Baptism: An Entrance that Restores and Calls for Newness of Life.
Isa 42:1-4,6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Matt 3:13-17
As we celebrate today, the Baptism of the Lord, it is important that we ask: What is the function of baptism? What does baptism do for a person who receives it? Why is baptism important? Baptism transfers us from the fallen human nature in Adam, to the glorious children of God, restored through Christ. Baptism washes away the fault of the sin of Adam and makes us to be
true children of God. It restores what was broken in us and brings back what Adam denied us through his disobedience.
(Excursus: The sin of Adam destroyed the very root of humanity, thereby making every human born, an inheritor, not of Adam’s sin, but of the damage done to the root, which is our one common humanity. This is what we call ‘the guilt of Adam’s sin’. We are not sharers of Adam’s sin but inheritors of the effect it caused to humanity. This means that any person born as a human, is by necessity an inheritor of this guilt on humanity. Baptism cleanses us of the guilt, healing the damaged human root through the merits of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. What Adam destroyed through his sinful act, baptism restores through redemptive works of Christ. It then means that when we deny or fail to baptize a child, we are not just denying him/her a place among God’s people, we are also saying that he/she is not a human.
Hence, if we say that a child has no guilt of original sin, we are indirectly saying that he/she is not a human, because our one common humanity is that which is damaged in/by Adam. The question then is: What of BVM who is said not to have contracted the guilt of original sin? Is she not a human being then since she needed no baptism? The effect of baptism is that it reconciles us to God through the merits of Christ’s death and resurrection. These merits have already been applied to BVM before her conception by the virtue of her future virginal conception of Christ himself. Hence, Mary had no guilt of original sin, not because she is a god or super-human but because she already enjoyed the merits of the same baptism even before at her conception) (THIS IS JUST AN ASIDE, BUT INTERESTING
THEOLOGICAL DISCUSSION)
If baptism therefore makes us to become reborn children of God, does Christ, the son of God, need baptism? Christ is already the eternal son of God, so why did he have to receive baptism? From today’s gospel reading, we can derive two reasons why Christ allowed himself to be baptised by John even when he needs not that.
a. Identification – Christ wants to identify with us. He wants to show us that he is our brother and that he goes with us into any situation we find ourselves. He goes with us into our fallen humanity, in order to restore it for us. After his death, he would go down into the underworld, as to associate himself with our forebears who are being held captive there. By his baptism, Christ touches our humanity, identifying himself with what is fallen in us, and becoming himself the authentic restoration of our fallen nature.
Christ’s words: “it is fitting that we should in this way do what righteousness demands” therefore suggest Christ to be saying that righteousness demands that he who heals (Christ) be identified with that which he heals (humanity). “To do what righteousness demands (or to fulfil all righteousness)” therefore should not be understood as “let us do it, even though it is not necessary”. Through his baptism, Christ identifies with the humanity he has come to heal, and then ordains the water of baptism as the rightful source for the gaining of the merits of his passion, death, and resurrection.
b. Revelation – In the baptism of Christ, we see what happens also in our baptism.
Today’s gospel says that after John baptized Christ, the cloud opened, the spirit of God descended on Christ, and the voice [of the Father] says: “This is my beloved son “.
“This is my beloved son…” spoken of Jesus, does not mean that Jesus began to be God’s beloved son only after his baptism. No. Jesus remains the eternal son of the Father. And what is eternal cannot cease to be, only to begin again in time. It was just to show us how God accepts us as his children at our baptism. Hence, at our baptism, the heaven, which was closed after Adam sinned, is opened for us. Then, God sends his spirit to come and dwell in us, even though we do not see it with our physical eyes. And then, God accepts us back and addresses us as his beloved sons and daughters, even though we do not hear it with our physical ears. With the restoration of our fallen human
nature through baptism, God’s original plan for us comes back and shines in all its splendor.
This is what Christ wants to show us through his baptism. He wants to show us that baptism reconciles us with God, makes us the worthy abode/indwelling of God’s spirit and makes us children of God and the citizens of heaven. Therefore, we are no longer to live the way we want but the way that will always please God. ‘This is my son in whom I am well pleased’ means that as children of God, our actions suppose to be pleasing to God.
Baptism: A Gift That Calls (A Gift that Initiates One Unto Godly Witness)
While the gospel shows us the great gift which baptism brings to us, the first and second reading shows us the importance of living like those who have received such glorious and eternal heritage. In the first reading, God chooses us as his servants, as his sons and daughters, and bestows his spirit on us, so that we may live as God’s children. Baptism brings a great and precious gift to us. That is, it renders us children of God, indwelling of God’s Spirit. But at the same time, it calls on us to live according to the person whose name we answer: God. Our obligation as members of God’s household therefore is to bring true justice to the nations (Isa 42:1d, 3c), to serve the cause of right (Isa 42:6a), to be covenant of the people and light of the nations (Isa 42:6c), to open the eyes of the blind (Isa 42:7a), to free captives from prison and to lead those who live in darkness from the dungeon (Isa 42:7b).
In the second reading (Acts 10:34-38), St. Peter tells Cornelius and his household that God, our father does not show any partiality, but in every nation, whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. To fear God is to revere him. It means to always allow our actions and words be governed by “For God’s sake”. If we belong to God through our baptism, the respect we ought to give to him is to always live in reference to him by
not doing what displeases him, what is contrary to God’s nature. Secondly, as children of God, St. Peter reminds us of the importance to live like God whose spirit dwells in us. We are expected to do away with any form of partiality in our dealings with people. We are one common family, one humanity, which Christ did not hesitate to associate himself with and to restore. Therefore, in God’s family, we are all one because we all spring from one humanity created by God, damaged by Adam, and restored by/in Christ. Any form of partiality mocks both God’s plan for all men and his work both in creation and in redemption of humanity.
May God give us the grace to live according to the demands of our state as children of God, so that we not only be “God’s children” but “God’s children whose actions, words, and lives are pleasing to God”. Amen.
FR. HENRY CHUKWUEZUGO