Sunday Readings Commentary
Father Andrew Wadsworth offers a short commentary on this week's Sunday Lectionary readings.
To read the relevant Bible passage just click on the reference.
Before reading and reflecting on God's word you might like to use the following prayer:
O Lord,
who hast given us thy word
for a light to shine upon our path:
Grant us so to meditate upon that word
and follow its teaching,
that we may find in it the light that shineth
more and more unto the perfect day:
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Baptism of the Lord
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.
A voice cries:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’
Go on up to a high mountain,
O Sion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
‘Behold your God!’
Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
The reading from Isaiah for today is the joyful song which opens the second part of Isaiah. After the 70 years of the Exile Israel is looking forward to the return to Jerusalem, aware that they are soon to be released from their captivity. They have ‘served their sentence’ in Babylon and their sin has been forgiven. The Lord will lead them in joy across the great desert as he led them across the desert at the Exodus and will manifest his glory again. For Christians the excitement is that John the Baptist picks up this message as he prepares the people for the coming of Christ. The coming of the Lord to Jerusalem was never wholly fulfilled, and we can see that the great fulfilment of this passage is in the coming of Christ to his own. He came to Jerusalem, yes, but has the divine glory been yet manifested? He brought the beginning of the kingship of God, but it is for us Christians to show the glory and the love and the generosity of God to a world which has not yet seen the splendour of his coming. This is the daunting responsibility of those who bear the name of ‘Christian’, who see in Jesus the manifestation of God’s reign.
Beloved: The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
The phrase in this reading which seizes the attention is ‘he saved us through the waters of re-birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit’. Is it referring to Jesus’ baptism or to yours and mine? My guess is that in the original letter it referred to our baptism, but that, by putting it forward on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the Church is referring it to Jesus’ baptism as the model of your and my baptism. We received in our baptism the same re-birth as children of God and the same renewal in the Holy Spirit as he did in the Jordan. The image of birth from the waters is a fascinating one, and can be taken on many levels, the ocean as the great, turbulent earth-mother from which all life derives, the source of life and fertility for plants, animals and humans, the ‘waters’ of each mammal’s birth. By the waters of baptism we are given a wholly new life as adopted sons of God. In Luke’s account of the Baptism of Jesus the coming of the Spirit has the main focus. On us too the Spirit comes at baptism and empowers us to do all kinds of good works beyond any human ability.
At that time: As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, ‘I baptise you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’
Now when all the people were baptised by John the Baptist and when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’
Friends, this great feast of the Baptism of the Lord is a good time to reflect on the significance of the sacrament of Baptism. One of the earliest descriptions of Baptism in our tradition is vitae spiritualis ianua, which means "the door to the spiritual life."
To grasp the full meaning of this is to understand something decisive about Christianity. For Christianity is not primarily about "becoming a good person" or "doing the right thing." Let’s face it, anyone—pagan, Muslim, Jew, nonbeliever—can be any of those things.
To be a Christian is to be grafted on to Christ and hence drawn into the very dynamics of the inner life of God. We don’t speak simply of following or imitating Jesus. We speak of becoming a member of his Mystical Body.
Do you see why it is so important that we are baptized "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit"? For Baptism draws us into the relationship between the Father and the Son—which is to say, in the Holy Spirit. Baptism, therefore, is all about grace—our incorporation, through the power of God’s love, into God’s own life.