Freedom and New Life (Lord’s Baptism C)

Christian Duguay's Golden Globe-nominated film, Human Trafficking, depicts the horrible world of sex slavery where abducted girls are reduced into sex commodities to be sold and resold over and over to insatiable patrons of this sex industry. The film unfolds the story of four girls who have been kidnapped from across the world and consigned into the hellish prison of international sex trade without hope of escape. Only a specialized team of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are determined to bring down the global network that sponsors such heinous crimes.

One of the four victims is Nadia, a 16-year old girl from Kiev.  She winds up in the brothel after signing up, without her father’s knowledge, for what she believed to be an opportunity for modelling.  Desperate to find her, Nadia’s father sets out to save her and risks his own life by joining the syndicate that runs the dangerous world of sex trade. He has no hope of saving her unless he enters the evil world of sex industry where she is held as a slave. In the end, the risk he has taken pays off. Nadia is reunited with his father.

What has this to do with the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism?  Allow me to spell out two things.  But already at the outset, we can maintain that the film’s motif of slavery and liberation lends itself to a deeper appreciation of our Lord’s baptism which has to be understood within the similar biblical motif of slavery of sin and the promise of salvation.

First point, the Saviour’s solidarity with the sinners. Was there a need for Jesus to be baptized by John? John’s baptism was a summons to repentance and conversion.  It was directed then to the sinners.  Jesus was everything like us except sin. Hence, as far as Jesus’ personal spiritual life was concerned, He did not need John’s baptism.

But why did He submit to John as recalled now by our gospel reading (Lk 3:15-16, 21-22)? Some biblical scholars suggest that Jesus’ submission to baptism is his act of fully identifying himself with the sinful people whom He is called to save.  His public calling as a saviour demands that He be in solidarity with those whom John has called to conversion.  Very similar to the decision of Nadia’s father to bravely enter the world of sex trade to save her, for only this, risky as it may be, gives a glimmer of hope for Nadia’s liberation.

The baptism of our Lord then marks Jesus’ resolve to embrace us even more in our sinful condition in order to save us. He enters our world of slavery that He may liberate us. No wonder that He finds time to laugh and dine with the sinners.  This commitment to be in solidarity with the sinful people culminates in his passion and death on the cross. He pays the price of our sins; and in his resurrection, wins for us our freedom, our new life, and our salvation.

This gives profound meaning to our own baptism.  When we are “immersed” into the water of baptism, we experience ritually our burial into Christ’s death, from which we rise up by resurrection with him, as new creatures (CCC 1214). Our baptism incorporates us into the death and resurrection of our Lord, hence, bringing about new life in Christ.

Nadia cannot help but weep for joy as she realizes her freedom, safety, and new life with her loving father who has risked everything for her.  On this feast of the Lord’s baptism, let us relish the freedom and new life that Jesus has won for us over the slavery of sin and death.

Second point, the Saviour’s true identity.  It’s too risky to plunge into the world of sin. One can easily lose oneself.  But Nadia’s father survives in the sneaky world of sex industry because He knows who he is.  During a raid in one of the brothels, he is cornered by a police officer to whom he appeals, “I am Nadia’s father. I must go and find her.” And he runs away to continue his search. 

Jesus needs to know his true identity as He decides, in his baptism, to be fully identified with the sinful people.  The gospel of Luke reports that after Jesus’ baptism and in his prayer, the Father’s assurance comes as a voice from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with whom I am well pleased” (Lk 3:22). This certainly gives Jesus a shot in the arm in fulfilling his mission. With clarity, He brings with him his true identity as he embarks into the sinful world of the people He is called to save. He is to walk not in the ways of sin but always in the ways that please God, His Father.

In our baptism, we become adopted sons and daughters of God in Christ. And this identity is indelible.  In this sinful world where we move and live, we need to be always reminded about who we really are, lest we easily lose ourselves.  We are the children of God.  Amid the growing Godlessness of our societies and cultures, do we have the conviction to stand as God’s children whose only resolve is to do what pleases the Father?

The world as it is now is beset with terrifying structures of sin.  One of these is the impenetrable structures of human trafficking and sex industry as an example. Lest we succumb to despair, let us allow the Feast of the Lord’s baptism to bring us hope—one that springs from our conviction that we have a God who journeys with us through the road of salvation  and that He calls us his children, hence, empowering us to create structures of grace where freedom and new life is celebrated.

