Homily Baptism of the Lord B: Fulfilling all righteousness

 Homily for Baptism of the Lord Year B 2021

Isaiah 55:1-11; 1 John 5:1-9; Mark 1:7-11

Introduction

We know that Baptism takes away sins.  So, why is Jesus, the Son of God, who was without sin, undergoing this ritual meant for the forgiveness of sins?  But an even more intriguing question is this: why did the evangelists write about this event in the gospels, knowing very well that it would embarrass the Church by having the Messiah receive baptism from John the Baptist?

Scripture and Theology

To the first question of why Jesus underwent baptism, in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus himself tells us why.  When John the Baptist protested to Jesus saying: "I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me? (Mt. 3:13-15), "Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness" (Mt. 3:15).

But what does it mean to fulfil all righteousness?  The Catechism tells us that “Jesus' gesture is a manifestation of his self-emptying” (CCC 1224).  In other words, he is doing those things that a righteous Jewish person was expected to do: going to synagogue on the Sabbath, going to the temple, paying taxes and now coming to John for a baptism of repentance. For when in the Creed we profess that Jesus became man, we profess that Jesus was indeed fully man as he was also fully God.  We have to avoid a heresy that first arose in the early Church which taught that Jesus was only God, with his humanity as some kind of facade.  But if he was really man, then he had to act like it, act like a righteous man.  And by undergoing this baptism, Jesus showed that he a righteous man.

The Catechism also says that by his baptism Jesus was accepting and starting his “mission as God's suffering Servant” (CCC 536).  As we know Jesus’ mission was to die for our sins.  And so, “He is already ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’. Already he is anticipating the ‘baptism’ of his bloody death” (CCC 536).   In other words, by humiliating himself in undergoing this baptism Jesus is anticipating what he is going to do on the Cross.  Even in the Christmas story we have already seen his humility, born of lowly parents, born in a stable, forced to become a refugee as a baby.  And later on, in his ministry, he will continue to do the same thing, identifying himself with tax-collectors, prostitutes and sinners.  And so, this theme of humility and solidarity with sinners is found even in his baptism.  By undergoing this baptism, Jesus humbled himself, identifying himself with sinners, who needed the baptism.  Jesus goes down into the water and sanctifies it, so that we can be purified by it.

And now let us move on to the second question.  Why did the evangelists include this story in the gospels?  They could have left it out, just as they leave out many things that Jesus said and did during his teenage years and in his twenties.  They could have left it out so as not to give ammunition to a small group of the followers of John the Baptist, who believed him, not Jesus, to be the Messiah.

But like many things Christian, the evangelists do not shy away from the truth, however complicated and many-sided it might be.  Unlike modern men and women who want simplistic “either . . . or” answers to their questions, Christianity accepts “both . . . and” answers.  And so, to the question of whether Jesus should have been baptized by John, the evangelists give us a two-sided or a “both . . . and” answer.  They don’t see anything wrong with holding as both true, on the one hand the fact that Jesus is fully God and without sin, and on the other hand, the fact that Jesus underwent a ritual meant for sinners.  They have the intellectual capacity to handle both facts without compromising anything of the truth.  They understand that our faith is much broader than a single point of doctrine.  And that is why they can report that Jesus was baptised by John, because they know that it will not change one tiny bit, the truth of who is he is.

Christian Life

If you look at our catechism, we have many such apparent contradictions in our Catholic teaching.  Let me give you twelve such examples.  We believe that:

1.      God is both One Divine Nature and a Trinity of Three Divine Persons.

2.      Jesus is both Fully Human and Fully Divine.

3.      Jesus is both Son of Mary and Son of God.

4.      Mary is both Mother of God and Mother of Jesus the man.

5.      The Christian religion is based on both Scripture and Tradition.

6.      The Church is both a Divine Mystery and a Human Institution.

7.      The Church is both One Universal "Body of Christ" and Many Particular Local Communities.

8.      Christ's priesthood is the basis of both the Priesthood of All Believers and the Ministerial Priesthood.

9.      Our salvation is a result of both God's Grace (a free gift) and Our Cooperation (accepting the gift).

10.  We can know God through both Faith and Reason.

11.  Our world can be understood through both Religion and Science.

12.  On Judgement Day God will be both Merciful and Just.

The Eucharist is also one of those “both . . . and” doctrines.  Our Archbishop has decided that in addition to the Year of St. Joseph declared by Pope Francis, during this year we focus on the Eucharist, especially after going through a year in which our access to it has been limited thanks to the pandemic. During this year we will have a chance to explore the many apparently contradictory truths.

For example, the Eucharist is both the Sacrifice of Christ and a Community Meal of Thanksgiving.  In the Eucharist we receive what appears to be the bread and wine, but what we also know that to be really the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  In the Eucharist we can receive from one species, like the host or from the cup, but we believe that we receiving the whole Christ, his body and soul, humanity and divinity.  In the Eucharist we can receive even a tiny piece of the host, perhaps because the priest did not consecrate enough hosts, as I have done on a couple of occasions; but we still believe that we are receiving the full Christ, and we are receiving the full benefits of communion with God.

We are able to believe these things only because we have inherited the same manner of approaching our faith that the apostles and evangelists taught us, a manner that is not afraid to confront head-on complex realities, a manner that is not satisfied with simplistic answers.  Unfortunately, many today, including some Catholics, have instead adopted a manner of thinking that is more akin to Evangelical preachers than to our venerable tradition.  They choose one aspect of the faith and run with that, ignoring everything else.  For example, recently, some have rejected the guidance of the Church, given both by our bishops and by the Holy Father, on how we might respond to this pandemic, particularly regarding the use of vaccines.  And they do this, because they are anchored to one particular issue ignoring all others.

Conclusion

As we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, we should reflect on the meaning of our own baptism.  We know that, our baptism by removing original sin from us and by making us adopted children of the Father, set us on a lifelong journey of growing in faith, hope and love.  By our baptism we undertook to believe all those things that Jesus teaches us through his Church.  We must remain faithful to the full teaching of Jesus in his Church, even those things like his baptism, which we don’t fully understand.  So that, when we come to the end of our earthly journey, God the Father will say to us those words he said to Jesus at his baptism: “You are my beloved Son/Daughter; with you I am well pleased.”