Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR A BAPTISM OF THE LORD Is 42,1-4.6-7; Acts 10,34-38; Mt 3,13-17 The breaking of waters As
Jesus came up from the waters. Today we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus & reflect on the gift of
being baptized in the Lord’s Death & Resurrection. Both Matthew & Mark
describe the scene of Jesus’ Baptism, remarking that Jesus was
coming out of the waters, when he was invested with God’s life-giving
Spirit: ‘Having been plunged, immediately Jesus went up from the waters and
then the Spirit of God came down on him’. Religious language attaches great
importance to this ‘fluid element’ which we call water. Water carries a
great variety of meanings: it starts from the primordial waters of creation - to
the water of life - to God’s life-giving Spirit - to the miracle of birth
which takes place at the ‘breaking of waters’- to the our own life in
God’s Spirit. Water comes down from heaven in small drops, gushes out of
springs, flows down in torrents, refreshes, cleanses, heals, extinguishes fires
and has medicinal qualities. Obviously, physical cleanliness is linked with, and
indeed becomes a symbol of, moral & religious purification. For Christians,
the waters of Baptism have marvellous powers: they cleanse and heal (as it
happened when Nahaman plunged himself seven times in the river Jordan and was
cleansed of leprosy -2King 5,1+); they restore life & strength (as it
happened in the desert at Moses’ time & water gushed forth from the rock
(Ex17,6); indeed they are for us a fountain of salvation, which springs from the
open heart of Jesus as he died on the cross. The very life of Jesus, like living
water, flows from Him into his Church and in each of us, members of his body,
and living stones of his temple: from this spiritual temple, the waters of
Baptism flow to give life, heal & restore all living things. And we become a
light to other people. The miracle of birth. The waters of baptism bring about -in a real though symbolic way- the miracle of birth: 3 times, we are plunged in, & 3 times we emerge from, the waters of baptism, and thus we become children of our loving God. In Baptism we talk about a new creation, a miracle of grace, just as human birth is a miracle. In the womb (full of the water of creation) life implants and decodes itself, totally beyond our control and when all is ready, the waters break and we are born. No matter how painful the time of birth, is for our beautiful mums, it is through the ‘breaking of the waters of creation’, that we are ushered into this universe. Baptism repeats this miracle: through its waters we are born into eternal life and become children of the Most High. At our Baptism we thank God for choosing each of us into the miracle of birth, both human & divine, and we feel honoured for cooperating with God in creating and nurturing new life, also human & divine. Book of Genesis puts it beautifully: at the beginning of time, God’s Spirit hovered over the primordial waters of creation and every living creature began to team into them. John’s Gospel touches also on the miracle of birth: ‘Unless we are born of water & Holy Spirit, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven’. And today’s Gospel says: as Jesus was coming out of the waters, he was invested with God’s Spirit & was acknowledged as God’s beloved Son. At Baptism, immersion in water symbolizes not only death & purification, but also regeneration and renewal: in Baptism we are truly born in the Holy Spirit. In the waters of Baptism, just as in the physical birth from the waters of the womb, we are reborn into the life of union with God and rise to a new life in Christ, we are Christened in that we become Christians, and rise to a Christ-like life, we become true followers of His,. as we become a light and of service to other people. For this: Thank You, God. ______________________________________ |
