{"id":5636,"date":"2021-01-10T12:07:50","date_gmt":"2021-01-10T17:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=5636"},"modified":"2021-01-10T12:07:50","modified_gmt":"2021-01-10T17:07:50","slug":"baptism-of-the-lord-year-b-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/baptism-of-the-lord-year-b-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Baptism of the Lord, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Baptism of the Lord<\/a>
Isaiah 55:1-11
Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6 (3)
1 John 5:1-9
Mark 1:7-11
January 10, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Christmas season will end this evening following our celebration of the Baptism of the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our savior who is Christ and Lord.  Since Jesus was baptized as an adult, one might ask what his baptism has to do with his birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Maximus of Turin (in Friday\u2019s Office of Readings) says regarding Jesus\u2019 Baptism, \u201cAt Christmas he was born a man; today he is reborn sacramentally. Then he was born from the Virgin; today he is born in mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River.  The Jordan River was where Joshua led the Israelites across into the Promised Land, beginning a new stage in the life of the Israelites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The baptism of John was only for the forgiveness of sins.  However, he knew that one mightier than he was coming and would baptize with the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus is baptized by John to set an example for us.  At his baptism, the Holy Spirit comes upon him so that we know the Spirit is upon him.  God\u2019s divine voice is heard saying, \u201cYou are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased<\/em>\u201d to give us divine assurance of who Jesus is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like John\u2019s, Jesus\u2019 Baptism forgives sins.  It also gives us the Holy Spirit and opens heaven for us.  It makes us children of God by adoption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The waters of baptism cleanse us of our sins.  Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord invites, \u201cAll you who are thirsty, come to the water!…come, without paying and without cost.<\/em>\u201d  What we receive in baptism is God\u2019s free gift to us.  We might spend our \u201cwages for what fails to satisfy<\/em>\u201d when the greatest thing is free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The life we begin in baptism is a free gift but it does not come without expectation.  To fully receive the gift, we need to receive it with obedience in faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, in Isaiah we hear, \u201cHeed me, and you shall eat well\u2026listen, that you may have life.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to pay attention to what the Lord says.  Are you listening right now?  What does it mean to listen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I offer two definitions of \u201clisten.\u201d  The first is to pay attention to sound.  You know the sound is made because you hear it but do you really know what was said.  Here, one might think of when your spouse says something to you, you respond, \u201cYes dear\u201d and then realize you don\u2019t know what you just said yes to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second definition of \u201clisten\u201d is \u201cto hear with thoughtful attention.\u201d  You don\u2019t just hear the sound.  You know what was said and respond according.  You \u201cheed\u201d what was said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which way do you listen to the Lord?  You know God\u2019s Word was just proclaimed.  Do you know what was said?  Are you open to being changed by what was said?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baptism is a free gift given to us by God because He loves us.  Do we respond with love? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second reading John reminds us, \u201cFor the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments.  And his commandments are not burdensome.<\/em>\u201d  In fact, I see his commandments as part of his gift to us.  They are a gift because they teach us to do what is good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we truly desire to keep his commandments?  If we do, then we must listen to what Jesus teaches us.  We need to open ourselves to learning more fully what the commandments mean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here I mention the Fifth Commandment, you shall not kill.  We all know it.  Do we take it only at face value or we are we open to going deeper?  Here, I mention my webinar series that starts this week (information on this series and the link to register can be found at https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=5477<\/a>) that will be a series of four webinars on the Pro-life teaching of our faith as found in the Fifth Commandment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand and live out what Jesus teaches us in the commandments that are found in God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God gives us his Word for our reason.  At the end of the first reading today, we hear the Lord say, \u201cmy word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have our own way of doing things.  Sometimes that brings trouble.  We saw what happens sometimes when people get stuck in being \u201cright\u201d this week when the U.S. Capitol building was overrun by rioters.  We have a right to protest but it must be done not in self-centered righteousness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not about what we want.  It is about what God wants.  For as the Lord says, \u201cmy thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God offers us something wonderful in baptism, true and eternal life.  If we wish to truly and fully receive this gift, we need to set aside our own way of thinking and follow the Lord, truly listening, truly heeding God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Baptism of the LordIsaiah 55:1-11Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6 (3)1 John 5:1-9Mark 1:7-11January 10, 2021 Our Christmas season will end this evening following our celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our savior who is Christ and Lord.  Since Jesus was baptized as an adult, one might …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Baptism of the Lord, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[62,82,11],"tags":[155,897],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-1sU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5636"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5639,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5636\/revisions\/5639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}