Baptism: Challenge and union!

The feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Jesus, today celebrates the beginning of His public ministry. Jesus is challenged to begin reconciling creation with their creator, and His humble role as His Father’s obedient servant.

As John the Baptist is baptizing Him the Holy Spirit, the union of the Father and the Son as love and peace, appears and descends on Jesus like a dove. The words from heaven ring out as the union of the Trinity, “you are my Beloved Son with You I am well pleased.” No such dove or voice was ever heard for any other baptism. Yet, the Holy Spirit did descend on you and all the baptized — as we were baptized, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

The challenge for Jesus is to be the New Moses and lead God’s People from their dark days on earth to the joys of eternal light and life in heaven with the Trinity. Our challenge and union is to pick up our cross each day with hope and belief in the love of God for us and from the moment our feet hit the floor first thing in the morning to have the devil say, “Oh, oh here he or she comes!”

Hence when you can’t see or find the natural sunshine you must become the sunshine as you let the Son of God shine through You. The challenge of baptism is that that it is a gift for most of us from our parents and our church. Our challenge is to unwrap that gift and live it each day in our lives.

This feast challenges all of us as followers of Jesus to incarnate and live His message as witnesses through our actions and words. Remember this story, long ago three laughing Buddhist monks lived in China.

Together the three monks would visit a village square and do nothing but laugh. Crowds gathered around them and joined in their laughter. Soon the laughter spread to the entire town. Then the laughing monks left the village and went into another village and did nothing but laugh in that village square. Again, men and women from the entire village joined in the laughter.

The laughing monks were loved and respected all over China, because they helped people laugh their problems away. Some ancient statues of Buddha depicted him with a huge smile on his face!

Our challenge and union with the Trinity is to bring the joy and hope and love of our faith, and the gift of our baptism, to all situations and let the laughter, light and love of God be known and seen.