This is the last Sunday of the Christmas Season and the
First Sunday of Ordinary time at the same time. The Feast of the Baptism of the
Lord concludes Christmas and begins the meditation on the ministry of
Jesus. We see that the Lord
humbles himself before John the Baptist and, again at the same time, the Lord
is empowered by the Spirit to begin the mission of the Father, so the Lord
accepts the mission to suffer and die for us and expresses his solidarity with
those looking to change the world[1].
Today, I want to focus on the fourth aspect of the feast;
the Lord expresses his solidarity with those looking to change the world. I
want the world to be changed. You
want this to be changed. This is
not new. We are no different than the people of Jesus' time. Those who stood before John the Baptist
were sick of a world full of cruelty, persecution, and war. They wanted a change and they wanted to
do something about this immediately.
And do you know what they did? They repented their own sins. They recognized
that the world is not going to change unless they change. Jesus saw this and
joined them. The Man of Peace accepted the baptism of John because he also
wanted the world changed. Then Jesus began his public life saying the Kingdom
of God, the New Order is upon us.
For the New Order to take place we had to conquer our enemies with love.
We had to stop striking back. The
law of talons, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" cannot exist
in the New Order. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you, and If someone wants to take
your cloak, let him have it.
The point is it takes two for hatred to grow.
How can we be shocked at the presence of war when we
all have refused to accept the dictates of the Sermon on the Mount? There are people who continually attack
us. How do we respond? My personal inclination is to strike back. That is the
way of hatred, not love. If that's the way I deal with problems, then what
right do I have to be shocked that nations are always ready for war. How do you
respond when you are attacked? Say
a few choice words back, tell someone else what a terrible person your attacker
is, do something to hurt the other person. That is our normal mode of operation. That is the reason why the world is
always ready for war.
Jesus stood before John the Baptist seeking a change
in the world. He saw those who had
been baptized before him as people realizing that the change had to begin with
themselves. He joined them. He was
baptized.
We can all be outraged by wars or other moral
evils. But we must also recognize
with an intense guilt that we participate evil every time we answer hatred with
hatred instead of love. We who
call ourselves Christians must be Christians. Today we ask for the strength to approach our problems and
attackers in a way that promotes love, that promotes the Kingdom of Jesus
Christ ■
[1]
The Baptism of the Lord, January 11, 2015. Readings: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 or
Isaiah 55:1-11;Responsorial Psalm: 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10 or 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6;
Acts 10:34-38 or 1 John 5:1-9; Mark 1:7-11
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