The feast of the baptism of Jesus (Baptism of the Lord) is notable because it marks the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus begins his ministry by receiving baptism in the river Jordan from John the Baptist. Today’s feast connects the Christmas season with the ordinary time of the year. During the Christmas season we have reflected on the Incarnation, the birth of Jesus, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Epiphany.
Today we see Jesus solidarizing with humankind through baptism as he begins his public ministry of three years. Today in Mark’s Gospel (Mk 1,7–11), Jesus bows his sacred head to receive the baptism of repentance and inaugurates his ministry of proclaiming the kingdom of God and calling people to repentance. The feast reminds us of our baptism and the promises we made to always serve God. Repentance, daily submission to the will of God, and avoiding sin are the marks of our Christian vocation. Baptism, above all, makes heirs of the kingdom of God with Christ.
Prioritizing the Kingdom of God
Jesus begins his public ministry with a call to repentance in Galilee saying, “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel!” Galilee was the place where Jesus previously performed his first miracle at the Wedding of Cana. There at the wedding, he turned water into wine to the satisfaction and merriment of the people. At his subsequent emergence in Galilee, Jesus took up his public ministry, calling people to repentance, and announcing the coming of God’s kingdom. When Jesus calls people to repentance he invites them to change their ways and to follow him. This call raises some questions: How does following Jesus impart meaning in our world today?
After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, he stayed in the wilderness preparing for his mission. John the Baptist was arrested for criticizing King Herod’s marriage to his wife, Herodias, as illegal, because she had previously been married to his own brother, Philip. The Pharisees and the great men of the time, including the religious leaders, were engrossed in comfortable lives of luxury while extorting and oppressing the poor and lowly. Hence, Jesus saw the necessity to confront the situation by pointing to an alternative kingdom and rulership. Moreover, the arrest of John the Baptist made the situation of things obvious. When Jesus announces the kingdom of God, He sets a contrast between the rulership of the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of God.
Prioritizing the Kingdom of God
In his invitation of people to God, John the Baptist and Jesus influenced history – they provoked the comforts of the people of their time and introduced a new era. Sometimes the followers of Christ put all their craft into work, but perhaps fail in investing their craft and competence into the right action, at the right time and for the right purpose.
The call to set our priorities does not legitimize inattentiveness to the present world –our own physical needs and the needs of people around us. Jesus commissioned his followers to be more active in the world for the sake of the ideals the kingdom of God represent. In our world today, people are starting to realize that their needs are greater than they can bear. There is a need of justice on the earth that is begging to be met. People are overwhelmed by darkness and are looking for hope. But often, they seek to meet their needs in the same institutions and practices that have kept them in darkness.
Hence, the summons to prioritize the values that bring human beings closer to their divine nature, heal our world, and sustain the beauty of creation and the earth. This prioritizing challenge is exigent today, given the tendency to prioritize immediate nourishment.
I conclude with the prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”
