No Screaming, Lots Of Listening

Feast of the Baptism of Jesus 2025

Sometimes in our reflections we might think that if God just made a few changes in the way He engineered our salvation, things might have gone better. Isaiah predicts that the Messiah would come gently, not screaming His message, giving people who were broken and hurting the time and grace to be slowly healed, letting those whose flame has burned low recover their enthusiasm and devotion at their own pace, not blowing on that smoldering wick so hard it would go out. We might make the fiery preacher John the Baptist into our kind of Messiah. Energize by screaming at folks.

You’ll recall that during Advent we heard John telling various classes of Jew and Gentile what they had to do to prepare for the Lord. They were actions that would cost each of them something. Tax collectors would have to stop collecting more from payers than the Romans required. Soldiers were told to stop their “protection rackets.” Today’s passage skips some verses. In the omitted part, we can read not only that John denied being the Messiah, but that he told Herod to put away Herodias, his “wife,” whom he had stolen from his less affluent brother. Moreover, what we did read says the true Messiah would continue John’s ministry of baptism and exhortation, but would be even more astringent, baptizing with water and fire (which we know is the Holy Spirit). John was not in ministry to make friends. The results were predictable: Herod put him into prison, and later murdered him. Jesus and His disciples took note. We should as well.

For those familiar with the baptism scenes in Mark, Matthew and John, St. Luke’s account of the baptism of Christ is quite short, and it comes after the account of John’s arrest by Herod. But Luke tends to structure his story logically. Here it seems he is trying to distinguish the baptism of Jesus as special, because it was unique. Jesus was and is sinless. His rather dramatic baptism was a real remission of sin, but not of His sin. His baptism changed the meaning and effect of the ceremony and made it a sacrament. As we say when we are conducting the rite today, baptism is more than just a sign of repentance. When we are baptized, we sacramentally become one with Jesus Christ in His death, and the grace we receive prepares us for the rest of our sacramental and spiritual life, makes us one with the community of the Church, and sets us on our course for our own Resurrection on the last day.

What about John’s prediction of Jesus baptizing with fire? That sounds pretty aggressive, and seems to contradict Isaiah’s prediction of an attractive, low-key Messiah, without fire and brimstone. Remember too that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit at His baptism, anointed toward His mission of doing good and healing all oppressed by the devil, establishing the Church and ultimately dying and rising again for our salvation. That’s why the Father’s voice was heard over the waters of the Jordan by many witnesses, including several of His future disciples, and by extension, by us two thousand years later. That’s why this feast today is one of the three great Jesus manifestations celebrated by the Church each year: Epiphany, Baptism and the Wedding Feast at Cana, when Jesus changed water into wine, and His disciples believed in Him. That’s the Gospel from St. John that we read next Sunday.

The tongues of fire came with the establishment of the Church on Pentecost.

In this Jubilee Year of Our Lord 2025, which we have experienced for nearly two weeks, have we made truly faith-filled New Year’s resolutions? It’s not too late to begin the Bible in a Year or the Catechism in a Year. It’s not too late to add one Mass per week to our schedule, or to begin praying the Liturgy of the Hours, especially Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers). The Church even gives us Night Prayer (Compline), which I’ve found very good to pray during my “going-to-bed” routine. I also find that beginning the next day’s Rosary is a great way to fall asleep in faith.

Jesus and the Church spread the Gospel by teaching without shouting. What does that really mean for us? We won’t accept the grace of repentance or feel the healing touch of Jesus if we are waiting for somebody to scream at us. Our part is to listen to what is often a still, calm voice. We have to attune our hearing to the Good News that comes to us softly, and sometimes comes from a source that we don’t expect. Always we must be listening, so in this New Year of grace, let’s accept that special grace of well-tuned ears. We will hear the symphony of heaven.