9 January 2022

The Baptism of Our Lord

When Adam and Eve tasted the fruit of the tree in the Garden of Eden, their disobedience to the Lord’s command closed humanity off from heaven and led to their expulsion from the garden. In today’s Gospel reading for the Baptism of the Lord (Lk 3:15-16, 21-22), however, the obedience of Jesus to his saving mission opens heaven and leads to a theophany, with the Holy Spirit descending as a dove and the voice of the Father declaring, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” By going down to be baptized by John, Jesus takes up the work for which he came into the world, and which was foretold by Isaiah in today’s first reading: “to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.” 

Today, let us pause to contemplate Jesus’ acceptance of his mission from the Father and its implications for our own vocation and mission. Christ’s obedience has unlocked the waters of baptism for us and shown us the way to the Father; each of us, as baptized Christians, shares in Christ’s mission in our own particular way. How is the Lord calling me within the context of my own particular vocation, and how might I be obedient to that call, as our Lord was?