BAPTISM OF JESUS

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD JESUS

            Imagine someone lingering on death row, guilty of a heinous crime. The wheels are in motion to carry out the death penalty, but suddenly an innocent man steps forward and offers to take their place. Such a notion is shocking. The idea that an innocent man could identify with and ultimately become a substitute for a guilty one offends our sense of natural justice. The point is that the baptism of Jesus isn’t about natural justice, but God’s justice. Jesus’ baptism was a defining moment; immersed in the water of Jordan, he embraced his vocation. By accepting John’s baptism of repentance, Jesus is identifying himself with John’s movement of national repentance for unfaithfulness to the Covenant. Besides that, in Jesus’ baptism we are brought into the very heart of two profound mysteries of our faith: firstly, the depth of Jesus’ identification with the human race, and secondly, a revelation of the triune God. Today’s Gospel helps us marvel at God’s plan for our salvation.

            The baptism that Jesus received was one of repentance (Mark 1,4) which is why John tried to deter him   -  he was clearly shocked at the suggestion that Jesus should be baptised. But Jesus’ logic was simple and honest. Since he had assumed humanity he had taken on our sinful condition, without, though committing a personal sin. It’s like when you jump in to rescue somebody from sinking in the mud you’ve got to be ready to get muddied all over. He who had no sin had no need to repent. We can’t really understand what it would be like to be sinless. To be free of pride, jealousy, self-seeking and all the other pervasive drives inside us is something we cannot know. In fact, there is a human tendency that means that once conscious of any moral or spiritual strength we seek to elevate ourselves above our fellow human beings. We’re only deluding ourselves. For example, over the years I had read so many books on high spirituality and mysticism that I thought I was a mystic. But I discovered in a hurry that I was not a mystic but a mistake!

God’s love for us, however, is revealed by his desire to identify with us with all our failures and mistakes; and concentration on our failures may distract us from this tremendous truth that God is one with us in our very sinfulness. We heard that beautiful expression of the Heavenly Father: “My favour rests on him.” That expression comes from Isaiah 42.1 and refers to the suffering servant who, though innocent, has to bear the sins of his people. We see Jesus as the chosen, anointed one who, as a suffering Messiah, will free his people from their sins.

            Baptism gives us a share in the life of Christ so that we can begin to restore the image of God that we have tarnished to its original splendour. If we could begin to take on board the wonder of God’s solidarity with us and his invitation to all in Christ we would see ourselves and our neighbours in a different light. The great spiritual writer, Thomas Merton, had such an experience. After spending many years in a strictly enclosed Trappist monastery, he had to go to Louisville.

 To his amazement he was overwhelmed by the goodness in saw in total strangers. He described them as walking around shining like the sun, seeing the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see other that way all the time. There would be no more war, hatred, cruelty and greed. We would mysteriously hear God saying to each one: “you are my child, my beloved; my favour rests on you.” I’m sure that many of you here have heard that voice some time or other in your life.

As we begin our walk with God in 2011 we need to guard our hearts against certain attitudes that will keep us far from His heart. These include the mind of the proud who wants to know it all; the opinion of the critic who wants to judge it all; the attitude of the narcissist who wants to be it all; the desire of the covetous who wants to have it all.

Instead, walk with God in 2011 as a child. Never lose the simplicity of trust and the world of wonder that a child lives in from day to day. Walk with your eyes on your Father—happy in His presence, content in His care, awed by His greatness, delighted by His surprises, secure in His love.

Let your prayer be similar to one spoken by Vance Havner, “Lord, let me never get used to living. Keep afresh in my heart a childlike wonder. Above all, let me never get used to being a Christian. Let me walk with a constant sense of surprise and expectancy. Why should there be a dull moment in the life of a Christian when every hour is a fresh adventure in faith and love?”

The following quote became the signature of the life of Gypsy Smith, the well known evangelist who lived into his eighties, “I have never lost the wonder.” May you never lose the simplicity of trusting His love and the wonder of watching Him work in marvellous ways.

