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January 6, 2022The Baptism of the Lord
Is 42:1-4, 6-7; Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10; Acts 10:34-38; Lk 3:15-16, 21-22
Ah, a new year! There are endless possibilities! And, chances are, many of us have a great deal of energy and enthusiasm around resolutions and making a fresh start of things. Many of us look at the new year as an opportunity to make those changes in our lives we know need to happen, and to set our course with greater focus. However, we know too well that the best laid plans can seldom hold up to what life brings as the months unfold. Today we celebrate Jesus’ Baptism. In our tradition, baptism is the sacrament that makes us born anew into the Body of Christ. We are dunked into the waters of baptism and come up as a new creation, washed clean of the past and given a blank slate with a future of endless possibility as a follower of Jesus Christ. As disciples of Jesus, we learn to expect the unexpected. Saint Peter certainly seems to have experienced this in the reading from Acts today when he exclaims: “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.” He says this in the context of a vision in which he is told to eat what is considered unclean in his Jewish faith. Peter must have lived his whole life knowing what is clean and unclean to eat, but at this moment God seems to be challenging Peter to something new: what was considered unclean, he is invited to eat. In the Gospel, the people, like us at the start of the new year, are full of expectation. They think John is the Christ. But John opens their minds beyond their expectations much like Peter must have experienced in his dream: They are getting baptized with water, but Christ will baptize them with the Holy Spirit, God’s own spirit! At baptism, we enter into a new life...a new life of discipleship full of surprises and challenges. How open am I to the surprises and challenges God has for me in 2022? Do I trust Him with this year?
