After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”
As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they left their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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I’m sure we all have a favorite picture, framed and hanging on a wall inside our home.
Mine is a picture of Jesus. It hangs in my living room. I see it every time I walk in through the front door, reminding me of his love for me – and mine for him.
One thing we probably never think about is the nail behind the picture frame. Once it goes into the wall, the nail is no longer visible. Naturally, we forget about it.
But without that nail, your picture frame would slide down the wall and crash on the floor, splitting the wood and shattering the glass.
In that sense, a nail serves two purposes: it brings two separate objects together – like a picture frame to a wall – and it provides enduring support.
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In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls the first of his disciples, one being Andrew, the brother of Peter. While much could be said about each of these men, just a brief word on Andrew.
Think of him like a nail.
He will connect more people with Jesus than anyone else in the Gospels. One might think, because of his zeal, he will be rewarded with becoming a valued member of Jesus’ inner circle, like his brother, Peter.
But he won’t be. Even more, it is Peter, not Andrew, who will be given the keys to the kingdom.
Andrew could’ve been resentful, but he didn’t seem to mind at all.
His purpose was not to take center stage, but to connect people with Jesus then fade to the background while providing enduring support, much like a nail connecting a frame to a wall.
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As we begin another week, and another year, perhaps we can ponder two things:
How do we model Andrew’s humility? And how might we connect others with Christ?
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Image credits: (1) Pantocrator, Sinai (2) Popular Mechanics (3) Prayers and Petitions
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Someone asked me recently, “Father, why do you baptize children?”
I said jokingly, “To give them rules to break as teenagers.”
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Today we celebrate the baptism of our Lord. This feast not only marks the beginning of Christ’s public ministry; it also concludes our celebration of Christmas.
Perhaps because of the many holiday meals I’ve shared from Thanksgiving through Christmas into the New Year, I’m already looking forward to the penitential fasting of Lent.
Yes, I dropped the “L” word, Lent. Can you believe it’s only a month away?
We begin each Lent on Ash Wednesday. As a black cross of ash is traced onto our foreheads, we hear the words, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
There’s nothing miraculous about those ashes. But that dark smudge is a simple, yet profound, reminder of our need to amend our lives. Of my need to amend my life. There’s always something I can do – or drop – in order to draw closer to God.
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The same was true of the baptism offered by John in the Jordan River. John was not bestowing the Holy Spirit or the promise of eternal life upon anyone, but his baptism was an opportunity for people to publicly repent, rededicating their lives to God.
Imagine people standing in the back of that long and growing line braving the desert heat, acknowledging by their mere presence that something had gone awry in their lives.
Far off in the distance, the impassioned voice of John could be heard as he rebuked the religious authorities, calling them a “brood of vipers,” while plunging penitents into the brown, muddied waters.
Jesus stood somewhere in that line as an anonymous soul shuffling his feet in the sand, waiting his turn. I imagine he admired John’s zeal and smiled at the crack of his voice.
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When the Lord’s turn came, John dunked Jesus into the Jordan like the rest of those gathered that day.
As Jesus emerged soaking wet with water dripping down his face, the Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove. Suddenly, his heavenly Father proclaimed: “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
What had Jesus done that was so pleasing to his Father? He had not yet preached a single sermon or performed a single miracle. He wasn’t even in need of repentance!
So, what was so pleasing to his Father?
Jesus became like us and took the plunge.
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At his baptism, he followed the example of his mother, Mary, who thirty years prior said to the angel Gabriel, “Let it be done unto me according to your word.”
The moment Mary surrendered to God, she let go of everything that she called her own – her will, her body, her future, her marriage, her life – placing it all into the providential hands of God.
At his baptism, Jesus does the same.
He leaves behind everything that he’s called his own for the last thirty years – his privacy, his life at home with Mary, and his role as a humble carpenter from Nazareth.
Symbolically, the Jordan River swallowed it all up, serving as his watery tomb. When the Lord emerged from those blessed waters, he was no longer a mere carpenter; he was revealed as the Messiah.
Thus, today marks the beginning of Christ’s public ministry. Now he is ready to preach and heal, to be loved and rejected, to be nailed to a cross and placed in a tomb.
But three years from now, when Christ is placed inside that dark and dusty tomb, he will leave one final thing behind: death itself.
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This is the primary reason why we are baptized, even as infants, to receive the promise of eternal life. But baptism is not just about the beginning or the end. It’s also about the in between, how we live out our faith here and now.
Thus, a crucial step in the Christian life involves rediscovering the power of our baptism. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive the power of God – to live, love, and forgive as he did.
Perhaps this is something for us to ponder: Have we fully surrendered to our heavenly Father the way Jesus and his mother, Mary, once did? Do we live empowered by the Spirit?
Or, as we look towards Lent, do we need those baptismal waters stirred up within us?
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“Father, why do you baptize children?”
“To give them rules to break as teenagers.”
But, really, to give people a foundation to stand upon, a framework for spiritual growth, and an open door to eternal life.
May God renew and stir up those baptismal waters within us so that we may be holy and blameless in his sight.
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Image credits: (1) Vatican News (2) Baptism of Christ, Dave Zalenka, 2005 (3) Mercy Home
It happened that there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where Jesus was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.” And the leprosy left him immediately. Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Mother Teresa was once walking along the streets of Calcutta, when suddenly she passed by a homeless man dying on the street.
The rags of his clothing wreaked of soured sweat. Maggots were nibbling at the bones of his tired body. The sight of it all left her feeling nauseous.
For a moment, she turned away from him as so many others had, not only in the hour of his death, but also seemingly throughout his life.
Then a moment of grace kissed her soul. “That’s Christ in distressing disguise,” Mother Teresa reminded herself.
So, she returned and knelt by the dying man’s side. He was so starved, that she – a woman not even five feet tall – was able to pick him up and carry him to her nearby home for the dying.
Upon arriving, the man looked up into her eyes and breathed his last.
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In today’s Gospel, we find a leper abandoned by society, much like the man starving on that street in Calcutta. He was – even by religious standards! – untouchable.
But Christ, moved with pity, stretched out his hand, touched him, and healed him. “I do will it,” he says. “Be made clean.”
It’s what Jesus does for all of us.
When we despise ourselves, or when our hearts are filled with bitter shame, the healing hand of the Lord remains outstretched. Never will a penitent person approach Jesus without hearing the words, “I absolve you.”
Even more, “I love you.”
This is the same generous spirit the Lord is trying to impart in us – as Mother Teresa often experienced.
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Sometimes we need to be reminded of our dignity as God’s creation.
Other times, we need to remind others – hug them, bathe their wounds, treat them with respect, love, patience, and forgive them as Christ has loved us.
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Image credits: (1) I Vote Catholic (2) Koinoinia Art (3) TheCollector
