Wash Away

With the memorial of the Baptism of the Lord, we continue our celebration of the Epiphany. The three Sundays of Epiphany marks the afterglow of the Christmas Season. As part of the Epiphany, today's liturgical readings “manifests” Jesus as the messiah Son of God. A Christian tradition it is that infants be baptized after their birth. Meanwhile, we see in the picture a matured Jesus who is not anymore a cute baby who looks like the one in the belen. I would like to think that Jesus remained a child in the of the heavenly Father, for it is only with a heart that of a child that one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We are called to remain kids at heart. And kids enjoy Christmas wholeheartedly without a single promiscuity.


The Holy Mother Church wants us to contemplate the grace of Baptism. And I recommend five salient points that will help us come up with a sound reflection for this Sunday.

- It is in the Baptism that Jesus met His precursor John the Baptist. The act of Jesus allowing John, a mortal person, to minister to him is symbolically a portrait of humility. Once we are confident of who we are, we will never be insecure to let others administer to us. Jesus knows who He is and never frightened by john’s administration of the baptism. An act that is opposite to that of Herod. We always remember Herod as an insecured king who was scared to give away his position. It is because of that insecurity that many children died.


- Jesus also embraced humanity [except sins] by undergoing an initiation that is instituted by human tradition. Jesus is now ready to take part of the ministry that is of the Church. The coming Sundays of this cycle, we will see a Jesus at work doing His apostolate. It will reflect the genuine compassion of Jesus for the oppressed, the weak, the sick and the poor. It will also suggest the kind solidarity of Jesus with the rest of mankind in need of the grace of God. He is empathizing with our pains and sorrows. He rejoices in us when we are righteous and fearful of God [Acts 10;35].



- Jesus be his baptism asserted that He is the retroactive savior of the cosmos. Thousands of years ago, the Lord told Abraham to go to a distant mountain and there offer Isaac his son. Isaac without knowing that he is the sacrificial victim asked Abraham “Father where is the lamb?”[Gen 22;8] and so after thousands of years, John the Baptist answered the question of Isaac, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”[Jn 01;29] This statement rings a bell to all Catholic Christians. It is always repeated by the priest every Eucharistic Meal. We know the story, Isaac was saved by a ram which happened to be trapped by a tree trunk [Gen 22;13]. And even at that time, the Bible presents a symbol of Jesus. The little ram sacrificed in exchange of Isaac is the symbol of a lamb who is sacrificed in exchange of the universe.

- Jesus by his baptism shows us that the Will of God the Father is always beyond any human rationality. It is out of human reason that God the Father willed Jesus to be baptized by Saint John a human being. John himself almost got tempted to underestimate God by saying that "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" [Mt. 3;14]. Jesus replied saying "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." [Mt.3;15]. It is not always what we want. Lie is about what God wants. Jesus always obeyed the will of the Father even death on the cross for the salvation of humanity. There is a perfect will of God for everyone and that is one of the most exciting parts of life, to look for the perfect will of God for us. If we do not follow the perfect will of God, we might fall into a permissive will. God allows it because that is our choice and He does not interfere with our choices but just think about it; God has a more beautiful plan for our lives. We need to pray always and ask God to show us the way for his perfect will so that like Jesus, though seems illogical, we will obey God.

- Jesus through baptism commune with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Christian baptism is always and forever in a Trinitarian formula and nature. To perform it otherwise is doubtful. Baptism is a sanctifying act that binds persons of common essence, substance, and hypostasis. If Jesus is of godly nature then baptism brings him closer to other god heads. A person is linked to the Church which is both human and divine. Hence, the Church, by her sanctifying performance of baptism makes us commune not only with fellow human individuals but with the angels and saints who are parts of the heavenly Church and most of all.... to God.


It is very vital to take note that in all of what Jesus did after the baptism, though in full solidarity with sinful humanity, He did not sin. His act of baptism actually purified the Jordan River which symbolizes the holy water. He did not immersed into the river to be cleansed but rather he cleansed the river and all the waters of the world so that when a person is baptized by water he will take part of the cleaning process instituted by Christ. Christ being the primordial sacrament of the Church is the initiator of all Sacraments. Secondly, the baptism of the Lord is one instance in the Gospel narratives that tells us about the truthfulness of the Trinity. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit appeared in that rite and they are different persons. The Father in heaven speaking and Jesus in the Jordan River, while the Holy Spirit represented by a dove [Mt 3;16-17]. God the Father rejoiced in Jesus after the baptism and so that could also mean for us that when we were baptized God said exactly the same words to us and adopted us as children to whom He is well pleased.