Baptism of the Lord

Baptism of the Lord

Today is the end of christmas season and the start of ordinary time.

Today is the feast of the baptism of the lord. in the gospel from matthew John was baptizing in the river jordan asking the people for repentance when suddenly jesus appeared to the crowd. And coming to John he asked to be baptized by him. It was a surprise to john knowing that he is not worthy to do it. Yet jesus was firm and hesistant. And so john baptized him. What does it mean for jesus to be baptized? Does it mean that he is a sinner? No. It was not for jesus to be sanctified but to sanctify the water to be the instrument of the holy spirit in transforming the world. 

It was also to show that God loves us so that he even chose to consider himself to be part of us except sin.

Then when he rose from the water, the spirit of the lord dawned on him and the heavens were opened with the voice this is my son in whom I am well pleased.

This is what we also call anointing. In the early days, there were only three people who were anointed. The priets, to offer sacrifices for thr peiple. The propehts, to strengthen them to preach the word of god. Then kings to protrct hos people.

all of us baptized are anointed. We were chosen and blessed. We were given strength to fight evil.  We were given the stretngth to preach, we were given the goodness to offer prayer to god.

Baptism is not only to forgive sins but to help us transform lives. We should not focus only on seeking forgiveness for oneself but how we can transform amd make the world better.