Contents: Volume 2

BAPTISM of the LORD (C)

January 12, 2025

1. -- Lanie LeBlanc OP - Baptism of the Lord
2. -- Dennis Keller - OP - 2nd Sunday
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5. --(Your reflection can be here!)

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The Baptism of the Lord 2025

In Sunday's gospel account according to Luke, we read/hear John the Baptist enlighten those gathered about Who is to come and baptize a bit differently. John said, "He ( Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” What does that mean?

Today we know that the Holy Spirit has many names and "jobs". Among the names are Counselor and Advocate and Giver of Gifts (remember the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit) . The Holy Spirit teaches, sanctifies, and comforts us... but wait, there is more, so much more. The Holy Spirit, I think, is the One who makes those unbelievable things happen in our lives that bring us closer to our Triune God.

If we take the time and reflect on our life's experiences, we can enumerate some examples of the "fire" part! Certainly, the Holy Spirit has warmed out hearts and encouraged us to do many positive things. The Holy Spirit also has ignited our inertia to get us moving and do something... and not all was pleasant! We have been baptized into Jesus and so we know a little bit about the positive and the challenges of the One whom we profess to follow.

John baptized Jesus, a symbol of Jesus entering into His ministry with the blessing of the voice from heaven, the Father. What is the ministry to which we have been baptized and currently called to embrace? Spending some time in prayer at the beginning of this New Year might reveal the direction to take and maybe a bit about the fire it might include.

Blessings,
Dr. Lanie LeBlanc OP
Southern Dominican Laity
lanie@leblanc.one

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Second Sunday of Ordered Time
January 19, 2025

Isaiah 66:1-5; Responsorial Psalm 96; 1st Corinthians 12:4-11;
Gospel Acclamation 2nd Thessalonians 2:14; John 2:1-11

This Sunday is a turning point from the presence of Jesus on Christmas first noticed and visited by a classless group of shepherds. We shared a bit in the events of the Holy Family. We noted the role of Mary in accepting Gabriel’s message and the recognition of that role by Cousin Elizabeth. Then after a couple of years of study, travel, and seeking, we witnessed to what happens when seekers, the Magi, followed the light, the light of a rising star. We move this Second Sunday of ordered time into a first phase of Jesus ministry as noted only in the Gospel of John. This is the narrative of water made wine through the compassion of Jesus and an intercession of Mary. These readings are loaded with encouragement. In this first miracle, sign, of Jesus there is a very human story. Jesus and his disciples go to a party, an eight-day party as was the cultural custom for weddings. Anyone who arranged food and drink for a wedding reception would recognize what havoc a bunch of unexpected guests would be to an otherwise adequate food and drink supply. John’s gospel narrative is loaded with symbolic information and mind-bending ideas and teaching.

Let’s start with the first reading from Isaiah. The context of this message from the third book of Isaiah may resound with many of us. His prophecy is set in the period of the Babylonian captivity after Cyrus the Persian conquered the Babylonian empire. He wanted all captives to return to their homelands. The first wave of Jews had already returned there before Isiah’s prophecy. The message they sent back to those still in Babylon was, “Stay there. There’s nothing here for you. Everything is broken, destroyed. There is no wall, there is no temple. The water supply is broken, the fields are filled with briars and brambles. There’s nothing here. Stay in Babylon where there is culture and comfort.” This seems a parallel to the Exodus from Egypt when the Hebrews complained they had the flesh pots of Egypt to feed them and in the desert they were hungry and thirsty. That’s what Isaiah is up against. He prophesized that Jerusalem will return to its grandeur. God is with the work of restoration. Restoration: that word is used often in our days when referring to prison reform. Restorative justice has it goal as restoring criminals and victims to a meaningful and purposeful life. This is well beyond the urge to punish or to violent vengeance. This fits what happened to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. They had fallen into idolatry and violence. This was a violation of the covenant God initiated with them. Isaiah insists, “Go home where you belong to the covenant in which God is your God and you are God’s people.”