When John baptised by Jordan'e river,

In faith and hope the people came,
That John and Jordan might deliver
Their troubled souls from sin and shame.
They came to seek a new beginning,
The human spirit’s ageless quest:
Repentance and an end of sinning,
Renouncing every wrong confessed.

There as the Lord, baptized and praying,
Rose from the stream the sinless One,
A voice was heard from Heaven saying,
This is My own beloved Son.
There as the Father’s word was spoken,
Not in the power of wind and flame,
But of His love and peace the token,
Seen as a dove, the Spirit came.

O Son of Man, our nature sharing,
In whose obedience all are blest,
Savior, our sins and sorrows bearing,
Hear us and grant us this request:
Daily to grow, by grace defended,
Filled with the Spirit from above,
In Christ baptized, beloved, befriended,
Children of God in peace and love.

“

JESUS: THE NEW MOSES

Jesus: The New Moses

Jesus, the messiah of the Jewish prophecies, is closely foreshadowed by many Old-Testament Jewish figures, but the one that most resembles him is Moses. Moses had several roles that correspond to Jesus’: priest, mediator, miracle worker, lawgiver, and deliverer. In each of these roles are several instances where an act of Moses prefigures one of Jesus. 

            The most obvious link between Jesus and Moses was that they both were mediators of a covenant between God and his children. This is also seen with Adam, Noah, Abraham and David, under different signs like the Passover, rainbow, circumcision, and the Eucharist.

             One of Moses’ most traditional roles was that of a priest. One of the things that come to mind when thinking of Moses as a priest is the Passover. Moses and the Israelites, in celebrating the first Passover, killed one lamb for every household and sprinkled its blood on the doorposts of the house. This was meant to remind the Angel of Death to “pass over” the house and spare the firstborn inside. Jesus, on the other hand, was both the priest and the lamb for his sacrifice. He saved not only the firstborn but the world.  This similarity in roles can be seen in the Old Testament, in Ex. 24:8:  Then Moses took the blood in the bowls and threw it on the people. He said, “This is the blood that seals the covenant which the Lord made with you when he gave all these commands.”   Moses’ act is only a foreshadowing of what Jesus did at the last supper in the Gospels; Mat. 26:28: “Drink this, all of you” he said; “this is my blood, which seals God’s covenant, my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  This covenant was brought in full when Jesus was crucified.

             Even the mere fact that both Jesus and Moses performed miracles links them together. One miracle, in particular, shows the relationship between Jesus and Moses: the water from the rock. It prefigures the water from the side of Christ after his crucifixion, as well as his giving of life, or “water”, to those who followed him. 1 Cor. 10:3-4 says: All ate the same spiritual bread and drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them; and that rock was Christ himself.  This is foreshadowed by Ex. 17:6:  “Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” Moses did so in the presence of the leaders of Israel.

Moses, like Jesus, also acted as a leader and savior. This role can be seen in the entire book of Exodus, which narrates the story of the Israelites’ flight from Egypt.  Like Jesus, Moses protected and led his people. After they worshipped the golden calf, Moses asked God to spare them (Ex. 32:31-32). God did, but at a price: Moses would not be allowed to see God’s face again afterwards (Ex. 33:7-11). This was, for Moses, just a small price to pay to save his people. As we know already, Jesus’ death was needed to save mankind.

            There were many Old Testament figures that foreshadowed Jesus, but Moses prefigured Him most closely. Moses even prophesied that the Messiah would be like himself! Deut. 18:18 says:  I will send them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will tell him what to say, and he will tell the people everything I command.

MOSES AND JESUS

MOSES AND JESUS

The Law as a schoolmaster is no problem with faith and grace because there is a transfer directly into the New Covenant. But the Law as compulsory obligations of practice is wrong. The whole New Covenant is that which the Old Covenant was a type so we should see some similar characteristics. What so many want is for the Law to be the "true light" and it was only a shadow of that to come. Jesus is the true light on the righteousness of God. What this means is, it was the eternal purpose of God from before the foundation of the world that the New Covenant be the means of salvation for the world.

