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Baptism of the Lord Homily, 2014 Deacon Gary Koenigsknecht
This may seem like an odd question, but have we ever noticed what passports can all do
for us? They are just a small little booklet, but give us access to so many things. They allow us
to visit other countries, and to come back to the United States. There is a bride in Detroit called
the Ambassador Bridge that I can only use if I have my passport. Passports have great power
because they are proofs of citizenship, that we belong somewhere. I raise this example because
that is what our readings this weekend are all about – the question about citizenship. In fact, this
feast day of Jesus’ baptism is about regaining for us a citizenship that we had revoked. Jesus
came down to this earth as a little child at Christmas, was baptized in the Jordan River, died on a
cross, and rose from the dead, all to regain for us access to heaven. We were made for heaven,
but we forfeited that right through our sins. Jesus came to fix that. St. Paul says it this way in
his letter to the Colossians: “God rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into
the kingdom of his beloved son.” God came on a rescue mission to save us, and to make us heirs
of the kingdom of heaven, our rightful home.
We hear of this rescue mission of Jesus prophesied in our first reading from Isaiah. We
know our first reading refers to Jesus, because Jesus fulfills it exactly in our Gospel from
Matthew. Listen to what Isaiah says, “Thus says the Lord: here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am well pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit.” Does that
sound familiar to our Gospel reading? Matthew writes in the Gospel “he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying,
“This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” The amazing thing is that this
prophecy of Isaiah was written roughly 700 years prior to Jesus came to this earth! If that does
not amaze us, I am not sure what will. This shows us that God has had this rescue mission in
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mind for a long time. He knew what (1) we had been made for, He knew (2) what we had lost,
and He (3) wanted to win us back for heaven.
What does Isaiah prophesy that Jesus came to do? In this prophecy, Isaiah says that Jesus
came to establish justice on earth, and to have the victory of justice. What is the justice that
Jesus came to establish? This justice is to bring us back into right relationship with God. Our
passport had been revoked so to speak, such that we were alienated from God. Jesus came to
restore what had been lost. Isaiah says that Jesus will be a light to the nations, to open the eyes
of the blind, and to bring prisoners out of darkness and dungeons. Listen to those adjectives:
blindness, prisoners, darkness, and dungeons. We had gotten ourselves into a bad spot, and God
came to pull us out. Our second reading from the Acts of the Apostles says the same things about
Jesus. The passages says that Jesus was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and power (which
was Jesus’ baptism), and that “Jesus went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by
the devil.” Without Jesus, we are spiritual bondage, and prisoners. Jesus came to free us from
sin and the devil, the father of lies. He came to transfer us from the kingdom of darkness to his
kingdom in heaven. The way Jesus does this on a personal and individual way is through our
baptism. Jesus shows us this through His own baptism.
So, we turn then to our Gospel, where Jesus is baptized. What does Jesus’ baptism have
to do with God’s rescue mission, and restoring our citizenship in heaven? We see two very
important things. First, we should note Jesus himself did not need to be baptized, because he
was without sin, and baptism is for the remission of sin. However, when Jesus is a baptized, He
does so to show His solidarity with us and our state as sinners, so that He may create the way
back home for us. He stands shoulder to shoulder with us in our need of God, so that He may
save us. The Gospel says that after Jesus is baptized, the heavens were opened. That is
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crucially important. Heaven, which was closed after our fall from grace, is now reopened by
Jesus. Our citizenship in heaven is being restored by Jesus. Then, as we continue on, we hear
those incredible words, “this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” The Father has
just claimed Jesus as His own, thus declaring Jesus as the rightful heir to heaven. That goes
much further than just being given a passport, to be declared a son!
In this short Gospel passage, Jesus has just shown us what happens to us in our own
baptism – what happens in that font right there, and in fonts all across the world. In Baptism, our
citizenship in heaven is restored, and we are claimed by God as His beloved sons and daughters.
Think about our passports, which show that we are true citizens of a country. Baptism is God
claiming us as his very own, sort of like us giving us a passports, except that it is much deeper
than that. Baptism puts us into a direct relationship with God, by which God formerly declares
us to be His children. Hence, Heaven is open to us not because we have a passport, but because
we are the children of the King who runs the Kingdom. When we are baptized, Jesus establishes
justice by bringing us into right relationship with God, freeing us from sin and the devil. This is
the great rescue mission of Jesus, by which He restores our access to heaven.
However, there is a very important question that we need to answer. Most of us have
been baptized already, and did so as infants. Can everyone raise their hand if they have been
baptized? Most of us. We have to ask though, if by being baptized I have been made a citizen of
heaven by being freed from sin, rescued from the devil, and made a child of God, why do I not
necessarily experience it? Why do I not walk through my daily life with the realization that I am
God’s son or daughter as the reason for my existence, my joy, and my security?
How is that possible? We can understand this reality best through an analogy. Think
about something we received lots of at Christmas time: gifts. When we receive a gift, we can use
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it, or we can put it away on a shelf somewhere and forget about it. At that moment, we can say
on one hand that yes I have this gift, but on the other hand, it is having no impact on my life,
because it is sitting on my shelf. Both are true at the same time. The same works for our
baptism. We can say on one hand that yes, I have been baptized, but on the other hand if I do not
do anything with that reality, it won’t impact me. Jesus’ baptism today teaches us about what
God has done for us, so that we can take it off the shelf, and actually start living it. We can pray
and ask Jesus, “Jesus, please show me what it means for me to be s son or daughter of God the
Father. I want to live in this identity that you have won for me.” When we pray like that, God
can respond and start unpacking our heavenly citizenship for us. Maybe we can look at the first
reading, and say, “Jesus, I am experiencing more of being in darkness, lost and confused about
what I am supposed to do. I sometimes feel imprisoned by sins or temptations.” At that moment,
we can say, “Jesus, you claimed me in my baptism, and freed me, please start making that true
for me today. Please start freeing me anew from sin, and give me the strength to resist
temptation.” When we pray like that, we know that God will answer, because we are not simply
some servants or insignificant people in God’s life. No, He has made us His sons and His
daughters, and He will not turn His back those He has claimed as His own. Today is all about
citizenship – let us remember that Jesus has given us a citizenship to heaven, and live
accordingly.