Sermon Notes – The 2nd Baptism

“The 2nd Baptism”

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

January 11 – 12, 2020

Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17

I’ve had a number of people ask me when the Christmas season ends. Well, when I was young, it was when my mother could no longer stand the pine needles on the carpet…and everything went away…including the tinsel, one piece at a time. Technically, this weekend is the end of the Christmas season. However, we will use all of the poinsettias, gifts of love by people in the Church, for as long as we can. Then we will put them into an adoption program. Some are ready to be adopted now…they are right outside the door.

Today’s gospel takes me back to my seminary days. In seminary, they have transitional deacons, one I thought I knew well. This particular deacon chose to proclaim the gospel in front of the Archbishop and televised to people in Boston. These are called Snow White and the seven dwarfs. So, the deacon gets up and says, “Jesus was baptized in the John by the Jordan.” Okay! Deacons did not proclaim the gospel anymore after that. That deacon actually became a priest and a good one. I bet he got it when he went back to the seminary.

In today’s scripture, like any parent, our good Lord shows us what to do to gain salvation. He came to identify with the sinful man and to associate Himself with us by being baptized. When people came to John before they were baptized, they had not confessed their sins. Jesus did not confess any sins…He had none, because He is God. This is why John said, “I need to be baptized by You, not You by me. But, Christ insisted and said, “No, you must do this.” Everything that happens in our lives, our Lord has experienced before, and He identifies with us. Our sicknesses and our illnesses He identifies with and experienced. He took all the pain and sufferings to the cross. When He cured people; what did He do? He sighed and He groaned, as He took upon Himself all of the sickness from all time. Everything we have experienced, Jesus experienced it before. Does Jesus know our sufferings? Yes…a bad back from carrying His cross; anxiety and mental illness from the crown of thorns gripping into His skull; bad eyesight from the blood and sweat streaming down and stinging His eyes; and death on the cross. He experienced everything.

Jesus came to save sinners. We accept baptism to begin our walk with Him. After His baptism, Christ began His public ministry. We, too, must begin our public ministry by virtue of our baptism in Jesus. We come to Him to begin our walk with Him in faith and baptism. Did He need baptism? No. But, like a good parent He showed us how to do it. When I was a young child, I was sick and had to take some yucky medicine. Of course, I didn’t want to take it. My father said, “Nothing to it. Come on, this is great!” He took the medicine first and said, “See, it’s not bad.” So I said, “Well if it’s not that bad, I’ll do it.” Did my father need the medicine? No. He wasn’t sick, I was, but he took the medicine to show me it wasn’t that bad. It’s the same with teaching kids to eat vegetables like cucumbers. Before we can be baptized, we have to admit that we have sin. For children, that is original sin and afterward the sins committed in their lives. After baptism, we may think, “Hey, I got an ‘A’ , I’m baptized, I’m good! Well, it’s a good start. We have to express a need for God. But, if you have no sins, there is no need for baptism, and you don’t need communion, because, Who do you receive in Holy Communion? You receive the Savior…the Redeemer. What does He save and redeem us from? Our sins. But, really, if you don’t have any sins, you don’t need to be here; please leave but after the collection.

A couple of points…the first and only time that God and the Holy Spirit, a manifestation of the Trinity, was ever in the form of a dove was at the baptism of Christ. Remember, when He came down the road from Pentecost, it was in the form of wind. In our Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, I invoke the Holy Spirit over the elements and put my hands out flat over them. In the Eastern Rite of the Church, they take the chalice veil and wave it back and forth. The dove was used also in the New Testament in Leviticus during the presentation of our Lord at the Temple when Mary offered a pair of turtle doves, an offering by the poor, for His redemption. Doves are a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

At our Lord’s baptism, He proclaimed that He had another baptism to undergo and how He wished it was already over, because He couldn’t wait to bestow the gifts of love upon His children. He wanted to achieve the goal for which He came; the goal of love which was to open the gates of Heaven; and giving us the means of salvation. It wasn’t that He was looking forward to His Passion and death in the human sense; instead, He wanted to share the fruits of His gifts with us. We are baptized in one baptism and on earth in our conversion. We, too, are looking forward to our 2nd baptism when we are with our Lord and baptized by His blood. One day, when we face our final cross, our baptism will be complete. Most of us will share His passion; the pure anguish He suffered…maybe not the exact physical ailments ….thank God for medicine – but the pure anguish that He endured. Remember, He said, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” Did He really think God had abandoned Him? For Jesus, it was a metaphor. Yet, it expresses how we feel when we are very sick and feel neglected. When we are passing from this world, it feels like God has abandoned us. But, we will be strengthened by receiving the fruits of Jesus’ 2nd baptism in the Sacraments. As much as we share in Christ’s suffering, we also share in His glory.

How will you apply this message to your life? Are you ready to share in His Passion?

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