The Law was not the eternal purpose of God. It was a temporary measure brought in because of transgressions that were going on without personal accountability. The highest law governing men is to love God and others as you love yourself.  When men failed these two simple obligations God chose men to be Prophets to warn the people of their ungodly ways and ungodly spirits. It is men who rejected God and the messengers of God who have shoved the world to the brink of hell. It was from traditions received from the Patriarchs or from a person's own inner soul to be Godly or do that which was right. So, the Law became "Thus Saith The LORD" in a different manner. It was written down in stone and in a book so every man could speak for God and not a few Prophets. No man could fight this Law with his personal liberal opinions and hatred of the Prophets. And besides, there was no judicial procedure to punish sinners and the wicked before the Law, except by Divine judgment and wrath. The Law provided for a means of punishments all the way to the death penalty.
The Law was a stop-gap measure to provide a means for there to be a holy people through whom the Messiah would come and reign upon the earth and in the Kingdom of God.
I forgot a very valuable lesson on the Commandments of Jesus and I want to share them with you here.
Moses went up into the mountain.
Moses took Aaron up as the representative of the Priesthood.
Moses received and taught the sayings of God (Commandments of God).
The people received them with astonishment but said we will obey all that God has said.
The Covenant was sealed in the Law of Ten Commandments.
The Law was established upon the rock mountain of Horeb (Sinai).
Jesus went up into a high mountain (Matt. 51; Luke 612)
Jesus took the twelve Apostles up on the mountain as representatives of the New Testament Priesthood.
Jesus taught the sayings of God (New Covenant Commandments).
The people were astonished at his doctrine (Commandments, teachings).
The New Covenant is sealed in the Commandments of Jesus.
Jesus said they who kept his sayings (Commandments) would be like a wise man who built his house upon a rock.

Matt 51-48
Commandments or sayings of Jesus.
Verse# given first
3-1.) Blessed are the poor in spirit.
4-2.) Blessed are they that mourn.
5-3.) Blessed are the meek.
6-4.) Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.
7-5.) Blessed are the merciful.
8-6.) Blessed are the pure in heart.
9-7.) Blessed are the peacemakers.
10-8.) Blessed are those who are persecuted.
11-9.) Blessed are those who are evil spoken of.
12-10.) rejoice and be exceeding glad of your reward in heaven.
These are not ten literal Commandments, but wow, they number ten. It is understood that those who fill this bill of goods are already devoted to One God and there is no need for a Commandment in that regard. Other Commandments or teachings in Matthew chapter 5.
16.) Commanded to let light shine (good works includes both toward God and man).
20.) Commanded to be righteous and exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees.
22.) Commanded to honor father and mother and not use Jewish "raca" as an excuse to be mean and hateful.
24.) Commanded to be reconciled to a person and then offer up gifts.
25.) Commanded to agree with adversaries.
28.) Commanded that to look upon a woman to lust is adultery.
29.) Commanded to pluck out eyes if they cause us to be lost.
30.) Commanded to cut off hand if it would cause us to be lost.
32.) Commanded that there be no divorce and remarriage except for fornication (so this is against adultery and fornication.)
34.) Commanded not to swear at all (this includes cursing of all types).
39.) Commanded not to resist evil but to turn the cheek.
40.) Commanded to let those who sue you to have what they want.
42.) Commanded to give to those who ask (alms).
44.) Commanded to love your enemies.
48.) Commanded to be perfect (this is an awesome Commandment that consolidates all the righteousness of God.
Chapter 6
Verse #
1.) Commanded not to give alms as a public display.
5.) Commanded to pray in secret (not at all times but when special needs are requested deserving of a private prayer).
7.) Commanded not to use vain repetitions.
8.) Commanded the Lord's Prayer.
a.) recognition of one God and his sovereignty.
b.) recognition of a personal sins and trespasses.
c.) forgiveness of others of their sins (this is a big one).
19.) Commanded not to gather material goods to store up wealth.
24.) Commanded that a person cannot serve God and mammon (money).
25.) Commanded not to take thought of food and raiment.
33.) Commanded to seek first the Kingdom of God.
Chapter 7
Verse #
1.) Commanded to judge not.
6.) Commanded not to give that which is holy to dogs or pearls to swine.
7.) Commanded to ask God in faith for things needed.
13.) Commanded to enter into the strait gate.
15.) Commanded to beware of false prophets.
Verse 24 gives us the importance of these three chapters. Jesus said that the man who "heareth" and "doeth" these "sayings" (Commandments are sayings), he is a wise man who has built his house upon a rock. That rock is figurative of the base foundation upon which a man's spiritual life will be constructed. The man's spiritual house is built upon this rock, all other ground is sinking sand.
All of the teachings of Jesus, his other Commandments, the doctrines of the Apostles, and the teachings of the New Covenant, flow out of these three chapters. There are some translations of words in these chapters in other versions and in lexicons that make these three chapters the cornerstone of the whole New Testament.
These are by no means the conclusive and totality of the Commandments of Jesus Messiah, but they set the entire Kingdom of God on the foundation of righteousness. And the Law and the Ten Commandments are not hinted at all for the faith and practice of those who will "hear" and "do" his sayings (Commandments).
The New Testament rule on sin is Be not deceived, God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting (Gal. 67-8).
Let us go without the camp and bear his reproach. Let us join ourselves to Mount Calvary and there embrace the New Covenant. Let us receive the grace and mercy of the supreme atonement and then go into a lost world and tell them Jesus Saves.

