The Heavens were Opened – 8 January 2023
As baptized children of God, we have the same mission as our soft-spoken Savior. We do not cry out for vengeance but for justice as we proclaim God's forgiveness, give voice to those who are oppressed, care for the poor, and give hope of eternal life to a bruised and darkened world. We are empowered for this work by baptism into Christ's divine name, Spirit, and mission. –– John Paul Salay
Matthew 3:13–17
Christ's divine anointing appeared at his baptism. “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; …he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). At Christ's baptism, the Son and Spirit's eternal unity of divinity, power, and work appeared in public. If God's eternal Son Jesus was anointed with the Spirit, then we also need that same Spirit in a world torn apart by evil: the evil or terrorism and the evil of war that calls more for vengeance than for justice, the evil of materialism that rots our souls with the world's sweetness, and the diabolical evil of political and economic oppression that denies the inherent rights of those made in God's image. When you were baptized you felt the soft and soothing caress of oil on your forehead as the Spirit came upon you as soft as a dove's landing and as soothing as a mother's kiss. You now are a child of God, empowered by the Spirit, and ready to serve.
Christ's divine mission appeared at his baptism. The prophet foretold the nature of this mission. “He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice” (Isaiah 42:1b–3). Christ's mission was to be the soft-spoken Suffering Servant who would bring forth justice, not by punishing people, but by forgiving them. He did not break people's bruised spirits, but he made them whole again. He did not extinguish the dim glow of hope flickering in people's darkened hearts, but he enflamed them with hope and love. Christ, however, did cry out, not for vengeance but for forgiveness: “Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:24). With Jesus' final cry, God's justice appeared on earth—a compassionate justice that justifies people by forgiving their sins. –– John Paul Salay
Acts 10:34–43
God shows no partiality and accepts all who fear God and do what is right. How then do we make visible and real to the world our unity, through baptism, in Christ? How do we make visible the same acceptance God extends to us? –– E. Byron Anderson
Isaiah 42:1–9
The promise of God is sure: “I have taken you by the hand and kept you.” How do we live in God's safekeeping? How do we extend God's safekeeping to our families and communities? –– E. Byron Anderson
E. Byron (Ron) Anderson is the Ernest and Bernice Styberg Professor of Worship and the Director of the Nellie B. Ebersole Program in Music Ministry at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.
John Paul Salay is Loyola University’s Minister of Liturgy and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).
Homily Service 41, no. 1 (2007): 99–110.