Today, as we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. I would like to reflect on our vocation as followers and disciples of Christ in the light of this feast. Sometimes, it is easy to take our mission for granted or even to overstep our bounds. Sometimes too, it is easy to lose focus, to wonder off, to miss the mark.
The mission of Christ is well defined by His actions and sayings, especially in his response to John the Baptist’s question “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another? To John’s question, Jesus responded “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”
Yes, Jesus has come to fulfill the prophesy of Isaiah 35, the eyes of the blind shall be open. The ears of the deaf unsealed. The lame shall leap like a deer, the tongue of the dumb will sing for joy.
To his critics, the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus says “It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick” “Go and learn who it means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice” “I came to call not to call the righteous but sinners.”
It took Peter time to under that the message and mission of Jesus is a universal call. Hence, there is a universal call to holiness. At last, when Peter get it, he professed: “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.”
As Christians, we should overcome our preconceptions, bias, and human weakness to discriminate against anyone who does not act like us, look like us, speak like us or even pray like us.
John and Peter are like many of us. We think we know what God wants, or we understand what God’s plan for us and the world is. But we need to think again. What Jesus is saying to John is this “Put your preconceptions to one side.
Jesus says, “By the way you love one another people come to know that you are my disciples.” By the way you love one another, not by the way you hate one another, destroy one another, kill one another, discriminate against one another, stab one another in the back. Love is the key.
The mission of Christ is successful if we act like Christ. The Father made Jesus known to us as His “beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Didn’t the Father ask us to listen to Jesus?
Have a wonderful Week
