Day 76: Jesus’ Baptism and Temptation (535-540)

• It’s Day 76!!

• Let’s recap shall we?

• We are following the MYSTERIES OF JESUS’ LIFE

• Yesterday we talked about the mysteries of Jesus’ infancy and hidden life etc etc etc

• Today we are talking about THE MYSTERIES OF JESUS’ PUBLIC LIFE

• Particularly THE BAPTISM OF JESUS and JESUS’ TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS

• WHICH IS REMARKABLE!!

• We get to reflect on things we kind of know about and get to hear what the Church says about them

• This is a SUMMARY

• We are not diving AS DEEPLY as we can into these mysteries

• If we can take all these things into prayer every day, it would be great

• Paragraph 532 says, “The everyday obedience of Jesus to Joseph and Mary both announced and anticipated the obedience of Holy Thursday…The obedience of Christ in the daily routine of his hidden life was already inaugurating his work of restoring what the disobedience of Adam had destroyed.”

• OH MY GOSH!!

• THAT IS REMARKABLE!!

• When we look at the Baptism of Jesus we will look at the actual reality

• Jesus goes to the Jordan River and is Baptized by John amongst all these people

• He is revealed by the voice of the Father and the Spirit coming upon Him in the form of a Dove

• So what does all this mean?

• Paragraph 536 says, “The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God’s suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ Already he is anticipating the ‘baptism’ of his bloody death. Already he is coming to ‘fulfill all righteousness…’”

• All of these pieces reveal to us that Jesus begins His march to Calvary RIGHT AWAY

• Now, His INCARNATION is the beginning of His mission

• BUT…

• This is a SIGN of Jesus’ ACCEPTANCE

• This is a SIGN of Jesus’ INAUGURATION

• Pope Benedict XVI talked about how along the shores of the Jordan River the brokenness of humanity was represented

• Jesus elected to be numbered among them and went down into the waters of the Jordan River on our behalf

• Paragraph 537 says, “Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection.”

• We also have to enter into this mystery

• Then we have JESUS’ TEMPTATIONS

• After Jesus is Baptized, He entered the wilderness for 40 days

• Part of what Christ is doing is that He is the REVELATION OF THE FATHER

• He is REDEEMING US

• He is RECAPITULATING SOMETHING 

• The life of Adam

• The life of the Chosen People of Israel

• Paragraph 540 says, “Jesus’ temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him.”

• He allows Himself to NOT be the conquering hero in the sense that He is powerful in a WORLDLY WAY

• Not that He is victorious in a POLITICAL WAY

• Paragraph 540 continues, “This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: ‘For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning.’”

• SO COOL!!

• SO INCREDIBLE!!

• Paragraph 540 continues, “By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.”

• This is a mystery that existed at one time IN TIME

• BUT…

• We get to enter into it every single year at Lent

• WHICH IS AMAZING!!

• Let’s continue our day right now as we pray to our Father and ask Him to help us soak in the mystery of Christ’s Baptism

• And what that means as He enters into the waters

• Help us to soak into the mystery of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness

• Help us to say YES to God and NO to Satan in the wilderness

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, you know us. You know our name. You know our weaknesses. You know our great need for you. We ask that you please meet us in our self-abasement. Meet us in our weakness. We ask that you please meet us in our hesitancy and our littleness. Meet us in our trials when we find ourselves, Lord God, in the wilderness, when we find ourselves in a place of temptation, and even when we find ourselves in a place where we have failed the temptation, when we have said NO to you and YES to the Tempter. Help us even then, Lord God. Help us even then to know that we can count on you, to know that we can trust you. Help us to trust you in our brokenness. Help us to trust you in our wilderness and in our weakness. Meet us there. Find us there. And bring us to your heart. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS!!

• Let’s dive in!!

• Let’s go!!

• Paragraph 535 says, “Jesus’ public life begins with his baptism by John in the Jordan. John preaches ‘a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.’ A crowd of sinners-tax collectors and soldiers, Pharisees and Sadducees, and prostitutes-come to be baptized by him. ‘Then Jesus appears.’ The Baptist hesitates, but Jesus insists and receives baptism. Then the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes upon Jesus and a voice from heaven proclaims, ‘This is my beloved Son.’ This is the manifestation (‘Epiphany’) of Jesus as Messiah of Israel and Son of God.”

• We talked about ANOTHER EPIPHANY as the Visit of The Magi

• Paragraph 536 says, “The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God’s suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’”

• THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF JESUS’ PUBLIC LIFE!!

• HE HAS BEGUN HIS MISSION!!

• Remember, it is in the PASCHAL MYSTERY that Jesus redeems humanity

• BUT…

• He is ALREADY the Lamb of God

• Why?

• How do we know this?

• Because John the Baptist SAW HIM walking along the Jordan River and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

• Jesus is ALREADY that lamb of sacrifice

• Jesus is ALREADY taking away the sins of the world in some mysterious way

• Paragraph 536 continues, “Already he is anticipating the ‘baptism’ of his bloody death. Already he is coming to ‘fulfill all righteousness.’”

• THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!

• This is going to be the HALLMARK OF JESUS’ LIFE

• Paragraph 536 continues, “He is submitting himself entirely to his Father’s will: out of love he consents to this baptism of death for the remission of our sins.”

