With the celebration of the Baptism of Jesus today, we conclude the liturgical season of Christmas, Jesus was born, He has come.  So, what are we being invited to prepare for in this moment?

The Baptism of Jesus in the gospel marks the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus.  We read about the public life of Jesus: the calling of the apostles, the developing of His followers, the miracles He did, the message He preached, we get to know Jesus and His Father better.  This is what we are called to prepare for, it a time where we continue to receive and grow in our relationship with God.  Until His Baptism Jesus’s life was relatively hidden.  This moment marks a turning point moment in His life and the liturgy of the church reflects this.  We move from the liturgical season of Christmas into what is called ordinary time.  Don’t be fooled by the word ordinary because so much is happening in the liturgy and we too are invited to continue to grow in our spiritual life.  

The Baptism of Jesus was a manifestation of His divinity. In the first part of the Gospel reading we hear John trying to express this to the people who were confusing him for Christ.  Then the audience are drawn into this magnificent experience of Jesus in prayer during His Baptism, where His Father now affirms His identity.  The heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends, He hears the words of His Father spoken over Him: ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’.  Words of love from His Father and the pleasure that He takes in His Son.

It strikes me that this experience of Jesus happens before He has begun His mission.  The love of God the Father for His Son is unconditional.  The delight He takes in Him is gratuitous, its free.  Jesus didn’t need to do anything to be loved, He simply was.  It is the same for us.  We too are loved unconditionally by God.  He is well pleased with us too, even before we begin to act or do.  This being loved is intrinsic to our nature, it is what we are and is given to us freely by God.

In Our Baptisms God was expressing His affection and love for us and today we can with Jesus remember our own Baptism and the love that God so lavishly poured out on us.  Sometimes we need to go back to that love and hear these words of God as a parent saying them to us ‘You are my beloved child; with you I am well pleased.’

Have Blessed Sunday and week ahead.

Ann Marie, FMVD