Matthew 3:13 - 17
After 2000 years we still don’t completely understand baptism. For example, a Catholic and a Baptist were arguing one day. The Baptist said, “You Catholics aren’t really baptized, because they only pour a little water on the top of your head. .” The Catholic said, “If I went down into the water up to my waist, would that count?” “No” said the Baptist. “How about if I went up to my neck?” “Still wouldn’t count.” How about if I went into the water so deep that only the top of my head was sticking out?” “Wouldn’t be a real baptism”. “So you admit that baptism only counts if you get the top of the head wet?”
Baptism is the first of the sacraments, and like all sacraments, we don’t fully understand it because it’s a mystery. We can never quite answer all the questions it raises. And that goes back to the beginning, when John said to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” And Jesus replied, “allow it for now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Most of us have heard the notion that Baptism results in the removal of all sin, original and personal, and of course Jesus had neither. Some of us have heard the idea that baptism causes a change in our very being, a change we describe as being born again; the old me is gone, the new me, sinless, is now here. But Jesus does not become a new being with baptism. And I don’t think Jesus was baptized just to go through the motions. Think about this. When Jesus is baptized, a voice from the clouds calls out, “This is my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”
The Father is not pleased with Jesus because He is Jesus; the Father has loved the Son from eternity, and can’t love him more. And Jesus hasn’t done anything yet; we have no record of him preaching or healing or doing much of anything before his baptism. No, the Father is pleased because Jesus, true God but also true man, has freely chosen to follow the path God has set out for him. Jesus is not a robot; as a human being with a free will, Jesus could have said, “I’d rather not suffer on a cross and really and truly die.” But in the moment of baptism, Jesus accepts the Father’s plan for him. And as Henri Nouwen said, that plan was to be taken, blessed, broken and given. Jesus allows himself to be taken by the Father, to be set upon a path to do His will; Jesus in that moment of baptism says, “Not my will but yours be done.” And he is then blessed. Blessed is related to the word “benediction” which is Latin for “saying good things”. When Jesus submits to God’s plan, God recognizes him as beloved son. It isn’t clear from the gospel whether only Jesus heard this or the people around him as well, but Jesus is confirmed in the knowledge that he is beloved, that he is Son, that he pleases God -- even though he has done nothing but resolve to allow God to set his path.
And Jesus is broken. The Gospels only hint at the fact that Jesus’ life had its share of bad things. People try to kill him; he is misunderstood; he has nowhere to lay his head; he is ridiculed and scorned by the authorities; his best friends disappear when they are most needed. And of course he is turned over to the authorities and beaten and put to death. His status as beloved of God does not spare him from pain and suffering and even death.
And of course he is given. The very nature of putting yourself in God’s hands means that God will give you away. And Jesus was given, and is still given today. He is first of all given in the Eucharist, to feed his people. He is given in the scriptures; and he is given in his body, the Church, in those very gifts which God puts into each of his people for the building up of the Church.
So one of the reasons Jesus is baptized is because in that moment he surrenders his body, his mind, his whole being to the Father.
And that reminds us, of course, that our baptisms have something in common with that of Jesus. Because when you and I are baptized, we also hear in our hearts “You are my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” When we choose to be baptized, when our parents choose baptism for us, we first of all become God’s beloved son or daughter, before we’ve done anything. We choose, imperfectly, of course, to allow God to direct our lives rather than ourselves. We are blessed because God himself speaks of his pleasure in us, that we have allowed him to take us out of the world for his purposes. And we know that like Jesus, we too can expect to be broken. Since being broken is part of God’s plan for us, we begin to understand how a martyr could go to his death singing; we see how great saints could laugh at death, like Thomas More, who asked the executioner to spare his beard, because it had done nothing wrong; or Saint Lawrence, who told his executioners to turn him over on the griddle, because he was done on one side. When we are being broken, we draw so close to Jesus, like the good thief. And we are given. The nature of being a Christian is to be a gift, to be part of God’s fatherly looking after his people; and our baptism initiates that as well.
And finally, we see another reason why the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life. Every time we celebrate Mass, we enact the taking, the blessing, the breaking and the giving of Jesus Christ and in receiving his body and blood, we affirm our part in the mysterious plan of God that began with our baptism.
