Did you ever wonder why Jesus, who was sinless and did not need to repent, sought to be baptized by John the Baptist? Well, it seems that the early Christians wondered about that too! So in today’s reading (Matt 3:13-17, a passage unique to Matthew’s Gospel), John the Baptist asks Jesus why he needs to be baptized. Jesus answers that it is fitting, “to fulfill all righteousness.” John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance was meant to initiate people into a way of living that produced good fruit, a phrase Jesus himself used to describe his expectation of those who followed him. And after Jesus began his own ministry, when John’s disciples asked Jesus if he was the Messiah they hoped for, Jesus does not answer directly. Instead he lists for them the good fruits he was producing, like healing the sick and preaching the good news to the poor. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#438) says that when Jesus was baptized by John, he was anointed with the Spirit that he might be revealed to Israel as its Messiah — who would do just the things Jesus did. Most of us were baptized as innocent infants, who had no personal sin from which to repent. Although there are many mentions of sin in connection with baptism in the Catechism, there are also many mentions of how our baptisms welcome us into the Church. And what is the Church? It is a people of God with a mission of producing good fruit within a world marked by sin and its effects. Like Jesus, in baptism we are anointed to begin our mission of producing good fruit. Reflect this week on the good fruit that has flowed from your life out to others, out to our world, from your commitment to the Lord.
— Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia
The post January 11, Baptism of the Lord, Good fruit: a Sunday Scriptures blog first appeared on Sisters of the Precious Blood.