Baptism opens the gates of Heaven

The LORD bless you and keep you!  The LORD let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you!  The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!

Woman or man, Jew or gentile, black or white, weak or strong, rich or poor, educated or uneducated—it doesn’t matter, God shows no partiality.

Those of us who proclaim Christ as Lord are all seen as the same in the eyes of the Almighty, together forming the body of Christ.  Sure, we all have different gifts and therefore different functions within the body.  But He shows no partiality.  He welcomes us all and rewards us all the same—with eternal life.

John had to be uncomfortable.  By the river was Jesus, feet sunk in the mud like the throng awaiting the waters.  John was just a messenger, and he knew it.  To baptize the Holy One was not proper, not just.  Jesus reassured him: treat me the same.  He came to share in our humanity.  He came to serve sinners, not to rule from above (1 Timothy 1:15).

Jesus emerged joyous from the water to the divine chorus.  In accepting our humanity, we find God’s embrace.  “Here is my beloved.  I am well pleased.”

“He came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him.” (Matthew 3:16)   If you think about this, the exact same thing happens for us when we receive our baptism.  What a joy-filled thought!

We all (except Christ, of course) began in this world the same; as sinners.  Through the miraculous and magnanimous gift of baptism we went down into the water imperfect and came up a new creation, clean of sin and equal to all the others who proudly proclaim themselves "Christian." 

This Sunday we celebrate the baptism of our Lord. We should take some time to reflect on how this simple act in water ties us all together into one body, with Christ as the Head of that Body.