Baptism of the Lord 2026
Isaiah 42: 1-4, 6-7; Acts 10: 34-38; Matthew 3:13-17
“This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Who is? “Don’t ask daft questions,” I hear you cry. “It’s obvious. It is Jesus Christ Our Lord, and this is the central part of the Epiphany, as He is SHOWN FORTH as the Beloved Son of the Father.”
“100% correct” I respond, “Or rather, 99%. Is there anyone else?” “Yes, of course”, you reply. “There are thee and me, because we have been baptised into Jesus, and therefore we too are beloved sons and daughters of the Father”.
“Spot on!” say I. “But what are the implications of that, apart from knowing that we are loved with the greatest love of all, which is huge in itself?”
“That is easy to answer”, comes your return of serve. “As St. Peter said in his sermon which we have just heard, because we have been baptised into Jesus, and anointed like Him ‘with the Holy Spirit and with power’ we too have to go about doing good ‘and healing all who are oppressed by the devil, because God [is with us]’”.
Right, so that is our gift, our privilege, and our task. We have been anointed as beloved children of God, and so we have the responsibility of loving and serving others, building the Kingdom to the best of our ability. Does that cover everything?
Well, essentially it does, but we still need to listen to the prophet known as Deutero-Isaiah (Second Isaiah) in order to fill in some of the details. There are words and phrases which occur and recur, which we must take to heart.
For instance, the prophet three times uses the word “justice”. Is there justice in our world, our country and our society, in our own actions, words and thoughts?
Certainly not in our world, we would have to admit. The gap between rich and poor is increasing, both in the world at large, and in our own country. Pope Leo recently denounced a situation in which billionaires, and even a trillionaire, are encouraged to thrive, whilst many go hungry.
Our government has slashed overseas aid, and the Leader of the Opposition is committed to slashing it still further, while the Reform Party wishes to abolish it altogether. Where is justice there? At home, the gap between rich and poor is increasing by leaps and bounds. When the Chancellor made a half-hearted effort in the recent budget to reduce it, she was denounced by opposition parties, and by the right-wing press. It seems that justice is not a priority for our politicians, who are responding to what they believe is the mood of the people. As sons and daughters baptised in the Lord, we have an obligation to demonstrate that our mood is very different.
Around the world, we see injustice prevailing in Europe, where Putin continues to seek control of Ukraine and other countries, and in the western hemisphere where tyranny is pursued by an American administration, many of whose members claim to be Catholic, whilst having no regard for the Scriptures, or for Catholic Social Teaching. Further afield, the Israeli government, along with Islamist groups such as Hamas, reject the entire concept of just and peaceful co-existence.
Within the Church, despite Deutero-Isaiah’s description of the Messiah, and therefore of His Church, as not breaking the bruised reed, or quenching the faintly burning wick, there is a mood of intolerance, frequently, it seems, among younger members of the clergy, who seek to lay heavy burdens on the anawim, the “poor of the Lord”. Jesus was baptised as the Beloved Son of the Father, and we have been baptised in Him. How well are we living our Baptism by working for justice and right?
