(Baptism of the Lord (A): This
homily was given on January 12, 2014 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Matthew 3: 13-17.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Baptism of the Lord 2014]
For Jesus, it was less than it appeared to be; for us, it
was more than it appeared to be.
I’m talking here about baptism:
Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, and our baptism in the
name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
When Jesus arrived at the Jordan
and presented himself to his cousin, John, he appeared to be a sinner. St.
Luke tells us that John the Baptist “went throughout [the] whole region of
Judea, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
The whole purpose for receiving
John’s baptism was to acknowledge that you were a sinner, and to seek God’s
mercy and pardon.
But Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Savior, never sinned! He had no need of
the heavenly Father’s forgiveness, like the rest of us do.
Although he appeared to need it.
Perhaps it also appeared to some of the bystanders who
witnessed this event that John was
greater than Jesus, since John was the person who baptized our Lord. But, of course, he wasn’t (as he himself
acknowledged in the gospel reading we just heard).
John knew the truth, and so he
said, “I should be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?”
At the Jordan Jesus appeared to
be a sinner, but he wasn’t; he appeared to be someone less important than John
the Baptist, but he wasn’t.
In reality, he was much more
important!
After all, he had created
John—and everyone else who was there that day.
So why did he get baptized?
John, in effect, asks Jesus that
question here, and our Lord responds by saying, “It is fitting for us to
fulfill all righteousness.”
There’s a footnote in the New
American Bible which explains that response very well. It reads, “To
fulfill all righteousness is to submit to the plan of God for the salvation of
the human race. This involves Jesus’
identification with sinners; hence the propriety of accepting John’s baptism.”
To save us, in other words, Jesus
had to take our sins upon himself. But
in order to take our sins upon himself he
needed to look like a sinner, even though he wasn’t.
And he did! He certainly looked like a sinner on Good
Friday as he hung on the cross. But that
identification with sinners was also present in his 3-year ministry (remember, his
enemies called him “a glutton” and “a drunkard” and a lot of other not-so-nice things!).
And that identification with sinners was present at his baptism.
Jesus’ baptism was an act of
humility and love. It did not bring him any forgiveness—which is
why I say it was less than it
appeared to be.
Now that’s the exact opposite of
the way it was for you and for me! Our
baptism—whether it occurred in infancy or in adulthood—was more than it
appeared to be!
If you’ve been to a baptism recently,
you know that it’s a very simple and I would say “visually-unspectacular”
event! One person—usually a member of
the clergy—pours water 3 times over another person’s forehead (or dunks the
person 3 times in a pool of water), and says a very short sentence: “I baptize
you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
What’s so special about that?
Aside from being a good excuse to
have a family party on a Sunday afternoon, the ceremony of Catholic baptism appears to be little more than a nice, ordinary,
very brief religious ritual.
But
in reality it’s a ritual that’s packed with power! Literally!
If you’ve been unaware of this up
until now don’t be too upset: apparently even many of the earliest Christians
failed to appreciate the power of this sacrament. St. Paul wrote to some them in Romans 6 when
he said:
Are you unaware
[apparently some were] that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were indeed
buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.
For if we have grown
into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him
in the resurrection.
The effects of baptism are
many:
- Through baptism we are born again of water and the Spirit—which Jesus says in John 3 we MUST BE in order to enter the kingdom of God at the end of our earthly lives.
- Through baptism original sin is taken away. Original sin, remember, is not like the personal sins we commit every day. When we say we are born with original sin we are saying that we’re born into this world lacking sanctifying grace in our soul. Sanctifying grace is the grace Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead to give us; it’s the grace that we need in our soul in order to get into the kingdom of heaven.
- Through baptism all our personal sins are also forgiven (this obviously applies to those who are baptized later in life)—and all the temporal punishment due to those sins is taken away.
- As it says in paragraph 1265 of the Catechism, “Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte ‘a new creature,’ an adopted son of God, who has become a ‘partaker of the divine nature,’ member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.”
- Baptism also makes us a member of the Church; it imprints an indelible spiritual mark on our soul; it gives us a share in the royal priesthood of Jesus Christ; and it opens us to the possibility of receiving the other sacraments.
Not bad for a nice, ordinary,
very brief religious ritual!
This, by the way, is why a priest
will sometimes delay the baptism of an infant.
It’s because baptism is so powerful and so important! It’s not to be taken lightly!
But sometimes, unfortunately, it
is. In this regard, paragraph 1270 of
the Catechism says the following: “Reborn
as sons of God, [the baptized] must profess before men the faith they have
received from God through the Church and participate in the apostolic and
missionary activity of the People of God.”
In other words, the baptized
person needs to live the Catholic
Faith that they profess (when they’re old enough to do so). But if the priest has a good reason to
believe that a particular child will not
be educated and brought up in the Catholic Faith, he can—and he should—delay
the sacrament.
The official policy of the Church
on the matter is found in a 1980 document entitled, “Instruction on Infant
Baptism.” It was prepared by the Sacred
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and was approved by Pope John Paul
II.
In section 28 of that document it
says this:
Assurances must
be given that the gift [the gift of sanctifying grace] thus granted can grow by an authentic
education in the faith and Christian life, in order to fulfill the true meaning
of the sacrament. As a rule, these
assurances are to be given by the parents or close relatives, although various
substitutions are possible within the Christian community. But if these assurances are not really
serious there can be grounds for delaying the sacrament; and if they are
certainly non-existent the sacrament should even be refused.
Of course, when those responsible
for the child’s upbringing change and do
give those assurances by their words—and, even more importantly, by their
actions!—then the baptism can (and should!) take place.
I’ll end my homily now the way I
began it, by reminding you once again of those two important truths: the
baptism of Jesus was less than it
appeared to be, while our baptism was more
than it appeared to be.
Because Jesus’ baptism was less
than it appeared to be, he can save us; and because our baptism was more than
appeared to be, we can be saved.
Obviously, therefore, we should
thank God for BOTH those truths—today and every day.
