The Baptism of the Lord

Baptism Recall

As we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, a baptism that he chose, we are given the opportunity to recall our own baptism. Even if, like me, you were baptized as an infant, the liturgy gives us other chances to recall the meaning of the sacrament. At St. Francis, we witness the baptism of children as well as adults. In each instance of someone’s reception of the sacrament, we are all reminded that we, like Jesus, are all beloved daughters and sons of God. We listen again and again, to being claimed for Christ, to being a holy child of God, one who is “beloved.” Do we really believe that? When and how do we experience that “belovedness”?

At times, we need convincing that we ourselves are beloved. We don’t always feel that way. We need others in our community, in our families, and in our relationships to name that in us, to remind us, to have us recall the relationship God has with each of us. And we also are to recall the belovedness of every single person in God’s creation, no exceptions.

Jesus chose to be baptized by John the Baptist, the one who prepared the way, the one who was the “middleman” between God, between the Holy Spirit and Jesus. Notice that John the Baptist points people away from himself, checking and letting go of his own ego in service to God’s plan. He launches the public ministry of Jesus through his baptism. The water, the words, the descent of the Holy Spirit, and the being sent are all essential to renewing life and to renewing the face of the earth.

We recall again that we too are sent like Jesus to proclaim God’s love and to practice justice. We too encounter wastelands, deserts, rugged land, and rough country—the conditions described by the prophet Isaiah. Our world could be described in the same ways. Our baptismal call, our being called as missionaries to all, has us responding to COVID, election politics, racism, the climate crisis as Jesus taught us to respond. We need only to recall our baptismal promises, our baptismal relationships as beloved daughters and sons of God.