I call this Gospel, “Jesus Aces the
Test”.
What
is the setting? This is the beginning of
Jesus’ Public Career, when He would initiate the Kingdom of God in His own
person and achieve our salvation. Jesus
is just starting out. This is going to
set the tone for His entire career.
Jesus
goes down to the Jordan and asks John to Baptize him. John objects.
John recognizes Jesus as the Lamb of God. That Jesus is much more important that
himself. And so John says, this is not
right. It is all wrong. Not the way it is supposed to be. I should be baptized by You, and on and
on. John, after all was a preacher, and
so incapable of saying anything quickly.
Jesus
tells John, Look, I know this is odd, kind of backwards, upside down, but let’s
do it anyway. Why? to fulfill all righteousness. In other words, this is the righteous thing to do. Because Jesus’ mission is not about power and
prerogatives and whose is most important and on top, but rather it is about SERVICE.
Because that
is the Will of Jesus’ Father. That Jesus
comes not to be served, but to serve. In
obedience to the Father’s Will Jesus is taking the lower place. Jesus is emptying Himself of power, of
ambition, of self-importance, so that He can serve the lowly. And to serve the lowly Jesus needs to get
down with the lowly, with us. This is
one of the theme’s of Pope Francis’ talks: to serve the poor you have to be
with the poor. Jesus has to have the
smell of the sheep to use Pope Francis’ image.
This is what
Jesus is going to do at the culmination of His career on the Cross. Jesus is going to empty himself, taking the
form of a slave and a criminal. In
theology this is called “kenosis”, or emptying.
It is what we
do when we serve another out of love.
When a parent gets up in the middle of the night even though she or he
is tired and need their sleep, but drags themselves out of bed to comfort a
child who is having nightmares, and sits with the child, sings to child, talks
with the child till the child finally goes to sleep, that is the parent
emptying his or her self for the sake of the child. Kenosis.
See Philippians chapter 2.
That is what Jesus does on the Cross. AND it is how Jesus begins His public
ministry in the Baptism by asking John to baptize him, to fulfill all righteousness.
In
other words, Jesus does this because it is the Will of His Father, and Jesus is
obedient to the Father’s Will. That is
righteousness.
Well,
Jesus has passed the test. He aced
it. He scored a home run. He knocked it out of the park. Jesus got it that His mission is NOT about
power or prestige, but rather about service and obedience: Listening to the Father’s Will, being truly a
child, a Son of God.
And
God the Father was PROUD. God can’t keep
it in. God blurts out: “This
is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.”
God is saying “THAT’S MY
BOY!” I am so proud of him!
Any
of you parents here, can you identify with how God the Father felt? Have you ever been just bursting with pride
and joy over your daughter or son? So
filled with pride you thought you might explode? Could hardly hold it in? I hope so!
And
how do you think Jesus felt? Well, if
you have ever had someone you respect and love and care about – a parent or
spouse or grandparent or friend – say how PROUD and pleased they are with you,
and what you have done, of the great job you did, then you have some idea of
how Jesus felt. “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Jesus must have felt GREAT!
And
you know what? That is how God feels
about us. Each of us by our Baptism was
joined to Jesus. Joined so deeply we
became members of His Body. On the day
of your Baptism God the Father looked intently at you and said, “This is my
beloved son, my beloved daughter, my beloved child, in whom I am well
pleased.”
And
every time we live up to that, when we live as God’s children in faithfulness;
in honesty; in chastity; in generosity and charity; in giving of ourselves in
love; then God the Father is very proud.
And God is well pleased in US, God’s beloved children.
Make
God the Father PROUD! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment