Taking a Bath

Homily for January 10, 2016 (Baptism of the Lord, C)
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-38; Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

When we say that someone really “took a bath” on a purchase or an investment, we use an idiom that describes a heavy and almost overwhelming loss.  Today, however, we’re asked to reflect on how we have “taken a bath” in a far different way and, in doing so, have received an overwhelming and eternal gift.  That bath is our baptism.

In celebrating the Baptism of the Lord, we mark the end of the Christmas season, that special time of the year when we recall the profound mystery of the Incarnation—how Jesus, God’s living Word, was made flesh and immersed himself in our humanity.  In submitting to John’s baptism, Jesus further plunged into the life of the people whom his Father sent him to serve.  God’s affirmation of this obedience to mission is seen in the theophany Luke describes:  God’s voice from heaven claims Jesus as his Son and the Holy Spirit descends upon him in the visible form of a dove.

Just as Jesus’ baptism was an immersion in our human lives, so our baptism is an immersion in his life and an invitation to become more and more like him.  It is an open invitation.  St. Peter testified in our first reading from Acts 10:  “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.  Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.”  We grow in our likeness of Christ the more we honor him and live in awe of his grace and power.  We create space for the Holy Spirit to work in us.

Peter, however, did not come easily to this understanding; it had to be revealed to him, and not just once.  Earlier in that same chapter, he had a series of visions that caused him to rethink his ideas about who was “clean” and “unclean.”  Still rooted in the Mosaic Law and his religious traditions, he was challenged to open his mind and heart to a new group of believers like Cornelius and his household whom he had previously been taught to shun.

This challenge should not have seemed too unusual.  After all, it was a central to the ministry of Jesus.  Like the servant Isaiah described in our first reading, he strove to “bring forth justice to the nations” and “to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.”  His ministry was one of liberation, to set people free from whatever was oppressing or enslaving them.

By virtue of our Baptism, we share in that same ministry of, in St. Peter’s words, “doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil.”  Having taken the bath, we have been cleansed, refreshed and renewed for the work ahead and a life of discipleship. +