8/31/2023 0 Comments My morning reflectionIf you immerse your life into the life of Jesus, you may end up in the pool way over your head. If you want to immerse your life into the life of Jesus, you need to love as Jesus loved – gentle and humble of heart, to all. After all this, he said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” He hung on the cross between two thieves. He did the unthinkable and washed the feet of his disciples. He advocated for those living on the margins and shared table fellowship with the outcasts. He walked with the sinners into the Jordan. Jesus immersed himself into this world to reveal the love of the Father. If you love the commandments, you will love all the children of God. If you love the Father and the Son, you will love the commandments, especially the commandment of love. If you love the Father you will love the Son. The First Letter of John (5:1-9) gives us the second word to show us how to immerse our life into the life of Jesus. Come to me if you want meaning and purpose. Jesus says the same words to us today: Come to me if you are hungry for justice or thirsty for peace. The prophet is speaking to people who feel abandoned by God and strangers in the land. In the vision of Isaiah (55:1-11), the prophet says the word ‘come’ time and time again:Ĭome to me if you’re thirsty. Looking at the readings today, two words stand out and might provide a guide. How do we immerse ourselves into his divine life. We need to immerse our lives into the life of Jesus. In a similar manner, Jesus doesn’t need anything from us. In other words, Jesus didn’t need the waters of baptism, the waters needed Jesus. One of the Church fathers, Saint Maximus of Turin, answers the question this way: “Christ is baptized, not to be made holy by the water, but to make the water holy… for when the Savior is washed all water for our baptism is made clean, purified at its source for the dispensing of baptismal grace to the people of future ages.” Jesus had no sin, so one might ask, “Why did he seek a baptism?” These broken people were coming to John to be baptized for the repentance of their sins. He even walked with some scribes and Pharisees. Elbow to elbow Jesus walked with habitual sinners toward the muddy waters of the Jordan river: tax collectors, prostitute, soldiers. Jesus was completely immersed into the world. The Baptism is like the plunge underwater. The child born has manifested the divine presence and power of God. In addition, Herod and all powers of the world see the waves threatening to overthrow their kingdoms. They follow the source of this splash, in reality a star at its rising. The Magi, gazing at the sky, get a little wet. The Epiphany is like the splash and the waves. They depart from the infant singing ‘glory to God in the highest’. The shepherds hear the good news and go to see what this is all about. The infinite and all-powerful God is born into space and time. The Nativity is like the initial contact with the water. Let’s now compare jumping into a pool with the three great ‘theophanies’ we celebrate during the Christmas season: the Nativity, the Epiphany, and the Baptism. Waves go racing to the sides of the pool. There is a clap of noise as your body makes contact with the water. Imagine jumping off a diving board into a pool of water. To answer that question, let’s first form an image of the word immersion.
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