Fr. David Sellery

Brief Audio Reflection on Matthew 3:13-17: Baptism of the Lord; Year A. In this week’s gospel, John tells Jesus: I need to be baptized by you. Jesus tells John: No, I need to be baptized by you. From a cynical 21st Century perch this could be seen as just so much polite posturing between preachers… after you… no, after you. Today we could be tempted to say why not just skip the whole baptism business and register on-line at the church of your choice. Just leave your credit card number for those annoying collections and I’ll see you next Christmas? An absurd suggestion; of course it is. But hopefully it illustrates a point. We must come to the water. We need to be baptized in water and the Spirit . There is no virtual reality, computer generated substitute. We must be physically and spiritually cleansed in the waters that flow over and unite the entire community of believers. Whether as consenting adults or as consecrated children we must come to the waters to be claimed for Christ.