• We highlighted Christ’s obedience yesterday with Mary and Joseph and the hidden life in Nazareth

• Christ’s obedience to His Father is the…

• (SQUIRREL!! 😉)

• Here is Fr. Mike’s perspective

• It has been validated and asserted by many people throughout Christianity

• Christ’s obedience is the HEART of His sacrifice

• Christ’s obedience is the HEART of redemption

• Jesus is submitting Himself ENTIRELY TO HIS FATHER’S WILL out of LOVE FOR THE FATHER

• Jesus consents to this baptism of death for the remission of OUR SINS

• Also out of LOVE FOR US

• BUT…

• IT IS OBEDIENCE!!

• THIS IS SO CLEAR FOR US!!

• Let’s go on to JESUS’ TEMPTATIONS

• Jesus RECAPITULATES Adam

• Jesus RECAPITULATES the People of Israel

• Where Adam is DISOBEDIENT Jesus is OBEDIENT

• Where the People of Israel REBELLED against the Lord Jesus SUBMITTED Himself to the Lord

• Paragraph 538 says, “Jesus rebuffs these attacks, which recapitulate the temptations of Adam in Paradise and of Israel in the desert…”

• Paragraph 539 says, “The evangelists indicate the salvific meaning of this mysterious event.”

• All these things are MYSTERIES

• Which means we can GRASP THEM 

• BUT…

• THERE IS SO MUCH MORE BENEATH THE SURFACE THAT WE CAN’T SEE BUT WE CAN SOMEHOW GRASP!!

• Paragraph 539 continues, “Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation. Jesus fulfills Israel’s vocation perfectly: in contrast to those who had once provoked God during forty years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God’s Servant, totally obedient to the divine will. In this, Jesus is the devil’s conqueror…”

• SO REMARKABLE!!

• Think about this…

• It is in Christ’s OBEDIENCE TO THE FATHER that He is the Devil’s CONQUEROR

• Let’s apply that to our lives

• That’s what The Catechism does

• For example, Paragraphs 535 and 536 talk about the MYSTERIES and Paragraph 537 talks about US NOW

• WE NEED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS!!

• Paragraphs 538 and 539 talk about Christ’s Temptations in the wilderness

• Paragraph 540 talks about how WE participate in this as well

• What does it reveal?

• It reveals that Christ conquers the Evil One by HIS OBEDIENCE TO THE FATHER

• LOVING OBEDIENCE!!

• THIS IS THE KEY FOR ALL OF OUR LIVES!!

• If I know what the Father is asking me to do and I DON’T DO IT then I am LOST

• BUT…

• If I know what the Father is asking me to do and I DO IT then I AM A SAINT!!

• When we do that we are participating in the REDEMPTION OF THE WORLD

• Paragraph 537 says, “Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus…The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him…”

• St Hilary of Poitiers says in Paragraph 537, “...Adopted by the Father’s voice, we become sons of God.”

• When the Holy Spirit comes upon us in Baptism we are TRULY ADOPTED

• WE ARE NEW CREATIONS!!

• WE BECOME SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE FATHER!!

• He actually TRULY becomes our Father in a COMPLETELY UNIQUE WAY

• As God’s sons and daughters that is why we have to live the way the Son lived

• What was that way?

• THE WAY OF OBEDIENCE!!

• WHICH IS REALLY DIFFICULT!!

• BUT YET…(Hmmmm that’s a new Fr. Mike-ism!!! 😉)

• Paragraph 539 says, “In Christ’s obedience to the divine will, He is the devil’s conqueror.”

• Paragraph 539 continues, “Jesus’ victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates victory at the Passion, the supreme act of obedience of his filial love for the Father.”

• We have a SAVIOR

• We have a GOD “who is not unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning.”

• SO PRAISE THE LORD!!

• Tomorrow we will talk about THE PROCLAMATION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

• What does that mean that Jesus announces the beginning of the Kingdom of God?

• What is the Kingdom of God?

• As we continue to walk with the Lord and these mysteries of His public life…

• It’s one thing to KNOW some things and LEARN some things

• It’s another to realize, “Oh my gosh Lord! You are calling me to live this way too! You are calling me to participate in these things!”

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!

"Jesus' Baptism and Our Baptism"

-Notes compiled by Andrew Adamany

Catechism of the Catholic Church

537 “Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection. The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father's beloved son in the Son and "walk in newness of life"

“Let us be buried with Christ by Baptism to rise with him; let us go down with him to be raised with him; and let us rise with him to be glorified with him.”

“Everything that happened to Christ lets us know that, after the bath of water, the Holy Spirit swoops down upon us from high heaven and that, adopted by the Father's voice, we become sons of God.”

Assimilated in Jesus

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13)

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27)

Jesus Anticipates His death and Resurrection in his own baptism

“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.  John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  (Matthew 3:13-15)

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.  Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 3:18-21)

“The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father's beloved son in the Son and "walk in newness of life"”

“And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

“How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:2–4)

“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’” 

(John 3:3–7)

“Let us be buried with Christ by Baptism to rise with him; let us go down with him to be raised with him; and let us rise with him to be glorified with him.”

“Everything that happened to Christ lets us know that, after the bath of water, the Holy Spirit swoops down upon us from high heaven and that, adopted by the Father's voice, we become sons of God.”

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear; but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ, provided we suffer with him in order to be glorified with him.”

"but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit,  which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life. The saying is sure." (Titus 3:4–8)

“And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him;  and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16–17)

"Jesus Tempted In the Wilderness for 40 Days"

Catechism of the Catholic Church

539 “Jesus fulfills Israel's vocation perfectly: in contrast to those who had once provoked God during forty years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God's servant, totally obedient to the divine will."