WE WERE BAPTISED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD: Luke 3:15-16,21-22

John baptised with water, as a sign of repentance; and people recognised their sinfulness, by confessing their sins (Mt 3:6). The Christians are baptised with a different baptism - the baptism given us by Christ, in which we are baptised with the Holy Spirit.

According to the letter to Titus, out of his own compassion, God saved us "by means of the cleansing water of rebirth and by renewing us with the Holy Spirit which he has so generously poured over us through Jesus Christ our saviour." (Tit 3:5-6). 

Remembering our baptism

We were baptised with the baptism of Jesus Christ, not with the baptism of John. In our baptism, the water and the Spirit worked together to transform us, so that we were born as children of God. The water is indeed a sign of purification, and is at the same time a symbol of the Holy Spirit that was "poured over us through Jesus Christ our saviour". The Holy Spirit works in us from within, recreating us in the image of Jesus Christ.

As we remember and celebrate Jesus' baptism, we must renew our awareness of the great gift received at baptism, when  we were made "citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God" (Eph 2:19).

Jesus chose to share our human situtation

Jesus' own baptism was a special baptism, which played an important role in the fulfilment of his mission. In it, we can see the manifestation of the Holy Trinity, the proclamation of Jesus' sonship by the Father, and the anointing with the Holy Spirit for the mission that he would carry out. And we cannot ignore that by choosing to be baptised by John, Jesus decided to share our human situation, with its pain and anguish which come out of the slavery of sin. Jesus' baptism is an announcement of his own death and a preparation for it. Jesus shared in our human condition, so that we may also share in his baptism, in which God revealed his love and his decision to grant us his Sprit through Jesus Christ.