Baptism of the Lord  Cycle C  January 10, 2010                                       
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7      Acts 10:34-38        
Luke 3:15-16, 21-
22                                                                                                                        

Jesus appears at the Jordan, gets baptized by John, but it’s really John
who is “baptized,” who is moved, by
Jesus.                                                                        
Have you ever been involved in a situation in life where we may have a
prominent role in an event, say like a parent at the wedding of their son
or daughter, or where we happen to be in the presence of some person
of stature, and by participating and cooperating in the event, we in fact
are the ones who are wonderfully transformed and overwhelmed with
the experience. Where we are the ones taken up a notch or two on the
spiritual ladder of closeness to God. Where the manifestation of God’s
love for us is so apparent and obvious and
welcoming.                                                         
Another example; whenever I preside at a funeral, I never cease to be
impressed and taken aback by the power of the whole experience, and
all that’s spiritually going on. Because during the Catholic funeral liturgy
- and by no means is this limited to the experience of the priest – what
takes place are these words we read in today’s Gospel; that “heaven
was opened” during the liturgy. (This is why I say that if everyone
understood what really happens at a Catholic funeral, everyone,
including other denominations, would have one because of the power it
generates in heaven.)                 
This impressive scene of Jesus being baptized, praying, and then
heaven opening so that the Spirit may descend upon him in the form of
a dove is an overwhelming scene. Not so much for Jesus, but more
unexpectedly and wonderfully for John. And we are
John.                                                                                               
John is at the Jordan, living out to perfection his calling, and baptizing
those who embrace his message of repentance. Jesus shows up, and
John gets overwhelmed by Jesus’ presence. Oh, to overwhelmed by
Jesus’ presence. And indeed we are each week in the Liturgy and
Eucharist.                                                                                
This whole scene of Jesus being baptized, and John being
overwhelmed spiritually by Jesus’ baptism, offers a couple questions to
us. Questions connected to the overwhelming experience of Jesus’
baptism. First, what happens when we embrace Jesus’ baptism and
allow this awesome event at the Jordan to overwhelm us? What are the
potential results in our spiritual box score? And secondly, do we have
the capacity as mere mortals to cause the doors of heaven to open on
our behalf? Do we possess that much
power?                                                                                               
First, an embrace into Jesus’ baptism for us is an embrace into his
death. Into the eventual results of Jesus’ obedience. And if we embrace
his death, of course we also embrace the empty tomb. For example, for
86 years the Red Sox embraced the difficult side of the baseball world.
Along the way they made errors, struggled some, won some, but never
the big one. It seemed like every year was a new death, a new low. Every
year we had to embrace their death. So when they finally won the World
Series, when they finally showed up at the Jordan River to be baptized,
so many people were overwhelmed with the truth of the winning
result.                                                                         
It was like John in the Jordan saying, “Did I just really baptize him? Or
did he just do something for me?” Or, “Did they just really win the whole
shebang for themselves? Or did those 25 teammates really just win that
for myself, and for all those people who died wishing to witness this day
in baseball?”                                                         
When we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the event we celebrate
today, we set ourselves up for the doors of heaven opening on our
behalf. Because to immerse ourselves in Jesus’ baptism is to say we
are ready and willing to carry our crosses for the sake of discipleship,
so that we may come to the joy of what God has waiting.                        
It’s good to lose spiritual control in the sense that it’s good to let go and
let God overwhelm us. That’s what Jesus did to John at the Jordan. He
overpowered him with the Spirit. We’re in a very good place when our
faith is that strong.                                        
So do we mere mortals have the capacity and strength and know-how
and ability to open heaven? Of course we do! How? By acts of
goodness and love. How many times have we performed an act of love
where the act lifted us off our feet spiritually? Where we levitated just a
bit because of the power of the act? And this direction of being lifted up
is caused by the truth that “heaven was opened,” and is opened, by
acts of love, and we are drawn up into that opening. Every time we
choose to love we open up heaven. It was Jesus’ baptism that caused
heaven to open, and it’s the living out of our own baptism that causes
the same result.                                                                                
So choose to participate in Jesus’ baptism. We in this Church do not
run away from the Jordan River when Jesus shows up. Rather, we
immerse ourselves with him, and allow the power of this event to voice
itself in our lives, causing heaven to open its
doors.