Homily Baptism of the Lord, January 13, 2019
 
“You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased.” Such tender words from heaven, from God,  the Father of Jesus and us all. In so many words, God says I love you with all my power, with all my tenderness, with all Divine Being, and Jesus always answers in complete trust, unconditionally, as he hands himself over to the Father in every way, every day, from his baptism that we celebrate today, to Cana, to the joyous entrance into Jerusalem, to the Agony in the Garden, to the whipping post, to the Cross. And through it all Jesus answers, Abba, the Aramaic word for father in the deepest loving sense you can imagine, as Jesus burrows deeply into the gracious and compassionate heart of the Father, the Rock of Salvation, upon which Jesus and all of us stand, safe from all evil. 
 
Jesus chose to be baptized. Heaven knows he didn’t need to.  But by doing so, he chose to be one of us, to identify with us, the community of all peoples, all nations. Jesus stepped into our lot in life and into our ultimate calling of salvation.
 
What a special moment in time as the Holy Spirit came upon him, the same Spirit that breathed on the waters in Genesis, the Spirit that entered Mary at his conception, the same Spirit that came to his last moment on the Cross, the Spirit that powered his Resurrection, and the Spirit that came to us at our baptism and the Spirit that empowers common bread and wine to become the eternal Son of God, Jesus, our apex of salvation.
 
Baptism for Jesus was not an end.  He wasn’t baptized and then said, Ok now. Do this too. Bye now. I’m going back to heaven. No. Baptism for Jesus was the BEGINNING of his ministry, the beginning of his journey that led to the Cross. 
 
For Jesus and for us Baptism is not necessarily an end in itself but the first step in a life process of weaving the Lord into the fabric of our daily joys and struggles, into our high points and low points, into our wins and failures. It is the spiritual power of baptism that warms the soul even of baptized infants too young for Holy Communion, infants and toddlers whose cries and gestures at Mass are so pleasing to the Lord, even though some may find the gurgles and antics as distracting, but for our Heavenly Father, the little ones give him the greatest praise. Jesus says “Let the children come to me.” 
 
Baptism is not physical magic. It doesn’t erase our difficulties. It isn’t a biological anesthesia, taking away our pains.  Rather baptism fills us with the Joy of the Trinity, making us daughters and sons of God, changing us in our very being, giving us the right road to take through our problems and difficulties, through our grief and sorrow, through our eventual death.
 
In Baptism God is with us who protects us from drowning in the floods of sin, saves us from the unquenchable fires of total ruination. In baptism we will not drown. We will not burn. 
 
Baptism removes our borders separating life from death.  In baptism we cross our wilderness into the promised land of life with God. We leave life as mere survival, and enter into the rich pastures of forgiveness and never ending love of Father. Worldly fear, loss, and pain is replaced with joy, hope and healing from Father Son and Holy Spirit. 
 
We receive this as a free and merciful gift from Jesus who stood in the waters of the River Jordan which did not sanctify Jesus at all, but Jesus sanctified its and all waters for our baptism. 
 
It is these baptismal waters that we daily quench our thirst by confessing our sins, by receiving the Bread of Life, the Eucharist, by professing belief in the Good News of Jesus, the Gospel, by living life as Christ did by loving all God’s peoples no matter who they are,  or where they’re from, by striving for justice, peace and dignity for every person because God has treated us with such dignity. 
 
We are not alone in our daily quest to spread the richness of Christ’s life to all persons. Jesus freely gives us his strength, that is his grace to power all our efforts to be sowers of Christian love. By our baptism, by his Spirit breathed into us through his sacrament, he remains ever present in us.
 
Baptism transcends our every day biology, our physical existence and shows us life as it should be lived, a life unlimited in the spectacular and never ending glory of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.