January 12^th 2020. The Baptism of Our Lord
GOSPEL: Matthew 3, 13-17
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Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Matthew 3, 13-17
Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John. John tried to dissuade him. ‘It is I who need baptism from you’ he said ‘and yet you come to me!’ But Jesus replied, ‘Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that righteousness demands’. At this, John gave in to him.
As soon as Jesus was baptised he came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice spoke from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him’.
The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In the Gospel, Jesus asks John to baptize him. This seems strange: Jesus does not need baptism! Then Jesus tells John that this baptism will “fulfil all justice”. What can this possibly mean? Justice is like a weighing scales, right? Offences and punishments being balanced against each other? Wrong! The righteousness of God is not like that! Since the time of the Garden of Eden, we have failed to trust in the loving providence of God. We have believed the serpent’s lie when he told us to do our own thing if we want to be happy. Since then, we have sought to construct our dignity on our own talents and hard work. We yearn for success and acclaim in the eyes of others. We esteem beauty, intelligence, skill. But Jesus comes along to his baptism and turns everything on its head. He tells us that our system of balances, our notion of righteousness, counts for nothing. At the baptism, the Father cries out that his favour rests on his beloved Son. And the Father wishes to say the same to us. Righteousness – being in a correct relationship with God – does not require that we accomplish certain things. Rather, the fundamental thing is to abandon ourselves in trust to the Father, believing that he loves us and esteems us. This is right relationship with God. We construct cages around ourselves and the bars of the cages are made up of notions about image, looks and talents - false ideas about what gives me dignity. Trust in the loving providence of a Father who loves me is the remedy that sets me free.

Jesus talks about “justice” to John the Baptist. What is he talking about? According to justice, Jesus should never be baptized! But in the Bible, justice means something different. It is not just about balancing the weighing scales between right and wrong. Rather, trusting in the justice of God has to do with abandoning ourselves to his mercy, his fidelity.
Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. The Baptist, however, wanted to prevent him, saying: “It is I who need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?” But Jesus replied: "Leave it for now, because it is fitting that we fulfil all justice." That the inferior figure would baptize the one who is superior to him seems strange to us. What does the Lord mean by the term “the fulfilment of all justice”? It is certainly not the justice of Roman law, represented by the image of the weighing scales!  Rather, it is the justice of God, which in the Bible is the fulfillment of His Word, the realization of His designs. In our mentality, a man is right when he behaves according to the rules, while in the Bible a man is right when he believes in God's faithfulness, when he abandons himself to God’s designs and trusts in the promises that God has made to him.

Israel struggled to keep God’s Law, but always failed. Even Moses and David had moments of weakness where they failed to abandon themselves to the Lord. Humanity, by its own powers, is simply incapable of being completely faithful to the Lord.
There is a woundedness in Israel's faith, however. There is the realization that it has never fully trusted in God, never abandoned itself completely, but always held something back. For a moment of distrust, Moses is not allowed to enter the promised land. David will not be able to build the temple because he has made grave mistakes and could not fully reach the goal. No-one has ever completely fulfilled the dictates of justice. In Acts, Peter will speak of the Law as "a yoke that neither our fathers nor we have ever been able to carry" (Acts 15:10). 

 At the baptism of Jesus, we see a new model of relationship between God and his children. Jesus abandons himself into the hands of his loving Father. This is what has been missing since the time of Eden!
How can the dictates of divine justice be fulfilled? What is the fact that finally enables this fulfilment? Jesus is baptized and sees the Spirit descending on him. The voice of the Father from heaven says: "This is my Son, the beloved: my favour rests on him". How is this event connected to God’s this justice? Think about it! Sin enters the world because man does not believe that God is really a Father who loves him and wishes for his good. Instead, man listens to the lies of the serpent who tells him that doing his own thing will make him happy. Man doubts God’s love and from that moment he is on the defensive and lives in a state of anguish and tension.

If we do not abandon ourselves in trust to the love of our heavenly Father, then we live like orphans. We live in a state of distrust, trying to earn our own status in the world. We yearn for success, for the acclaim of others. Jesus, by contrast, is not someone who depends on talents, beauty, intelligence or anything else. He lives in a state of trust that the Father loves him. This state of loving abandonment is what real “righteousness” consists in.

The heart of man, living in this state of distrust, as Pope Francis says, is like the heart of an orphan. We reason, we operate, as a person who has nothing but himself to rely on. Everything is on our shoulders, there is no Providence, but only our hard work and our own talents. Our limits scare us and our mistakes oppress us. Because we live as orphans, "born by chance" or by mistake, we must justify our right to exist by achieving awards and successes. We worry about our image in the eyes of others and become swamped by our defensive strategies that become our cages. With Jesus, by contrast, we see one who lives a new kind of existence. It is not the existence of someone who is smarter, stronger, more beautiful, richer or otherwise. It is the life of a Son who knows the Father, who carries within him the knowledge that the Father favours him. Christ does not bestow on us new talents or riches or reassurances or strategies, but he reveals the loving Father to us. Maybe then we will stop apologizing for existing, once we realize that he takes pleasure in us too. The Holy Spirit will teach us that God is our Father. This is what makes us righteous. Trust in this righteousness of God is what sets us free.