God's Selfie
“Understanding Today’s Catholic Parish”, “Catholicism for Dummies”, “What is the Point of being a Christian” These are books that try to help people understand some of the basics of our faith. They have the answers to many questions, but there’s always a part of me that does not want to give too much of an explanation: a mystery should remain a mystery.
Dear Brothers and Sisters
Mysteries are often difficult for us to understand or even accept. They don’t always make sense. But why should they? If a mystery made sense then it would no longer be a mystery. We seem to spend most of our life living in a logical world that it doesn’t leave much time for the spiritual world. Our faith lives from what is revealed and we as disciples are called to embrace it, take it in and let it find a place where it can rest. And then we are to let this mystery dwell within us, stay there and let it work, all of this without having to figure it out. Well, that is certainly a challenge, even for me.
The Ministry of Jesus
In the Bible, or even here in Mass, you don’t find long, detailed explanations on the life and works of Jesus. You read and hear stories of events, stories of what he did and said. Jesus was the source of comfort to those who were open to receiving his message. He still is today. To those who were closed to his ideas and message – Jesus was a scandal that had to be dealt with. But Jesus was hard to deal with; he didn’t fit into the nice, neat boxes of the religious authorities of that time. There was no way to explain his actions – certainly Jesus’ actions didn’t fit into their structure and interpretation of religion.
The Gospel of Mark
Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. The event of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan revealed who he already was: the “beloved Son” with whom God was “well pleased.” Jesus’ baptism didn’t change his identity; it revealed who he was to us. We have a very interesting mystery in this Gospel reading from Mark. Throughout this liturgical year we will be hearing primarily from Mark. His is the shortest of the gospels and Mark’s version of Jesus’ baptism doesn’t spend much time describing the event. A few verses before, we can read a little bit about the character of John and that people “were being baptised by him as they acknowledged their sins.” John proclaims himself to be not even “worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals”, and yet he baptises the Son of God in the Jordan.
God Speaks
“He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending down upon him.” And if that wasn’t enough, “a voice came down from the heavens” which revealed Jesus as God’s Son. This image is wrapped in mystery as we picture this John baptising the Lord and the Spirit anointing the human being called Jesus. This marks the distinction between his private life and his public ministry. After Jesus’ baptism, he enters into this world of being able to minister to those who were considered outcasts of society. He had the audacity to disregard what conventional religion thought was good and what was not. - Where did Jesus, a human being, get all of that power, other than the way it’s told in the story? The power came rushing down to Jesus when the heavens were torn open.
Connecting The Readings
My dear friends, one of the biggest challenges in writing a homily is connecting the Gospel to the First Reading from the Old Testament, and the Second Reading taken from the New Testament. These stories quite often relate to each other. Our First Reading from Isaiah refers to the person of Jesus. Isaiah gives us an image of who God really is. He reveals God as a servant, wanting to please, inviting us to come and receive. Unfortunately for the folks at the time of Jesus’ ministry is that they had a rather distorted view of God. They had this image of God as an authority figure, judging and keeping an account of everything we do.
God Revealed
Someone once sent me an image of Jesus on WhatsApp. It said: “Jesus is God’s Selfie”. Here is a man who has come into the world to reveal who God is. God, who wants to be there for us; he wants to give us life. God, who wants to walk with us, to sit with us and to show us how. Jesus is that pure image of God, revealed in his ministry.
Living Our Faith
And that takes me to our Second Reading from John. This letter is thought to have been written toward the end of the first century. Its purpose is to combat certain false ideas, especially about Jesus, and to deepen the spiritual and social awareness of the Christian community. Through our own baptism in Jesus, we are all connected. John writes that “everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the father loves also the one begotten by him.” This faith my fellow Christians, is the source of our power in the world and this source gives us life and the ability to face all of the obstacles that come our way. It is a source, shrouded in mystery and when we embrace it, take it in and let it work in our lives, as we responded to the psalm “as you draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation” the secrets will reveal themselves.
Amen.