Baptism of The\nLord [A] \u2013 January 12, 2020 \u2013 Mat 3:13-17<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One question that\nalways baffles attentive readers of the Scriptures is that why should Jesus be\nbaptized by John the Baptist? John himself proclaimed that his baptism is a\nsign of repentance. Those who are baptized by John must first acknowledge their\nsinfulness and unworthiness, and baptism of water becomes the visible token of\nturning away from sins and promise of a new and better life. Yet, we all know\nthat Jesus is sinless [Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22]. Does it mean Jesus is sinful? Is\nJohn the Baptist greater than Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Gospel of\nMatthew has pointed out clearly that John the Baptist is not worthy to baptize\nJesus and he is in need of Jesus\u2019 baptism. It is Jesus Himself who insists to\nbe baptized by John. Why? Jesus told John, \u201cto fulfill all righteousness.\u201d\nThese words of Jesus certainly difficult to understand, and many theologians\nhave come up with different interpretations to understand better Jesus\u2019 actions\nand words in this baptism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
St.\nAugustine of Hippo, one of the greatest Fathers of the Church, told us in his\nsermon, \u201cThe Savior willed to be baptized not that He might Himself be\ncleansed, but to cleanse the water for us.\u201d St. Augustine pointed to us that\nJesus entering the water as to prepare the sacrament of baptism, and so\neveryone who is baptized in the name of Trinity will receive the grace of\nforgiveness and new life. Meanwhile Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that\nJesus\u2019 submission to John\u2019s baptism is an act of self-emptying [CCC 1224].<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Pope\nEmeritus Benedict XVI has exposed some interesting in his book, Jesus of\nNazareth, that Jesus applied the word \u201cbaptism\u201d also to His Passion, Death, and\nResurrection [see Mrk 10:38; Luk 12:50]. From here, we discover that Jesus\u2019\ninsistence to be baptized by John because Jesus\u2019 baptism turns to be a symbolic\nact of His Cross. As Jesus needs to be baptized, so He shall pass through\nsuffering and death as to reach resurrection and bring salvation for all. From\nthe moment of the baptism in the Jordan, Jesus has set His foot to Calvary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Scriptures,\nrighteousness is being faithful to the Convent, and God as the most righteous\nfulfills His covenant by saving His people (Deut 32:4; Is 5:16; 42:6). Now,\nJesus fulfills that same \u201crighteousness\u201d with a perfect and definitive way by\nHis Cross and Resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, what all these\nbiblical and theological stuff are for us? As we know deeper the meaning\nof the Baptism of the Lord, we shall also follow the footsteps of Jesus. If\nbaptism means His way of the Cross, then all of us who have been baptized,\nwhether as infants or adults, shall share in Jesus\u2019 cross. We are lucky that we\nare living comfortably as Christians, but more many, to be Christians means\ndiscriminations, persecution, and even death. It may be shocking, but\nChristians remain the most persecuted people on the earth. For us who are more\nfortunate, we can manifest our baptism with living authentically as disciples\nof Christ: to be honest despite the possibility of losing earthly gains, to be\nloving despite many sufferings, and to be honest despite living without fame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valentinus\nBayuhadi Ruseno, OP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Baptism of The Lord [A] \u2013 January 12, 2020 \u2013 Mat 3:13-17
\nOne question that always baffles attentive readers of the Scriptures is that why should Jesus be baptized by John the Baptist? John himself proclaimed that his baptism is a sign of repentance. Those who are baptized by John must first acknowledge their sinfulness and unworthiness, and baptism of water becomes the visible token of turning away from sins and promise of a new and better life. Yet, we all know that Jesus is sinless [Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22]. Does it mean Jesus is sinful? Is John the Baptist greater than Jesus?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[57,58],"class_list":["post-9120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renungan","tag-english","tag-sunday-reflection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9121,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9120\/revisions\/9121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}