POPE FRANCIS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

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POPE FRANCIS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Ahead of next year’s critical UN climate summit meeting in Paris, he’s expected to ratchet up his advocacy. The Guardian of London is reporting that in the coming year, he is planning to release a message for Catholics, call a summit of the world’s major religions to jointly address climate change and give a speech to the UN general assembly. Bishop Marcelo Sorondo, chancellor of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences, said the Pope hopes influence the Paris climate summit participants to take decisive action.

“Our academics supported the pope’s initiative to influence next year’s crucial decisions,” Sorondo told London-based Catholic development agency Cafod. “The idea is to convene a meeting with leaders of the main religions to make all people aware of the state of our climate and the tragedy of social exclusion.”

He’ll apparently meet with other faith leaders to lobby government officials at the UN general assembly meeting in New York in September at which countries will be announcing new anti-poverty and environmental goals. The Pope has been regularly connecting the two, saying things like “An economic system centered on the god of money needs to plunder nature to sustain the frenetic rhythm of consumption that is inherent to it” and “The monopolizing of lands, deforestation, the appropriation of water, inadequate agro-toxics are some of the evils that tear man from the land of his birth. Climate change, the loss of biodiversity and deforestation are already showing their devastating effects in the great cataclysms we witness.”

Neil Thorns, head of advocacy at Cafod, expressed support for the Pope’s moves, telling The Guardian, “The anticipation around Pope Francis’s forthcoming encyclical is unprecedented. We have seen thousands of our supporters commit to making sure their MPs [members of Parliament] know climate change is affecting the poorest communities.”

On the other hand, Calvin Beisner of the conservative Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, which has called the U.S. environmental movement “un-biblical” and a false religion, said “The pope should back off. The Catholic church is correct on the ethical principles but has been misled on the science. It follows that the policies the Vatican is promoting are incorrect. Our position reflects the views of millions of evangelical Christians in the U.S.”

It’s unclear why the opinions of U.S. evangelical Christians, who have often branded Catholicism itself as “a false religion,” should matter to Pope Francis or the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

Dan Misleh, director of the Catholic climate covenant, responded, “There will always be 5-10 percent of people who will take offense. They are very vocal and have political clout. This encyclical will threaten some people and bring joy to others. The arguments are around economics and science rather than morality. A papal encyclical is rare. It is among the highest levels of a pope’s authority. It will be 50 to 60 pages long; it’s a big deal. But there is a contingent of Catholics here who say he should not be getting involved in political issues, that he is outside his expertise.”

