Where is God calling you to?
Is 42:1-4, 6-7; Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10; Acts 10:34-38; Mt 3:13-17
Great gifts call for great expectations. Near the beginning of the Catholic Rite of Baptism, the priest or deacon says to the parents: “What do you ask of God’s church for your child?” The parents follow the rubrics and dutifully respond what they have doubtless been coached to say by their baptism preparation class: “Baptism.”
But what if the priest hit the pause button here and asked: “What else do you ask of the church for your child? What are your hopes and expectations? How do you want our church to be present and provide support for your child? When and how will you need our church to courageously defend the dignity of your child — and everyone else’s child — and to challenge your child to do the same?” How would they answer?
It is not only the church that has great expectations laid upon it. Soon after the parents ask the church for baptism, the priest says to the parents: “You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him/her in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him/her up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?” As before, the scripted answer of the ritual is a supremely confident: “We do.”
What if we were to hit the pause button again and give the church the opportunity to further elaborate what is being asked of the parents? “How do you propose to teach your child to love God and neighbor amidst the myriad challenging situations you will encounter as you raise your child?”
These two simple questions (“What do you ask from the church?” and “Do you understand what the church is asking of you?”) take all of 20 seconds during the ritual, but they are the tip of an iceberg that will require a lifetime to unpack and understand. Baptism is meant to be the doorway into that discernment and the life choices that will flow from it.
Our readings today illustrate how Jesus’ own baptism met the great expectations of the people of Israel, but in a very circuitous way. Isaiah was writing to a people living in captivity, far from home. He assured them that a “servant” would come to rescue them, and that the glory of their relationship with God would be restored.
For centuries, the Israelites continued to look for the one who would reestablish David’s kingdom. At Jesus’ baptism, Matthew tells us that the crowds around John heard a heavenly voice declare Jesus as “my son,” in the same way that God spoke to the Davidic king in Psalm 2 (2:7). Finally, after Pentecost, Peter confidently tells Cornelius (a Gentile) that through Jesus Christ, all are now welcome into God’s kingdom. This leads to Cornelius’ own baptism (Acts 10:44-48).
At the most basic level, Israel’s expectations for the return of their king were met. But they were hardly realized in the way that most Israelites would have hoped for.
Instead of a grand king like David, they got a humble baby in a manger who would be executed like a traitorous criminal. What they ultimately received was a kingdom whose glory, reward and promise far exceeded anything that Isaiah or John could have dreamed of.
The placement of Jesus’ baptism within the context of the wide sweep of salvation history offers an invitation for us to revisit our own expectations: What have we hoped for (or expected) from our lives? Have the significant choices we have made unfolded as we had hoped? Were there surprises along the way, for better or worse?
We can easily succumb to the lie that whatever we want is basically what God wants for us. Take some time to reflect on the significant choices you’ve made. Be patient with yourself: Discernment takes time, prayer and good counsel. But be open to the real possibility that God may be calling you in another direction. God’s desire for union with us is a great gift. We shouldn’t let small expectations get in the way of our receiving it.