Reflection for the Feast of The Baptism of The Lord
A cup of water has very little worth. Two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. It is so ordinary, so common. But it can unlock the life-giving harvest of a planted seed; it can bring healing to the sick and dying; it can revive the tired, the faded, and the exhausted.
A piece of bread is the most basic of foods. It is hardly a feast. But when shared lovingly and gratefully with the hungry, the poor, the forgotten, a single piece of bread is the banquet of heaven.
A single flower. But one rose given by one lover to another, even a dandelion given by a child to his mother, says I love you more eloquently than the most exquisite sonnet, than the most beautiful bouquet.
A cup of water, a piece of bread, a flower. Of them- selves, not much of anything. So simple, so ordinary. Yet each one can manifest, in its own way, in its own good time, compassion, forgiveness and love that are no less than that of God.
The mystery of the Incarnation -the meaning of Christmas,
the wonder of the Epiphany events of Jesus’ birth, baptism and first miracle is that nothing is so secular that it cannot be sacred; nothing is so ordinary that it cannot be holy when that thing becomes a means for expressing the love of God. In becoming human in Jesus, God makes holy our very humanness; in taking on our human nature, God sanctifies our very lives. When we become vehicles of God’s love, when we become the means for manifesting God’s presence in our world, we become sacred and holy, as well.
Although, according to the Church calendar, the Christmas season officially comes to a close today, we are by no means finished with Christmas. There is much to be done to complete the great event of Christ’s birth; the great music and festivities and stories are but scraps of a greater story we have yet to complete. The good news spoken by the angels continues to unfold; the most wondrous part of the Christ story is yet to be revealed. The same Spirit that anoints the Messiah at the Jordan for his mission calls us to complete the work of Christmas: to seek out and find the lost, to the heal the sick and hurting, to feed the hungry, to liberate the imprisoned, to rebuild families and nations, to bring peace to all peoples everywhere. In baptism, we, too, are both claimed and called by God: God “claims” us as his own people: a people of peace, justice and compassion; and he “calls” to the work of realizing his vision, his “Kingdom” that Jesus reveals.
Today’s feast of Jesus’ baptism challenges us to renew our baptismal vow to respond to that call and claim – in every decision we make, in everything we do – that we are disciples of the Jesus of the Gospel of justice, reconciliation and servanthood.
May all that we hold, may all that we touch, may all that we are, realize the true miracle of the Incarnation: that we and our world are holy and sacred in the sight of God, our Father and Creator.