Baptism of the Lord - C January 10, 2010

Isaiah 40: 1-5; 9-11 Titus 2: 11-14, 3: 4-7 Luke 3: 15-16, 21-22

I imagine that most of us know, all too well, that an important part of the recent holiday season is food. This is especially the case with regard to “traditional” foods and baked goods. As part of our celebration they can take us back to our youth, they might be items that we only have at this time of the year. They are, in themselves, quite special.

Along with these traditional foods that are part of the holiday activities, there are foods that are part of daily live to which we give different names, different titles. There are, for example, those items which we call “fast food.” These are burgers and fries, tacos, pizzas, sub sandwiches. For many persons these are quite common parts of the daily diet. There are what are called “gourmet” foods. We may read about them, see them prepared on television. Often they can be somewhat fussy in their preparation or presentation. Then there are the “comfort food.” We can envision these as meat loaf, fried chicken and pot roast. They can come with heaps of mashed potatoes and gravy. Or, they can be steaming bowls of spaghetti and meatballs or pans of lasagna. These are foods that taste good just in their memory or aroma. They are almost too good, almost too much. They not only feed us, they make us feel good. They are “comfort” foods because they are familiar, warm and loving.

“Comfort” is the words used today by Isaiah the prophet. He uses this word to describe what God wishes to offer to us. It is used in this liturgy to tell us what we experience by God coming among us, by being with us, in the person of Jesus Christ. “Comfort” is what is familiar, warm and loving. “Comfort” describes the relationship God seeks with us - not only in history, but now.

But how often is it that this concept, this idea - “comfort” - is what we associate with our relationship with God, our awareness of God in our lives? How often is it in this way that we describe what our relationship with God is? That this is what we experience in our lives through our union with God in our daily living? Yet this is exactly what we, as Church, are calling to mind today, that is being suggested quite strongly to us, as we remember the beginning of Jesus’ ministry by his baptism by John.

Along with these words that we hear from Isaiah, we also hear the account of this event at the beginning of Jesus’ public life as it is told to us by the evangelist, Luke. What is noticeable in the way in which he tells the story is a lack of detail. The different participants or characters in the story are described briefly: the people who are gathered with eager expectation, John the Baptist, who lets it be known that he is not the one they want, there is another, Jesus who is briefly mentioned, the Holy Spirit described as being in the bodily form of a dove, and the voice that is heard, responding to John and saying that this is the beloved Son.

The incident recorded by Luke tells us that as others went through the ritual baptism, so did Jesus. I thought, with a certain sense of saying it in a familiar way, that it was much like saying that Jesus “jumped into pool” with them. Was it that sense of familiarity that Luke wished to convey. Jesus went into the river like all the others did. Jesus, the Son of God, “jumped” into human nature, became one like us in order to “comfort” us in this way. God is one with us, part of our lives, in every good, but also every difficult and painful aspect of living.

This is the mission and purpose of Jesus that is begun in earnest at his baptism. This is an event in his history. He happened not only then. It happens now as well. How does it take place now? It is done with food, with familiarity. We encounter, we experience God by coming together in a familiar setting, with familiar people. It is here that what is familiar, what is warm, what is loving is to be experienced. Here it is that we are fed, we are nourished, by word, by common faith, by Eucharist. The very person of God who became man, the Body and Blood of Christ, is given to us. It is, indeed, the ultimate “comfort” food.

I am convinced that this is the understanding and appreciation that we can and ought to have about these moments we spend together in faith, in worship, in sharing the Eucharist. It is for us not an obligation or duty to be performed, but an opportunity to experience the familiarity, the warmth, the love of God. This we do by being with one another and by being with God. We experience this even within the formal ritual of the Mass, a ritual that is familiar to us. Ritual is so much a part of the many things we do day after day, it is what makes our living “familiar.” So it is here where “comfort” is spoken to us. Here it is that “comfort” is shared with us by our good and gracious God.