January 12, 2003

There seems to be an almost magical number. How many times have you found success in the third try after telling yourself, "The third time's a charm?" Today's scriptures are full of triplets that tell Jesus the life giving WORD, the Messiah, "The Son of God".

If the third time is a charm, then today's feast ought to succeed in convincing us to believe "That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." For a third time in six Sundays, we hear John the Baptist say that he is "not worthy" even to untie Jesus' sandals. Three witnesses in Mark's Gospel attest to Jesus' identity. The first letter of John also cites "three that testify" that Jesus is the Son of God – "the Spirit, the water, and the blood." And, Isaiah describes the life-giving word of God as "water, rain and snow".

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord also joins three baptisms. Jesus' Baptism by John in water and looks back on Jesus' Baptism in the water and the blood of human birth and looks forward to his "Baptism" in the water and the blood of human death. Through his Incarnation, Baptism and Resurrection, we recognize that Jesus is the Son of God, the life-giving Word that came down from heaven and returned having achieved the end for which he was sent.

Every Christian is baptized not just with water, but with the Spirit of God that filled Jesus – so making us children of God. That spirit immerses us in the family of believers who, week by week, drink in the life-giving word and eat well the rich fare of the Eucharist. How might that life-giving work be fruitful in you?

SO THE QUESTION: WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT YOUR OWN OR SOMEONE ELSE'S BAPTISM?

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