A NEW WAY OF LIVING
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17
A 10-year-old boy, Cameron, walked into the pastor’s office with a request: “We were learning about Jesus’ baptism. The teacher asked the class who was baptized and all the other kids raised their hands. I want to be baptized too.”
The pastor gently asked: “Cameron, do you want to be baptized only because everyone else is?” The boy replied, “No. I want to be baptized because it means I belong to God.”
The pastor was moved by his understanding and suggested that Sunday for his baptism. Cameron asked: “Do I have to be baptized in front of people in the church? Can’t I just have a friend baptize me in the river?” The pastor asked where he came up with that idea. “Well, Jesus was baptized by his cousin John in a river, wasn’t he?”
The pastor conceded: “You have a point. But, if a friend baptized you in the river, how would the church recognize it?” Realizing this was a teachable moment, the pastor reached for the Ritual Book. But before he could pick the book, Cameron responded: “I guess by my new way of living.” The Book stayed on the shelf! Cameron’s understanding of baptism was profound in its simplicity.
Baptism does signify that we belong to God, a belonging seen in a new way of living.
It was thus with Jesus’ baptism. The Father affirmed his sonship: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Empowered by the Spirit, who descended on him at his baptism, Jesus started proclaiming the kingdom of God, began teaching and healing, and restored broken lives instead of broken furniture.
He, thus, fulfilled the mission of the Servant of Yahweh, which we heard in the First Reading. This text gives us both the method and the content of Jesus’ mission: not by loud and violent means but by going about doing good and healing all who are bruised and broken.
It is the same with us. Our baptism is not simply a one-off ceremony or a ritual recorded in some dusty parish register. It must pervade our entire life. Through baptism we become sons and daughters of God; we belong to him. The Spirit empowers us to live this new life as God’s children.
Is my baptism seen in my way of living? Can people recognise that I belong to God?
May we live our baptism so that the Father may be able to say of us: “This is my beloved son/ daughter, with whom I am well pleased.”
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