THIS IS MY SERVANT, MY CHOSEN ONE

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD - Mark 1:7-11

As we celebrate the Lord’s baptism, we are called to reflect upon and then renew our baptism. In the gospel, John the Baptist compares his baptism to the baptism Jesus will administer: “I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”

John baptised with water, as a sign of repentance and conversion. People recognised and confessed their sins and asked John for guidance for them to walk along the righteous path. John draws their attention towards the Messiah who is coming: “Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am.” 

We may say that, in this Sunday’s passage, Mark invites us to look at John and Jesus side by side. John is aware of his subsidiary role. He came to prepare people to welcome the Messiah with a sincere and pure heart. In an attitude of humility, John accepts his role and puts himself at the service of the Messiah: “I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals.”

As for Jesus, we are told that he left Nazareth in Galilee and went to John who lived in the fringes of the desert by the river Jordan. Maybe Jesus walked along with many other people who did the same journey to hear the prophet and to be baptised by him. We may ask: Why did Jesus present himself to be baptised? John himself was puzzled when he saw Jesus and told him: “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?” (Mt 3:14). However, although he was sinless as the Son of God, Jesus accepted the role of the Servant of Yahweh, who “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” and “the iniquity of us all” has been “laid on him” (Is 53:4,6). By his baptism, Jesus demonstrates his willingness to share our human condition enslaved to sin. However, John’s intuition was right: Jesus was not a common man from Galilee; he was the Messiah. And what followed immediately after the baptism proves it. A theophany took place. With “the heavens torn apart”, the Holy Spirit came upon him and anointed him. We may say that Jesus receives an investiture as the Christ (Messiah). And a voice from heaven confirms it: 

“You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.”

Jesus is the beloved or, as Isaiah says in the first reading: 

“Here is my servant whom I uphold,

my chosen one in whom my soul delights.” (Is 42:1)

We were baptised with the baptism of Jesus, that is we were baptised with the Holy Spirit, who makes of us children of God. In the baptism, we were grafted in Christ so that we are with him one body. Being in communion with Jesus Christ, he leads us to be in communion with the other human beings.