Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. (Matt. 3:13)
Suddenly, the boy born in Bethlehem appears before us as a man who left his home in Nazareth, his family life, his eventual occupation as a craftsman, and the familiar landscapes of Galilee to find the prophet John, who was baptizing on the other side of the Jordan River. What could have led Jesus to leave his tranquil life? What dreams did he carry in his mind and heart when he left his home and his mother? Why did he seek and insist so much on John’s baptism?
These are questions only He can answer. But I can’t resist sharing this letter from a Spanish priest, José Luís Cortés, in which he attempts to recreate Jesus’ feelings at this moment in his life. It’s addressed to Mary, his mother, and in it, Jesus explains what leads him to leave home.
“Dear mother, when you wake up, I will already be gone. I wanted to spare you goodbyes. You have already suffered a lot and will suffer even more. It is night as I write to you. I want to tell you why I am going, why I am leaving you, and why I don’t stay in the workshop making door or chair frames for the rest of my life.
For thirty years, I have observed the people of our town and tried to understand why they live, why they get up every morning, and with what hope they fall asleep every night. John and, with him, half the people of Nazareth dream of becoming rich and believe that the more things they have, the more complete they will be. The city chief and the others place the meaning of their lives in gaining more power, being obeyed by more people, and being able to dispose of other men’s futures. The rabbi and his followers have already given up everything that it means to strive to grow and excuse themselves by saying that it is God’s will. (…)”
Sometimes, Mother, when the trumpet sounded in the square, and people ran from all sides, I would fix my gaze on their faces, anxiously and deliriously waiting for good news. They would have given half their lives for someone from the outside to open a crack in their walls. I longed to stand among them and shout: “The good news has arrived! The Kingdom of God is within you! The best news will come through you! Why do you keep saying you are lame when God gave you gazelle legs?”
I feel consumed by the fullness of life, Mother. I find myself ablaze with a fire that carries me and makes me tell people simple, beautiful news that no one says (and if someone does, they are immediately censured). I want to burn the world with this flame; in every corner, there would be life, but life in abundance. I already know that I am a carpenter without a diploma and that I have just reached the age when I can open my mouth in public. I wouldn’t mind waiting longer, thinking more, being more mature, “making my theological synthesis” (…).
But… there is too much unhappiness, mother. Too many blind people, too many poor people, too many people for whom the world is a blasphemy against God. One cannot believe in God in a world where men die and are not happy… unless one is on the side of those who give their lives so that all this does not happen; so that the world may be as God intended it (…).
But the biblical testimony tells us only that, upon arriving at John’s, Jesus sees the heavens open. From those open heavens, a voice inaugurates a definitive dialogue between heaven and earth, which is himself: the person of Jesus. In Him and through Him, God irreversibly opens Himself to humanity and becomes a God who dialogues, walks, caresses, recognizes, questions, and loves from beginning to end. It is in Him and through Him that all our baptisms take place. It is in this Jesus, beloved Son, heaven on earth and horizon of mystery and love of God, that we are continually transformed into beloved sons and daughters.
Let us celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, recognizing that there is also a Jordan for each one of us, who are simple earth and humanity, as astonishing as it is fragile. A Jordan where the heavens open and continually declare, in the face of the joys and sorrows that afflict us, that there is a beloved Son, a gift from God. A possibility of living on this fragile and beautiful earth, under the certainty of an open heaven of God. A call to believe and recreate new days and futures with horizons. Jesus saw the heavens open.
Will we be able to see them too?
It is this sacred fire that Jesus Christ came to bring to earth, and that He desires to see reign in all hearts, so that, fused in this fire of love, they may become one in charity. (GS/8/VIII/81/A)
Sr. Luisa Maria Almendra, RSHM
