Homily on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

God’s Complete Solidarity With The Human Race

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, January 9, 2022

The baptism of the Lord is very odd. How come? The first Christians maintain that Jesus is the Savior, the Son of God, the spotless Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. If he is the spotless Lamb, why did he seek a baptism of repentance? Along the River Jordan, John the Baptist was offering a baptism of repentance. He was inviting sinners to repent of their sins. As they stand in the water, he would baptize them and wash them of their sins. Then Jesus comes to him as well. People really witnessed this event because it is found in all the four Gospels. If there was any reason for the story to be dropped out of the Gospel, the authors would have done so because it was such an unusual event. Yet, in all four Gospels, we read that Jesus began his public ministry by seeking a baptism of repentance. The strangeness of this event can even be heard in Baptist’s own words. John had already told the people that when the Messiah comes, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire,” (Matt. 3:11). As Jesus presents himself, John looks at him with dismay and says, “I should be baptized by you, and yet, you are coming to me.” John’s puzzlement shows that Jesus’ behavior is not how God behaves. But that’s how God behaves— humbly standing with us sinners, sharing his love even to the point of identifying with us in the miry waters of sin. That’s surprising way that God breaks upon the scene. 

Gospel writers insist that Jesus is the sinless Son of God. They insist he is the Word made flesh. They insist he is the one who takes away the sins of the world. There is no ambivalence about these claims. This event shows how strange God operates. He lays aside his glory. He lays aside his majesty and sneaks quietly into the cold, muddy waters of Jordan River. Add to that, he stood side by side in the water with sinners. The people who came to John the Baptist were probably ordinary sinners, people who committed what we call venial sins today. But there were also people who committed what we call mortal sins today, people who were far gone, far lost morally and spiritually. These people were coming to John seeking for peace. Then Jesus sneaks in quietly and stands right with all these messy sinners. He humbly submits himself to the baptism of John. For some for us who like to make virtually everything a public splash, who like to look pretty good, check this out. The first move of Jesus’ public life is to look as much bad as he can look. The first move of the Word made flesh when he breaks on public scene is to make himself look like a sinner, is to stand shoulder to shoulder with us sinners. This is the whole revolution of Christianity, everybody. 

African philosophy recognizes God as one Supreme Being who is at the top of a hierarchy of lesser deities and ancestors. God is thought to be omniscient, omnipresent, merciful and the provider of the needs of his creatures, mostly especially the human race. But to suggest that God will come down and stand with the sinful world, no African philosopher will ever think or imagine such as reasonable. Even the Jewish prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah and others talk about the holiness of God and how offensive we are to God. That God will come down and enter into our condition, identify with us to the point of appearing among us as a sinner? Clearly unheard of! Yet, that’s the way the public life of Jesus begins. The sinless God going into God’s forsakenness. Christ is not a sinner. If Christ is a sinner, then Christianity falls apart. The important point is this: the  sinless one identifies with the whole attitude and predicament of the sinner. So as to bring God’s love and forgiveness even down to that place. 

Sisters and brothers, in Christ God comes to forgive our sins. Is he a Teacher? Absolutely yes! Is he a healer? Certainly! But at the heart of the matter which culminates at the cross is that he has come to forgive our sins. Constantly on the lips of Jesus is: I come not for the healthy but the sick. I come not for the righteous but sinners (Mk. 2:7). At the Last Supper he says, “This is the cup of my Blood, the Blood of the new and everlasting covenant, which will be shed for you and for all.” Why? So that sins may be forgiven. That’s why he has come. And it signals here in his baptism. He comes to stand humbly, salvifically with us sinners. A lovely passage from prophet Isaiah that accompanies today’s Gospel is “A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench…” A bruised reed is a reed that is crack and broken. Often, the temptation is to conclude that it is useless. Just break it into two and throw it away. No! When the Messiah comes, he comes to repair. He comes not to cast aside all of us sinners who are offensive to God. He comes to heal the broken reed. He comes not to blow out even the little flickering flames but to cultivate it, protect it from being blown out. He comes to lure it back to life. That’s the meaning of the image of “a smoldering wick he shall not quench.” In our sin, we are like the wick about to be blown out. But Jesus has come to enter right into that experience and try to nurture that light back. That’s why he comes. God doesn’t just pass judgment from on high, he doesn’t extinguish the smoldering wick, he enters into this state of ours in all humility, with the desire to bring us back to life. That’s why he has come. 

When John objects to Jesus’ request, Jesus says, “We must do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Righteousness is a word that echoes throughout the Bible. It means setting right. Sin is the loss of righteousness. Our relationship with God is broken by sin. So, righteousness is not primarily our task. The great revelation of the New Testament is that it is primarily God’s task. We are set right by the gracious humility of Jesus coming into our sin and setting us right. After Jesus had been baptized and was praying, suddenly the heaven was open, and the Holy Spirit in bodily form like a dove was seen descending upon him. Then a voice speaks from heaven and says, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” In the baptism of Jesus we see the first theophany of the Trinity. The central claim of the Church that there is Three Persons in God is fully displayed in the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, the voice of the Father, and the Son who sneaks into the muddy water and stands right with us sinners in love. The unsurpassing power of this great feast is that the all-powerful God loves us even to the point of identifying with us sinners. And it is in the process of identifying with us that God’s fullness is revealed.