Jesus’ decision to leave Mary and His
Nazareth home and go to be baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan, occasioned
the most sublimely intimate event of Jesus’ life thus far, an event involving
the most Holy Trinity Itself: the HOLY SPIRIT descended upon Jesus like a
dove, and a VOICE came OUT OF HEAVEN
saying:
YOU are MY BELOVED SON.
Jesus was then about 30 years of age
and had been living under the tutelage of Mary first of all -- as her
child, to be guided by her into His Jewish faith and spirituality, and also shown how to live an
appropriate social life with its personal relationships. Only later was He to be taught by Joseph for
guidance on how to learn a life-sustaining, trade skill, with himself as a joiner. Mary and Joseph were thus the chosen guides
for Jesus’ growing-up into a perfect Man before His being manifested later as perfect
God.
Jesus had always realized spiritually
that Joseph was not His father: His ever-growing love for, His intimacy in
prayer with, the God of Israel culminated during their twelfth family pilgrimage
to Jerusalem. At the end of that
pilgrimage -- during which Jesus had officially accepted a full-grown man’s
obligations for His observance of the Law -- their caravan set-off back to
Nazareth. Mary and Joseph, however, could
not find Jesus in the caravan with them nor with their friends. It was only after returning to Jerusalem and
searching for three days that Mary and Joseph did eventually find Him in the Temple,
where He simply answered Mary’s chastising words by saying, ‘Did you not know
that I must be in My Father’s house?’
However, even then in the Temple Jesus had only been talking
with the learned doctors about God.
But now, after humbly taking up the last position in the queue for
John’s baptism, God spoke to Him, as He rose from the waters, with sublime intimacy:
You are My beloved Son with Whom I am well-pleased!
Now indeed, after 30 years of
astounding humility and most patient trust in His ‘distant’ Father, Jesus had
become His Father’s perfect instrument,
His Chosen One, to be sent (as the Son ‘proudly’ referred to His mission)
as
PERFECT GOD AND
PERFECT MAN for
mankind’s redemption.
It is, however, the very moment, the very instant,
of Jesus’ baptism, the most joyful, crowning and consecrating, moment of His
whole life thus far, which is also the whole point of our celebration in this
Mass today. Jesus was transformed by those divine words still
echoing in His mind, and causing His heart to pulsate so serenely and sublimely,
yet with such promise of more than human strength.
You are My beloved Son with Whom I am well-pleased!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we should most whole-heartedly REJOICE with Jesus on this unique day of His supreme delight as Son of Man, here on earth, yet so lovingly embraced by His heavenly Father and most faithful-abiding Spirit.