The reading from John’s gospel is in fact John’s third day of the new creation. With careful reading of these verses and chapters we notice John begins scenes with references to days. In all there are seven of those references. John means to signify by this that Jesus comes to bring a new creation. There are significant elements of this new creation contained in this narrative about the wedding feast of Canna. First we recognize this is a party. This is a big party and even strangers come to it, invited by Jesus Mother who is a friend of the wedding couple’s family. The invitation has included relatives and friends of the bride and groom. Strangers are invited in the persons of Jesus and the disciples who attended with him. This new creation is extended to all: all are invited whether known, whether part of that family or not. That includes each of us, a personal invitation of our Spiritual Mother. It helps to remember that a title given Mary motherhood, is Mother of the Church. The celebration gets going and because of all those who attended, the steward responsible for a grand celebration discovers wine has been used up and the party has just begun. The mother who invites accepts responsibility and goes to her son with a simple statement. She is not begging him to do something. She merely informs him, “They have no wine.” There were six stone jars. I’ve wondered just how stone was carved in the shape of a jar, a jar that would hold between 20 and 30 gallons of water. That’s a lot of water so the jars must have been massive. There were six of them used for purification before the feast. Water for purification was prepared so the invited could participate in the feast, washed, with clean hands and face. This remind us of Baptism. Just as guests were expected to wash before coming into a feast, so we are expected to be washed – baptized – to enter into the community that is our parish, our church. Jesus instructs servants to fill the jars with water as if for a new rite of purification. They do so, up to the brim. Does this filling to the brim mean the servants thought he was off his rocker. The need was for wine, not water. They drew out the water which became the very best of wines and gave it to the steward for approval. That’s a lot of wine: 120 to 180 gallons.

When we apply this to our experiences in our church, we understand how the liturgy of the word is like wine compared to the wisdom of writers before us, with us, and after us. The Words contained in Hebrew Scriptures and in Christian Scriptures are like the very best wine in comparison to secular wisdom. We have to draw it out and drink deeply of it. Our Eucharist what we receive in communion is food and drink we receive in the wedding banquet that is the Eucharist celebration. Eucharistic celebration is a thanksgiving and a sharing in communion. By sharing the same food and drink we are united with all others of our community.

I must remind myself and whoever reads or hears this. The drawing out, the thanksgiving, and communion is always in the context of Community. The richness that feeds and inebriates us changes our lives. But we must assimilate this food and drink with intention, wisdom and understanding. While food and drink become nourishment to energize us, so also within our community of faith, we are nourished and energized to face good times and difficult/threatening times.

Why all this about community? The life we aspire to is God’s life. And the life of God is the life of a community of three.

By way of explanation: the first day of new creation is when religious leaders in Jerusalem come to ask John the Baptizer who he is and what he’s doing. (John1:19-28) The second day is when John announces Jesus as the Lamb of God and the Son of God. (John 1:29-34) The third day is when disciples of John are encouraged to follow Jesus and Cephas becomes Peter. (John1:35-42) These three days are in reference to the three days of purification of getting the message of John correct. The reference is to the preparation in Exodus 19, when the tribes gathered at Mount Horeb – also known as Sinai – were to prepare themselves for a manifestation of God. Jesus takes initiative by calling a disciple and revealing himself. He calls Philip and reveals himself to Nathaniel and the other disciples. (John 1:43-51)

This section of John end when Jesus returns to Galilee and to Cana after the feast of Pentecost which he celebrated in Jerusalem. The first visit to Cana is the revelation of what happens to our gatherings, our party of life, when Jesus and his revelation comes into our living. The narrative is completed when Jesus returns to Cana in John 4:43-54. The miracle upon this return is the curing of a son of a royal official who came down from Capharnaum. John closes this narrative by indicating that it’s not just when Jesus comes to the party, but also when we come to the party. As in the narrative from Exodus with the commandments, we learn that living according to the way of the covenant, with the guidance of the commandments, and following in the way of Jesus, our lives can be happy. Even when our lives are filled with danger, terror, violence from those who seek false gods, there is a community that energizes us. And our lives are not destructive but places and times of constant growth of person – of character.

And so, we begin our ordinary time with John’s gospel the ministry of Jesus and his instruction for community and for how community builds the Kingdom of God is our journey of hope. Let’s walk with him and the disciples to learn this revolution of hearts and minds.

Dennis Keller Dennis@PreacherExchange.com 

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Volume 2 is for you. Your thoughts, reflections, and insights on the next Sundays readings can influence the preaching you hear. Send them to preacherexchange@att.net. Deadline is Wednesday Noon. Include your Name, and Email Address.
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