MADE PEOPLE OF THE SPIRIT

By the Word, water and fire

Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord - January 11, 2026

Isaiah 42:1-4,6,7; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3: 13-17

We celebrate the Baptism of the Lord today. As John the Baptiser rightly points out in the Gospel today, there was no need for the Son of God to be baptised... but he chose to be baptised! It was a radical sign, bringing a specific purpose to that event. The purpose was to set us a challenge. Baptism is an act of the Spirit. As Peter observes in the Acts of the Apostles, it is the Spirit who acts at baptism and makes us what we are called to be. This act of the Spirit has a three fold challenge, as the Word presents to us this festive Sunday.

The first challenge - the Word: 

The Word made flesh whom we have been celebrating all these days is manifest once again today - explicitly by the words of the Spirit. The words that are heard is the call of the Spirit - that we may live to be declared the sons or daughters in whom the Almighty delights! That is the call entrusted to each of us in our Baptism, a challenge that we are reminded of today. 

The second challenge - Water: 

The Water in which the Lord immersed himself is an indication of our situation, into which Jesus immersed himself - the mystery of incarnation that we are reminded of once again, as we close this loving season of Advent and Christmas. We are challenged to immerse ourselves into the situations of people around us, becoming people who are redeemed by this incarnation. The every day sign of it would be our solidarity with those who are suffering and those who need someone to stand by them, instead of getting lost in our own personal concerns and self-centred whims.

The third challenge - Fire: 

The promise that the Lord will make us a light to the nations, challenges us to possess the fire of the Spirit, as Isaiah proposes. The fire that will consume all injustice, inhumanities and anti-Reign elements, paving the way for the Reign of God to be born here and now! Being the light of the nations... refers to light which is indeed, gentle and benign; but what it is fundamentally fire, the burning fire which lights up! We cannot forget that we can become lights, only when we burn. 

A final question we are inspired to pose ourselves today is - are we people of the Spirit? If so, we shall be rightly challenged by the Word, the Water and the Fire. Would the world hear about us said: behold my beloved child, in whom I rejoice!