Friday, January 25, 2013

GOD’S SECOND SMILE


                                                                                                                                                        FEAST OF BAPTISM OF THE LORD 2013
                                                                                                                                                            (Lk 3:15-16.21-22)
Today’s feast marks the end of the Christmas season. We observe that all through the events surrounding the Nativity of Jesus, a cloud of silence covered the new born Jesus. He lived in serene silence till this day. After His baptism, He will be moving from place to place and we will hear His voice. In other words, Jesus’ baptism marks the inauguration of His ministry. Among other symbolic gestures noted in the history of theology, Jesus’ baptism can be seen as the clearest explanation of the necessity of baptism for salvation. It becomes Jesus’ ratification of our baptism and, in a way, of His internal involvement in our baptism. Hence, our participation in the ‘one baptism’ (Eph 4:5) becomes a sharing in the ‘one body’ (1Cor 12:13-14) of which Christ is the Head. Thus, He goes ahead of us as the Good shepherd to direct us to this fountain of grace (cf. Jn 10:4). Now, let us reflect on what happened after the Baptism as given in the Gospel of today.

The Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove and the joyful voice of the Father came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you’ (Lk 3:22).

This event takes our mind back to the very dawn of creation. Then the Spirit, the divine wind descended and hovered around as God called things to existence (cf Gen 1:2). God looked at His creation and saw that it was good. By certifying His creatures as good it implies that God was pleased with creation. It equally means creation was beautiful and God took pleasure in it. In other words, creation increased the joy of the Lord (Neh 8:10) and spread His glory abroad.

But not for long! Sin unexpectedly interrupted the beauty, fear emerged and God’s displeasure reigned. Immediately, God initiated the process of reclaiming His pleasure in creation, of restoring His creatures to goodness and beauty. This process of salvation found its ultimate fulfilment in Jesus Christ.
Today as Jesus stepped out of His baptism, God is smiling again; He has regained His pleasure in creation. In Jesus, creation is renewed; once again it is good and beautiful, reflecting God’s glory. The Spirit descends, not just as hovering wind, but in concrete form; now as a dove, at another time as tongues of fire (cf Lk 3:12, Acts 2:2-4). The seal of the Spirit will always be the mark of this new creation (cf. 2Cor 1:21-22, Eph 1:13-14).
In His pleasure (cf. Eph 1:5. 9) God’s voice echoes again in creation as it was in the beginning when God communicated directly with man and walked hand-in-hand with him in the garden. His voice radiates joy—a confident smile. So in Jesus God is smiling again!

Brothers and sisters, God will also smile at us if we remain faithful to the one baptism we share. Through baptism we have become God’s adopted children. If we remain firm in our baptismal grace, God takes pleasure in us. It is not that the joy of the Lord is dependent on us. Already God has had His full pleasure in Christ Jesus. But if we are in Jesus we spread and multiply this joy. And this should be our primary ambition: to please God.

If we target to please God, the joy of the Lord will bounce back to constitute an inner strength and freedom for us. We become partakers in His joy. In fact, we have no other joy other than rejoicing in the Lord through Christ Jesus. God is pleased—He smiles again—anytime we strengthen or renew our baptismal life in Christ Jesus.

Fr. Jude C. Nwachukw, C.Ss.R
St Anthony’s Catholic Church,
Jabi, Abuja.
13th Jan, 2013