The Jewish people had waited a very long time, for centuries, clinging to the promises God had made them. A holy remnant had persevered in their faith, despite crushing defeats, destruction of their homeland and sacred places and the disastrous Babylonian exile. In addition, they were surrounded by polytheistic religions that tempted them, especially their young, away from their faith in the God of Israel.
Today Jesus appears in the midst of his long-suffering people. They have responded to the prophetic promptings of John the Baptist. He has called them to repent and prepare for a new coming of God into their midst. The story of Jesus’ baptism echoes the ancient prophecy God made through Isaiah. Matthew’s description suggests that Jesus is to fulfill the role of the faithful Suffering Servant of God. The moment is dramatic: the skies open, the Spirit descends like a dove upon Jesus and the voice speaks of Jesus in language reminiscent of the mysterious servant in Isaiah’s prophecy.
In today’s first reading (the first of four great Isaian Servant Songs) the prophet describes God’s gentle servant, whose power would be shown in weakness and who would be “a light for the nation, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.”
Jesus is the beloved Son whose life will reflect his passion for God’s ways and who will manifest the Spirit (symbolized by the descending dove)– God’s power for the transformation of humanity. Even when Jesus’ mission fails and he begins to undergo the mockery and torture of his Passion, he will continue to be guided and strengthened by the Spirit and to trust his Father, whose voice we hear and take to heart today, “This is my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Isaiah promises that God’s servant would “bring out prisoners from confinement and from the dungeon those who live in darkness.” We know that dungeons are not necessarily fixed places of concrete and iron bars. Some of us carry around with us, what might be described as, a “portable prison”–the darkness that has been passed on to us from the womb of our anxious mother or fighting parents, right up to the present darkness of the world around us.
Just as Jesus entered the Jordan to be baptized along with the repentant, so he enters our scene of darkness and confinement today. He is the one promised us in the prophet Isaiah, the one who will “bring out prisoners from confinement.” He comes to those hidden places that keep us locked up. He goes to the imprisoned areas of our lives and our restricted ways of behaving which we sometimes excuse by saying, “That’s just the way I am.” Rather than be a cheerleader on the sidelines, Jesus comes down into the waters and into the dark places where we are. He helps us face the shadows and hidden places and leads us out — just as God promised God would do for us through the prophet Isaiah.
Jesus’ baptism reminds us today that, through our baptism, we are united to him. I dare say that most of us rarely, if ever, think about our baptism. (Do we know the date we were baptized?) Through our baptism we died with Christ and thus have been reborn into a whole new life ( Romans 6). We, the baptized, are incorporated into the body of Christ. We are called and enabled to imitate Jesus, whom Paul says, “went about doing good.” We don’t need a detailed rule book in order to know how we should act in each situation of our lives, for in Baptism, we have the companionship of the Spirit of Jesus who is our wisdom, impulse and help to do good.
Christ was not spared the costs of being God’s Servant. Right after his baptism Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. His baptism doesn’t guarantee him a smooth path through life; nor does it guarantee us a smooth ride. In fact, our baptism will cost us, for the faithful are to live the life of service that Jesus did.
In some churches where I have preached, the baptismal font is in the center aisle, right at the entrance of the church. You can’t miss it. ( I often think, as I dip my fingers into the water and walk around one of those fonts, that the location of the font is a reminder that we keep bumping into our baptism and what it asks of us through our lives. We can’t ignore it.) The centrally-located font is a reminder how we began our faith journey. As we dip our fingers into the waters and sign ourselves with the cross, we are also reminded that baptism was just a beginning of our call to follow the One who is God’s faithful servant.
The Spirit we received at our Baptism continues to urge and encourage us on God’s path — right up to the present moment, as we sign ourselves with water and the cross. When we were baptized we not only received the name we would carry for the rest of our lives, but our identity and mission were fixed — we were named “beloved” and called to follow the path Jesus walked. Over the course of our lives our identity and mission have matured, as we have tried our best to serve God.
Some treat Baptism as a private family event only. They even insist on a baptismal ritual separate from the ones celebrated at Sunday Mass or on Sunday afternoon. They don’t appreciate that Baptism is not a private, but a public affair. Jesus didn’t insist that John baptize him further up the Jordan River with only his mother and a few family members and friends present. Jesus’ baptism was public–and so should each Christian’s be — a public ritual for people who are called to live their Christian vocation in public ways. There is little that is private about our vocation to follow Christ
We may not always feel it, but our baptismal faith assures us that we are God’s children and that God loves us and takes delight in us. We don’t have to work our way up to intimacy with God. Through our Baptism we already live in relationship with God. We are beloved children of God, graced to live a new life which God has shared with us through Jesus Christ. Graced to be faithful servants who live our lives as lights in the darkness, “to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement and from the dungeon.” We have documented proof that this is our mission; check the name on your baptismal certificate.