INCARNATION AND SOCIAL MISSION

Incarnation and Social Mission

“For when peaceful stillness compassed everything, and the night in its swift course was half spent, Your all-powerful word from heaven’s throne bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land” (Wisdom 18, 14 – 15). For the starting point of the Christ-event was a flight into the temporal, into the material, to this world of births and generations, to this world of buying and selling, to this world of housing and education, this world of leisure and of work, in order to transform, elevate, transfigure. Salvation is not a flight, a withdrawal, a retreat from the world. Not a flight of the alone to the Alone, not a rout from men and matter into the unfathomable Prajapati; not a denial of the existence of the world, not an aspiration towards nothingness. But salvation is an incarnation, an advance, an introit into the temporal and material, into the economic and social by the Word of God. Not that man and the Word may merely contain the Word, for Christ’s humanity is not a vessel of rare material in which reposes the Divinity; but that by a transfusion of the divine, man and the world may be redeemed and sublimated. For Christ’s humanity, through that indwelling, is raised to the highest realization possible to man. The social mission of the Incarnation is thus strictly within the movement and grace of the Hypostatic Union.

In the Incarnation the elevation has been wrought such as bewilders the heavenly intelligences. It is an injustice to the Incarnation to confine its effects to merely internal graces. Rather, in every line of progress – spiritual, intellectual, social, material – the advancement of humanity must be achieved. The material and social needs of our fellowmen fall within our Christian mission, within the mission of the Church whose divine Founder had pity on the famished crowd, who proclaimed that his disciples would be known by the love they had for one another, who gave the disciples of John a sign whereby he would understand that the Messiah was abroad: for the lame walked, the blind saw and the lepers were cleansed. And that sign has not changed since.

"JOHN" "ZACHARIAH" "ELIZABETH"

"JOHN" "ZACHARIAH" "ELIZABETH"
Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24
Psalm 25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14
Luke 1:57-66

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:Life is often filled with surprises!

Some of them are welcomed as, say, if we should win the lottery. Others, are not so welcoming as, say, if we should learn of the death of one we have loved and known for many years.

In today's gospel, there are two surprises: the first is that Elizabeth should have a son, and the second is that he should be called John. The meaning of the name John is interesting too: "God has shown favor."

If we were to put these three names together--Zachariah for "God has remembered," Elizabeth for "God is oath," and John as "God has shown favor,"--we have an inner code that goes something like this: God has remembered His oath to show favor to us.

This indeed is a surprise for the people who had waited so long for God to show favor to them. We, too, have waited for the Lord to show favor to us for His return, but we do not have to wait till the end time. He will be born anew in our hearts in a few days.

Are we ready to receive Him?

INCARNATION

The Incarnation

“For when peaceful stillness compassed everything and the night in its swift course was half-spent, your all powerful Word bounded from heaven’s  royal throne, a fierce warrior into the doomed land” Wisdom 18, 14 – 15).

The greatest things are accomplished in silence – not in the clamour of superficial display, but in the deep clarity of inner vision, in the almost imperceptible start of decision, in hidden sacrifice and quiet conquest. It is in silence that the heart is quickened by love, and the free will stirs to action. The silent forces are the strong forces. The greatest events are accomplished in silence. And the greatest event of all was when the Son of God leaped down from his heavenly throne on to this earth. It was the most silence event because it came from the infinite remoteness beyond the noise of any possible intrusion.

The Son of God became man, - “the Word was made flesh” (John 1) in the womb of a young virgin; and it hardly echoed in the upper circles of the time, ignored by the Roman historians. No one, except the young virgin, knew that Divinity had set up its tent among men. His royal chamber was the animals’ stable, his throne the manger, his canopy the hanging cobwebs, the reek of the dung the incense.

In this Child, God, having spoken at sundry times through the Prophets, chose to reveal to man the mysteries hidden from all eternity. In this Child the Divine made an advance into the world and man, a divine transfusion by which we are transformed, elevated, redeemed; for whereas we were blind, now we see. As St. Irenaeus says, “there is one Father, the Creator of Man; and one Son who fulfils the Father’s will; and one human race in which the mysteries of God are worked out, so that the creatures, conformed and incorporated with his Son, are brought to perfection.” In this Child, God and man have a purchase on each other. For God is so great that he can allow himself to become a child. He is so strong that he can appear weak. So overwhelmingly attractive that he draws everyone to himself without forcing anyone. God is so Almighty that he can bind people to himself without limiting their freedom.

