10/01/2010 - BAPTISM OF THE LORD - C
Ist Reading Is 40,1-5.9-11 Psalm 103 2nd Reading Titus 2,11-14;3,4-7 Gospel Lk3,15-16.21-22
"This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you have sent, Jesus, the Christ". To know "the only true God" is not possible. We are human beings and, being so we are full of rebellion, far away from living the experience of God. He must give us his grace. This is the ministry that the Father gave to Jesus: to give eternal life, and he does so by making us know "the only true God" and himself as the Son of God. God, whom Jesus calls as Father, is "the only true God". Today, who knows for what kind of reason, in the interreligious dialogue, it is often said, to please others, that we won't say there is only one God, but that all religions are good and all have the same value. Apart from the ignorance that such a statement hides and manifests at the same time, one needs to ask those who suffer because of this, and it is against what Jesus says. He lived that love that took him to death to make us know God, not as any other God, that one already known by men through their various religions, but "the only true God". No one has ever seen this God, no one has ever imagined him nor knew him. It was necessary that Jesus lives and dies so that we come to know him and meet him, to come to enjoy his love, and to give us the courage to come close to him with full trust. It is true that there is only one God, but this one God is the Father of Jesus, the Christ! The only God that exists is the one who loves us, who forgives us, who has sent his Son to save us, that God who speaks to us and instructs us. The only true God is the one who waits on our hearing and obedience. He loves us, and asks of us to meet him on the way of love. To love us he sent Jesus, the Christ: we can come to know him through him, as through him who can hear his word, from him we learn how to obey the Father. From Jesus we learn that to obey God is not a sign of slavery and neither humiliation, but a gift, grace, occasion to express more our possibilities. Who obeys God, in fact, experience great joy. In this prayer Jesus himself defines himself as "the one sent (by God)": he feels sent by the Father and is obedient to him. He presents himself so, a quality that he hold dear, nice and important for himself. It shows in fact the unity with the Father, and at the same time reveals that his authority is divine.
Today's Readings recall those we have heard during the Advent and Christmas Season:
they are almost a summary, or better, a recall for the awaiting of men that was
fulfilled. The Lord, who promised to come and for whom we have prepared the way,
is here amongst us. We have contemplated him as a Babe, and we were told that "he
grew in wisdom and grace". Today we contemplate him as God himself presents
him: he is presented to those who recognize that they are sinners and present themselves
to John to be baptized.
This John is in the truth about himself and knows well that he is only to prepare
the people to welcome the Messiah; that he is to help those who think that he himself
is the Messiah: no, the Messiah is not destined to baptize with water, like he was
doing, does not only purify. It's not only that man is free from sin and guilt.
Man must live, must live a life that is worthy of his Creator, worthy of his God.
The witness that John gives brings to my mind when some one comes to me and confess
that he has done nothing wrong. The one who limits oneself not to do anything wrong,
does not know yet what it means to live. The son of God is one who lives a full
life, rich in holiness, a life in communion with God himself. Because of this, it
is not only necessary a purification from wrong done in the past, but it necessitates
the Holy Spirit. Here is the mission of the One who is to come, the gift of the
Son of God to men. John says it with the words: "He will baptize you in the
Holy Spirit and in fire". He will be able to do so because the same Holy Sprit
descends and remains the same Holy Spirit. This happens when in fact Jesus himself
enters in the water of the purification from sins: we know that he was not a sinner,
because he never disobeyed the Father. All the same he was put equally with sinners
to take upon himself their punishment: this will be fulfilled when he climbs the
cross. Here, at the Jordan, he humbles himself, and what he will be saying often
to his disciples is fulfilled, that "who humbles himself, shall be exalted".
It is because he is not a sinner, and that he is the God amongst us, the voice from
heaven is heard accompanied by the descending of the dove. The voice that comes
from above witness that his life is pleasing to God: "You are my Son, the beloved:
in you I am pleased". Who heard this voice? Only he or even the people? Today
we hear it, and we want to take it seriously. Jesus is the Son of God, pleasing
to God. Let us keep ourselves close to him, wherever he will be. We keep close to
him in moments of silence to enjoy his presence, in those moments when he will speak
to listen to his wisdom, in those moments in which he will be despised to suffer
with him, in the hour of his death to overcome with him the forces of evil. In this
way we live a new life, free from the conditions of sin present in the world. We
would reject with him "worldly desires", and help out in the formation
of a new people, bearer of a life that "renews the face of the earth".
This feast completes the celebration of Christmas: Jesus, presented by Mary, the
angels, the shepherds, Simon and Anne, is at the end presented by God himself: God
presents him when he lives in humility. This is a new lesson for us who are proud.
God approves us when we are humble!