Holy Heroes (Baptism of Our Lord A)

HOLY HEROES. This was the title of the formation program for the Year of the Laity in 2014 published by the CBCP’s Commission on the Laity. “Holy Heroes,” we now recall, embodies the theme “Called to be Saints, Sent Forth as Heroes.” All these refer to the vocation of the laity to live holy and heroic lives amid the challenges and opportunities in the Church and in society.

This is, indeed, a far cry from the outmoded pay-pray-and-obey passive view of the laity’s role in the Church. And thanks be to God! We are now outgrowing the highly clericalized Church, dominated by the hierarchy of bishops, priests, and religious where the laity is passive and silent alienated from the real life and mission of the Church.

What is the key to the growing respect for a more active and participative role of the laity? I believe it is the deeper appreciation of the grace of baptism. It is by virtue of our common baptism that we all share in the responsibility of fulfilling the Church’s mission of evangelization.

(picture grabbed from http://joyfulpapist.wordpress.com)

Today’s Feast of the Lord’s Baptism lends itself to our desire to gain deeper insights into our own baptism in Christ.

Why did Jesus Christ submit himself to John’s baptism of repentance? In today’s gospel reading (Mt 3:13-17), John tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized as he felt unworthy and, of course, as he knew that Jesus had no need of repentance.   But the Lord insisted that this must be allowed in order to “fulfill all righteousness” (v. 15). This refers to Jesus’ acceptance of God’s salvific will, i.e. Jesus was to come as Savior in sharing the lot of a sinful people while being recognized as God’s son. Indeed, after Jesus was baptized, the spirit of God descended upon him and a voice came from heaven, saying: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (v.16-17).

In short, Jesus’ baptism was a confirmation of his identity as the beloved Son of God and his mission as the Savior of all nations. 

Similarly, we can understand our own baptism in Christ in terms of this identity-mission paradigm.  We are called to be saints and sent forth as heroes.

Called to be Saints. In baptism, we die in Christ as we immerse in water and rise into new life with Christ as we emerge from the water of baptism.  Hence, we are born into new life, new identity. We become the beloved sons and daughters of God through Jesus Christ.

Indeed, the old life enslaved by sin is no more. In baptism, we are called to be faithful to our identity as adopted sons and daughters of God. Every day, all of us are called to live holy lives. We are called to be saints. I believe, this simply means that we sustain the divine life we share in Christ through baptism.

Many years ago, the call to holiness tended to be understood as directed only to the religious people and priests probably because of their religious vows and ordination to the sacred orders.  While indeed they ought to be effective witnesses and models of holy lives, they do not have the exclusive right to this calling. Now, we have accepted with ease that it is our common baptism that makes this calling to holiness universal.  The laity too is called to live holy lives. They are called to be saints, God’s sons and daughters whom God is well pleased.

Sent Forth as Heroes.  Heroes are those with strong sense of mission.  They go out of their own comfort zones and lay down everything they have even their lives for causes beyond their own personal interest, i.e., for love of others, God and country.

In baptism and confirmation, we all receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. All baptized are enabled by the Spirit to participate in the mission of Christ. With manifold charisms, we all enrich the ministries and apostolate of the Church which are but the expressions of our participation in the threefold missions of Christ—the priestly, prophetic, and kingly missions.

Again, today we have gradually left behind the understanding that the mission of the Church belongs only to the clergy and religious. The lay people also are now recognized as missionaries. By virtue of baptism, they have the empowering gifts of the Holy Spirit which translate into the tasks of participating in the life and mission of the Church.

The lay are sent as heroes. The world needs heroes—heroes who sanctifies families and communities through their prayer and worship, heroes who joyfully proclaim to the world the Good News of God’s love and who firmly denounce the destructive influence of evil, heroes who lay down their lives in service of the poor, the deprived, and the oppressed. They are heroes who are priestly, prophetic, and kingly after the heart of Jesus Christ.

On this Feast of the Lord’s Baptism, we pray for the renewal of the Church's sense of mission through the empowerment of the lay people by virtue of their baptism, activating their charisms from the Spirit, so that they may indeed take up their role as co-responsible agents of evangelization and of social transformation. May the appreciation of the beauty and power of their baptism help them take up their calling to become holy heroes, called to be saints and sent forth as heroes into the world.