Homily for the Feast of the
Baptism of the Lord
Jan. 12, 2025
Luke 3: 15-16, 21-22
Acts 10: 34-38
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx
“John answered …, ‘One mightier than I …
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire’” (Luke 3: 16).
by Perugino
St. Luke tells us that John the Baptist
“went thruout the region of the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for
the forgiveness of sins” (3:3), as we heard on the 2d Sunday of Advent. He urged specific changes in the behavior of tax
collectors, soldiers, and everyone else (3:10-14), we heard on the 3d Sunday of
Advent. Repentance for one’s sins has to
be marked by a change in behavior—by conversion of one’s life. That’s an essential step toward God’s
forgiveness.
That was John’s mission: to prepare people for divine
forgiveness. “The people were filled
with expectation,” Luke states (3:15).
They were expecting “the Christ,” the Messiah, God’s agent for bringing
grace and restoration to Israel, altho they didn’t really understand what that
meant, what kind of a Messiah they should expect.
Jesus showed up at the Jordan, and John
baptized him. St. Matthew (3:13-17) and
St. Mark (1:9-11) present the scene, as well—with Matthew recording John’s humble
protest. Why would Jesus need to be
baptized? If he was sinless, what did he
have to repent? How was he supposed to be
converted and change his life?
The Fathers of the Church—the earliest
non-biblical Christian writers—explain that Jesus’ baptism wasn’t for his own
sake but for ours. For example, St.
Maximus, bishop of Turin in the 1st half of the 5th century, preached:
Someone might ask, “Why would a
holy man desire baptism?” Listen to the answer: Christ is baptized, not to be
made holy by the water, but to make the water holy, and by his cleansing to
purify the waters which he touched. For
the consecration of Christ involves a more significant consecration of the
water.
For
when the Savior is washed all water for our baptism is made clean, purified at
its source for the dispensing of baptismal grace to the people of future ages.[1]
The
consecration that St. Maximus speaks of is Christ’s consecration by the Holy
Spirit’s descent upon him. We consider
this his anointing, tho not with physical oil as you and I were anointed in
Baptism and Confirmation. In the 2d
reading today, St. Peter explained to the household of the Roman centurion
Cornelius that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power” so
that he could carry out his mission of salvation, “healing all those oppressed
by the devil” (Acts 10:38).
Jesus
was filled with the Holy Spirit, anointed as the Christ. Christ is the Greek translation of the
Hebrew Messiah; it means “anointed one.”
When you and I are anointed with sacred chrism in the sacraments of
Baptism and Confirmation, we are “christened,” made Christs. Jesus was empowered by his Father to pass on
to us the Holy Spirit when we, like him, are washed in sacramental water and
anointed with chrism.
John
the Baptist also spoke of fire. You know
how the Holy Spirit came upon the 12 apostles, our Blessed Mother, and more
than 100 other disciples on Pentecost Day: “there appeared to them tongues as
of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…”
(Acts 2:3-4). We say that the Church was
born at that moment, and filled with the Spirit the apostles began to preach
the Gospel and win converts who were promptly baptized with water and the Holy
Spirit (2:41).
St.
Peter also told Cornelius that after his baptism Jesus “went about doing good”
(Acts 10:38). The Holy Spirit empowers
us, too, disciples of Jesus in the 21st century in the Bronx. Jesus proclaimed, “I’ve come to set the earth
on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Luke 12:49). Obviously, he doesn’t mean with physical fire—God
save the poor people of Southern California!—but with spiritual fire: the fire that purifies our hearts, the fire
that cleanses ours sins, the fire of love for God, the fire of a firm
commitment to live for Jesus, the fire to love our brothers and sisters in our
words and actions so that, like Jesus, we may go about doing good, the fire to
stand for truth and integrity in our public lives.
Take
note of this: Luke records that Jesus
“was praying” after his baptism, and that’s when “heaven was opened and the
Holy Spirit descended upon him” (3:21-22).
Prayer opens up heaven for us and makes us receptive of that Holy
Spirit, that divine fire. Only by
opening ourselves to God can we live for God, love one another, and live with
truth and integrity. Only with the help
of prayer can we be God’s beloved children, well pleasing to him (cf. 3:22).
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