The Incarnation, which was the starting point of Christianity, was a descent into the temporal, into the material, into this world of births and generations, into the world of buying and selling, into this world of housing and education, to this world of leisure and of hard work; this world of unemployment and taxes. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, took upon himself all this in order to transform, to elevate and transfigure.

Therefore, our salvation does not consist in a flight, an escape, a retreat from the world. Not a flight of the alone to the Alone. Not an escape from our fellowmen and our day to day burdens.

It is an injustice to the Incarnation to confine its effectiveness merely to internal graces. Rather, in every line of progress, spiritual, intellectual and material, the Incarnation must be sanctifying leaven. And if that is so, it should be the rule and not the exception to have saintly workers and peasants, saintly statesmen and judges, merchants and soldiers. All stages of life must be elevated, from childhood to adolescence, from marriage up to our last day on earth. “All flesh shall see the salvation of God” (John 1).

Indeed, it s only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word that the mystery of man is manifest. We neglect the mystery of man at our peril. Wherever the Christ Child is adored there is at least some sense of mystery. Ignore that birth, and the road to power runs straight as a ruler to the death camps. Focus on that birth, and the road to true humanity, however it may roll and meander, cannot be missed.

This divine-human Infant touched off a revolution, a quiet prolonged thunder, from the recesses of the cave of his birth, founding a Kingdom, characterized by unconditional love and undiscriminating service. The centre of this dynamic process is the human heart, and its source, the Son of God, born in the heart of each man and woman today. He is not an ideal or abstraction, a gaunt empty figure beyond description, but a Person in whom is the fullness of the Godhead, the most beautiful among men, Victor over death and hell, the great Judge. He has come, not to use us as tools, carrying us along with him, striding on rapidly towards a high abstract goal. Nay, nothing great he put before us to achieve except to love him, to be faithful to him and to give testimony to him when the times comes. Most great men have failed, for their schemes have been their ideals, and their chosen men their tools. And when these great ones died there was no one to weep over them. But Jesus dying lives, and living he dies daily like the grain of wheat or else he takes no root in our hearts. His ideal is that we love him, that we love one another for him and that we believe in his love for us.

He comes into this world, dispossessed Infinity, naked and cold, that each one of us may give him something – the universe for his stable, for his manger our hearts and their warmth.

For too many people Christmas is the time for exchanging gifts, very often gaudy things that no mortal ever bought for himself. It is one annual symptom of the lunatic condition of the world, in which everyone tries persuading everyone else to buy things.

So it’s good to remind ourselves on that GIFT that was wrapped up in circumstances of deepest poverty. And even though each Christmas I try to fathom its mystery, I trust I know enough to realize that life consists maybe in gifts, but certainly not in “gots”. For the truth about Saints like Francis of Assisi is not idyllic things like chatting with the birds and preaching to the fishes; but the real truth about them was their ability of calling nothing their own. The way to the Spirit is the way of dispossession. If the Word of God reached from Heaven to Bethlehem by way of dispossession, we have no right reach him except by the same road. Gethsemane was not possible without Bethlehem; but Bethlehem is meaningless without Gethsemane.

Now that doesn’t mean that we must run off and get ourselves measured for sackcloth and sandals. That is too simplistic a way of solving the world’s problems. There is another way for which good Biblical evidence can be found – that we may have things but not be possessed by them, for we hold them as stewards, as disposable for the good of others. So it’s a good idea, especially at a time like this to keep checking on what we can do without, to detach ourselves from created things, and to help bring about the day when words like property owning, comfortably established, and power will not mean more to us than ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. The devastating simplicity of the Christmas story reveals this. And as for the rest, we have no right to expect a status higher than that of the carpenter’s son.