A sidewalk preacher came across a man who looked a little down and out. The preacher yelled at the man, “Do you want to find Jesus?!” and the man said, “Sure!” So the preacher grabbed the man, baptized him on the spot in a tank that he had for such occasions. When he pulled the man out the preacher asked him, “Did you see Jesus?” The man said, “No.” So the preacher dunked him again, this time for a little longer. Pulling the man out, the preacher asked him again, “Did you find Jesus?” “No,” the man said, “Are you sure he fell in there?”
In celebrating the Baptism of the Lord today we recall the great significance of Baptism in our own lives. What is Baptism? It reverses what Adam and Eve did. They lost our friendship and intimate relationship with God. They gave mankind the ability to love themselves more than God. They gave us the ability to make a real mess of things. They lost that personal connection between us and God. It is said in the garden Adam and Eve walked with God, He was actually very personal to them. Now we have to invite Him to be personal in our lives. When we are baptized we become the sons and daughters of God. I know I say this often but don’t lose its meaning please, because to live in this significance is to break free from sin. John baptized with water, which means his baptism was one of symbolism. Jesus baptizes us with water and the Holy Spirit. What does this mean? It means that when Jesus baptizes the person is entirely cleansed. You know there is all these new deep cleanse diets where you eat disgusting stuff and purify your system well and deep. Cleanse diet nothing – Baptism remakes us into the image and likeness of God. In fact, when the Holy Spirit comes upon us in Baptism, all that is seen is the Son. We are remade as a son or daughter of God. Jesus is seen. God can see His image perfectly at this point. This is how we are saved, by letting God work in our souls. The sacraments save us because that is when we let God work in our souls.
However, there is a problem that I see. Let’s think this problem through. If you are a son or daughter of God, which if you are baptized is true that you are, but you have never heard God’s voice, you have never sought His instruction, doesn’t that make you like an orphan? Can you imagine, most of us have parents but what would have happened in our lives if all we ever had was someone else’s experience of our parents? Or that we read about our parents? We were never personally taught or instructed by them. We could say that we were not orphans because we have living parents but the truth of the matter is we are an orphan in practice because our parents are not having an influence on our lives. Perhaps I could tell you about my experience of your parents, the relationship I had with them, how they gave me advice in life, how they helped me out in difficult moments, how they healed me or helped me break free from a bad addiction, but that would only sort of help you. You might be honoured by how great your parents are but it wouldn’t really help you if all you had was my experience to go on. You might wonder why you aren’t having that experience. Why aren’t your parents helping you in these difficult moments of your life?
I hope you can see this as an analogy of God in our life. If God is your Father, and He is through your Baptism, then you, too, should have a personal connection to Him in prayer and the Sacraments. If we find our time with God boring then it is because we lack the personal connection to God. We are not being instructed, blessed, affirmed, corrected, educated by God. We are letting others tell us though we should know Him personally. If we let others tell us then we are an orphan and it is no surprise that we are falling into the same sin over and over again. It is not a surprise that we are growing older and not better. Because we are not being parented by the all-knowing God and Father of us all. Like all orphans, our growth is stunted and our perfection is limited.
But there is good news and that is that we can be parented by God at any age. There is no time when we cannot turn around and be transformed. In the Gospel it said the people had great expectation. We should have great expectation because it is God we are meant to encounter in our Mass today and in the readings. Think of how you pray: do you expect to meet God when you pray? Or are you just getting prayers done in hopes that He might answer something if you only get enough prayers in. When we pray we should expect God to answer. When we come to Mass we should expect instruction, affirmation, encouragement, correction, mercy, love because God is here. God is here. God is here and in the Bible we hear He is powerful, in the world He did many things because the created order obeys Him. We must expect. Pray to expect. Pray to be fathered through the situations in life. Pray to be open to learn today. Ask Him what He wants to tell you. Give Him permission to do what He wants to do to your soul. Ask Him questions. But do not do nothing. Do not just sit here or God will pass you by. If you let God pass you by it is not that nothing will happen. It is not a neutral situation where if God acts great, if not no big deal. When we don’t let God act it creates a void in our lives, something that we aren’t made for. So corrections, many things that we are made for, are not happening in our souls. That void is our disorder that is hurting ourselves and the people around us.
Are you living as a practical orphan? Today is the day to find your Father. Talk to Him as your instructor. Meet Him in Scripture. Meet Him in Mass. Meet Him in the Rosary but meet Him. Stop being an orphan. Stop relying on others to tell you about God because He wants to know you and you to know Him personally.