Being Made New

“After all the people had been baptized
and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,
heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.”

Luke 3:21-22a

Baptism is the sacrament through which original sin is washed away and through which one is made new and become children of God. Although Jesus had no sin and did not need to be made into the family of God, He was baptized. Why? Jesus asked John to baptize Him because He was one with our humanity and it was the sins of man that was washed away. “He who knew no sin was made sin for us” (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus was in complete solidarity with us. He became one of us so that might be like Him and with Him.

At the Baptism of the Lord, the Trinity was publicly revealed to us: the voice of the Father, the Holy Spirit descending, and the Son in the Jordan River. The Father spoke to the Son saying, “You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” The Father affirms Jesus in His identity as beloved Son, and those present witnessed and heard this. Because Jesus is Son, we too who are baptized share in the Sonship of Christ, and we too are the beloved sons and daughters of the Father. With Jesus’ baptism humanity has been made new. We have become a new creation in Christ. What was loss by our first parents, Adam and Even, Christ has restored and transformed. Sin and death shrinks in the face of grace and eternal life.

Brothers and sisters, we have been made new and we are the beloved of the Father. May we never forget this and may we always remind others of this truth.

The Baptism of Christ, c. 1690, Antoine Coypel

Being the Best Man

“The one who has the bride is the bridegroom;
the best man, who stands and listens for him,
rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.
So this joy of mine has been made complete.
He must increase; I must decrease.”

John 3:29-30

What is the job and responsibility of the best man? Someone who is right there with the groom. A trusted brother and a faithful friend. He helps prepare the groom for his big day, but not only that, he is with him on his big day and continues to remain with him afterwards. In other words, the best man is one who has the groom’s back and who supports him in any way he is able to. The best man knows that he is not the star of the day; he knows it is all about the bride and the groom. St. John the Baptist refers to himself as the best man of the Bridegroom, Christ.

St. John the Baptist’s entire life pointed to Christ and prepared the way for Him. John knew that when all was said and done, it was all about Jesus, the Son of God, the Bridegroom of the wedding feast. Although it is all about Jesus, John does not get jealous or asks what’s in it for him; rather he says that now that Jesus has come his joy “has been made complete.” Brothers and sisters, the fruit of putting Jesus first is joy, a joy that is complete. Jesus wants our joy to be complete too, do we? If we do, how can we go about it? John gives us the answer, “He must increase; I must decrease.”

The space in our hearts and lives given to Jesus must increase, and those areas allotted to self-interest, pride, jealousy, envy, etc. must decrease. Jesus must be the center of our lives and we must be the best man. All that we say and do ought to allow the love and joy of Jesus to radiate from within us for all to see and experience. We must be content with being the best man and never, out of pride or envy, strive to be the Bridegroom. Our lives must point to Christ and not to ourselves. Because when we live our lives for others we come to realize how much happier and more fulfilling our lives become. So, today let us promise to do our best to be the best best man we can so that like John the Baptist, our joy too might be made complete.

Withdrawing from the Crowds

“The report about him spread all the more,
and great crowds assembled to listen to him
and to be cured of their ailments,
but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.”

Luke 5:15-16

Upon healing the leper from his leprosy Jesus told him to not tell anyone, but instead we are told that news about this spread wide and far to the point where everyone started to come to Jesus to listen to Him and to be healed. But Jesus withdrew to deserted places to pray. Why did He do that? Why didn’t Jesus stay and teach and heal the people instead? There are multiple levels of reasons, but first and foremost is that Jesus is showing that what is central to His life and His mission is His relationship with the Father: His prayer life.

As Christians we must have and maintain our relationship with God, in other words, our prayer life. Jesus withdrew not because He didn’t want to help the people, but because He knew that if His relationship with the Father was not first, His mission would not be possible. In the same way, without putting our relationship with God first, without spending time in prayer with the Lord, we really won’t be able to do much with true charity and love. We must draw from the font and source of Love in order to love, and so like Jesus, we must withdraw to deserted places, to the quiet of our hearts, and pray — to speak to and to listen to God. It is in the withdrawing to those quiet places that we will be given the strength and fortitude to go back to love and to minister to the People of God.

So, Jesus withdrew not to hide, but to speak with the Father. Similarly we ought to withdraw not to hide from the anxieties and uncertainties of life, but rather withdraw to commune with the Father and by doing so receive the grace and strength to embrace those anxieties and uncertainties, allowing God to bring about great good through them.