What Baptism Needed

I’ve always loved the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. Perhaps it’s because our oldest was baptized on that feast. This year, I had the chance to go to the vigil Mass and the Sunday Mass — in different cities — and both times the priests offered the same take of the epic scene of St. John the Baptist and Jesus in the Jordan that I had never heard before. There’s a back and forth between the cousins. John, pushing back on baptizing Jesus because he’s Jesus, and Jesus insisting on being baptized. What both priests pointed out was that Jesus didn’t need to be baptized. Baptism needed Jesus. The ancient ritual that the Jewish people had been practicing, needed the Holy Trinity to turn that tradition into the sacrament we need and are blessed to receive today.

As I continued to reflect on that insight and give thanks for the sacramental life we have as Catholics, I couldn’t help but wonder in what other much less important practices, whether it be in my family, workplace, or faith life, does my posture need to be reset? How often — especially in discipleship — do I fall into the trap that I am the primary agent of my salvation or the salvation of another? What would my life look like if, whatever I did for others, I did by first remembering that I needed them in order to do it?

As we begin this new week, let’s remember not only in His Baptism, but in His Death and Resurrection, the Lord didn’t do it out of what He needed, rather, He did it because of what we needed and how much He loves us.

Prayers that we follow His model in the days ahead.