestants because each baptised person is configured to Christ with an indelible spiritual mark which cannot be erased. Not even sin can destroy this mark even though what sin does is prevent us from bearing good fruits. That is how powerful our baptism is. According to St Augustine, the character of baptism marks us as belonging to Christ. Rightly we are called Christians.
St Paul urged the Ephesians to live up to the name of Christian because each one has been called by the one Lord to the one faith, one baptism and to the one God who is father of all, who is all over and through all and in all. There is never a good time for us to practise our faith. There will never be a right moment to be Church Militant. Some of us might be waiting for the right time to live as Christians or to step up as disciples. That moment will never come if we procrastinate. We are soldiers ever-ready to respond. Martyrs who laid down their lives for Christ did not wait for the opportune moment to do so. St Maximilian Kolbe, at the spur of the moment, stood forward and offered himself to replace another condemned prisoner. His entire life may have been a preparation but the moment was never the best of timing. Thus for us, today is as good a day to live out our baptism, to be a good Christian now and nottomorrow.
Today the world comes to Christ—it was the grand moment the Child Jesus was manifested to the 3 Kings who found their way to Bethlehem. The implication of this visit is made clear for us in the 2nd Reading. The Magi’s presence signals that now all are truly welcome. Perhaps we can understand this better from the perspective of our country.
Imagine one day the powers that be in this land decide that the principle of administration will no longer be based on colour of our skin nor the creed that we profess. Everyone who is born or has migrated and lives in this country will be called a native or a prince or princess of the land. Am I advocating subversion of any kind? Nope. What I am stating is that the Jews considered themselves to be the favoured sons and daughters of God. With the visit of the Gentile Magi, now everyone will be called a son or daughter of God and a brother or a sister of Christ and there will no longer be any special provision given to those who are Jew-born.
It may not impact anyone from nations where there are no discriminations based on colour or creed but in countries where there are biases, such equality would be radical. To hear that everyone has equal opportunity under the Malaysian sun would indeed be ground-breaking. According to the 2nd Reading: “This mystery that has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets was unknown to any men in past generations; it means that pagans now share the same inheritance, that they are parts of the same body, and that the same promise has been made to them, in Jesus Christ, through the gospel”.
With the Magi’s visit, the Gentiles have now secured a spot at the feast of salvation. Travelling beyond the range of their comfort zone, they came seeking for the true God.
The Magi challenge us with this question. Are we still searching for the true God to worship or have we settled for less?
Nowadays we have to celebrate diversity where anything and everything should be accepted on equal standing. Thus it is standard to hear people say that all religions are the same. But the Epiphany shows us otherwise. These Magi risked everything they had, compelled by the innate search for the true God whom they instinctively knew to be worshipped as the Lord of lords.
If Christ were to be the Saviour, it would make no sense that He is simply a Saviour of the Jews or even Christians. God, to be Saviour, should be the Saviour of all humankind. The message or the Gospel must go out that Jesus Christ is the Saviour and not just the Saviour of Christians. He is the Saviour of all.
The message is not easy to preach given that we are constrained or limited by the dictates of “tolerance”, “diversity”, “equality” and “respect”. The result is that every religion should be treated on an equal basis and the challenge is that even if we believe in Jesus as the Saviour of mankind, we behave as if He were provincial and limited to Christianity as we unwittingly hold on to the axiom that basically all religions are the same.
Putting aside the difficulties surrounding the Kerygma, that is, the proclamation in this current climate of “DEI”, what can be done? If we acknowledge and accept that the Magi who came were looking for the God who saves, then how can that message of salvation be universalised?
Two of Pope Francis’ exhortations, “Evangelium gaudium” and “Gaudete et exsultate” are helpful. The word “evangelisation” is derived from Greek “eu angelion”, meaning, good message. In proclaiming the Gospel, the most powerful tool we have is not a book, not even the bible to beat others into submission. Rather it consists of a lived experience of Christ where we demonstrate a consistency between our belief and our behaviour. Immediately what comes to mind are the two basic Sacraments helpful to make the connexion between word and deed. Firstly, we are sinners through and through. We need the Sacrament of Confession for the grace to avoid sin. Secondly, the Sacrament of Communion for the strength for good deeds. We will be more attractive when the beauty of God shines through our actions.
Evangelisation is not and cannot be the proselytisation of the past and therefore it does not begin by seeking to convince others. The days of “proselytisation” are over in the sense of walking up to someone to tell him or her that Jesus Christ is Lord. It may have some value that we can shout at some street corners announcing who Christ is and that belief in Him promises eternal life. But we live in echo chambers, a world of herd-mentality where “your truth is true for you, my truth is true for me”, that it is almost impossible to penetrate those enclosed bubbles.
Instead, evangelisation must consist of bearing witness to the truth of a love that has looked upon us and has lifted us up. There is a profound beauty in the God who, sacrificed Himself for us and now through His Sacraments, lifts us up. Evangelisation must consist in communicating this truth and nobility in our behaviour is the only convincing message that modern men will embrace.
Like it or not, the current demand is that we live in a world which is hyper- sensitive to the lack of credibility. Imagine someone discovers a celebrity or a cleric who texted some homophobic slur in the past and immediately he or she is made to grovel before the “approved narrative” or the “canonised group-think” on how wrong he or she had been. Company and even the Church now must run “PR campaigns”. Whether all this is spin or not, credibility has become the standard and perhaps it is a good thing because it makes us more accountable, not so much in bowing to group-think but rather the need to make sure that we walk our talk. People are searching and even dying to believe. And we might be the only Gospel they ever read.
I end with a note on parking. Our one neighbour, maybe, in the big scheme of things, he is insignificant and who even cares, right? But for him, we are the only Christians he knows and each time he comes, in his rage to park his car at the entrance to block us, what we regard as a nuisance should give us enough concern to think of the impact we have on others because we are called Christians.
