Christmas Weekday
1 John 2:29-36
Psalm 98:1, 3CD-4, 5-6
John1:39-34
Reflection
I remember the heavenly day our godson Nicholas was baptized. My husband
and I walked into Holy Family Church blessing ourselves with Holy Water, a sym-
bol of our own baptismal renewal. Jesus said, ^Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit? (Mt28:19). Life begins at baptism; in fact, divine life can not begin
without baptism. Today our precious little godson Nick would begin his saintly
life!
John the Baptist was the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah, a high priest in the Je-
rusalem temple. The child John grew up around the temple and knew it?s power,
it?s corruption, it?s hypocrisy. The eccentric adult John walked away from Jeru-
salem in to the wilderness to prepare Israel for the coming of a new temple. He
was a powerful preacher who baptized for the
forgiveness
of sins and called for
repentance
.
In today?s reading, Jesus presents himself to John for baptism in the Jordan
River. John was shocked, surprised. Why was the sinless Christ seeking to be
baptized? Fr. Robert Barron says, '
John the Baptist, the last and greatest of the
prophets, correctly discerns that Jesus is the Son of God, but what he finds dis-
concerting is that this God-man comes to him for baptism: ^I should rather be
baptized by you.? This reversal--still stunning 2000 years later--is indicative of
the Incarnation's purpose: God's desire to enter into the state and condition of
the sinner out of love."
John was told
^On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the
one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.?
When John says ?I did not know him?
he means that he didn?t know until that very moment the reality of Jesus? divinity.
John watched as the Holy Spirit came down over Jesus like a dove from the sky
just as God had told him. He then understood and knew who Jesus really was!
