Gospel for the Day: Endorsement

Today is the Feast of Jesus' Baptism. In the Gospel today, John the Baptist tells those whom he baptizes, "I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

When Jesus goes to John to be baptized, the Spirit came " And a voice came from the heavens,

"You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

I think we can take it from this that Jesus was the first person to be baptized by the Spirit. And subsequently, he commands his disciples to baptize others as he was baptized himself.

I did a quick scan of what baptism meant during the time of Jesus. And it seems, baptism was a ritual to make people clean. One site I saw said that clean/ unclean wasn't the same as good/ evil (although sin could make one unclean). Those who were unclean, however, could not go to the temple to worship unless they got themselves clean. I guess baptism would be the equivalent of full body detoxification. 

So what John was doing was to thoroughly clean people so that they could receive the Lord. 

Jesus' baptism, however, was different. He was baptized by the Spirit and endorsed by what we assume to be God the Father. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, the voice says.

I think through this episode, the triumvirate does what it does best: reinterpret the law and rituals and bring it to its fullness. Baptism becomes not just a ritual of cleansing but also a ritual of endorsement. When we are baptized, as Jesus was baptized, we are cleansed, yes, but more importantly, God endorses us and says, you, baptized one, are also mine. 

And if we follow Christ's mission and those of his disciples, we begin to understand that this endorsement does not lead to exclusivity but mission. That those of us who are baptized have a mission to let hearts know that they belong to God.