MONDAY JANUARY 8, 2018
The event commemorated today is a very puzzling one. The kind of baptism that John was offering was a “baptism of repentance,” that is, it was for people who were repenting their sins, or some great sin, and turning over a new leaf in their lives. What is Jesus, the sinless one, doing in such a crowd? He is expressing solidarity with us. This he continued the do throughout his life. He ate with prostitutes and tax-collectors, he reached out and touched lepers, he made friends with outcasts, he told stories that held up Samaritans and Gentiles as heroes of faith and love. He is one of us; and so, wherever we are, he has to be there too. In Matthew’s gospel the voice that spoke from heaven said “This is my Son, the beloved....” It is addressed to the crowd. But in Mark’s gospel (today’s reading) the voice says, ‘You are my Son, the beloved....’” It is addressed to Jesus alone, in the interiority of his spirit. There is something very special about this. It is understood by scholars that Peter was Mark’s source of information. One can imagine Jesus and Peter, his closest friend, talking together one evening and Jesus telling him about it. We are always telling our inner life to Jesus. Why not sometimes let him tell us about his?
