Fr Peter Helman

Dear friends,

I had forgotten until this week that Jesus baptized people. (I’m embarrassed admitting as much!) That he did is not a strange thought, so I’m unsure why I assumed it was his older cousin John who alone did all the baptizing. We know John, after all, as “the Baptizer.” Many from Jerusalem and the surrounding regions flocked to him in the wilderness to be baptized in the River Jordan. His was a message of repentance, his ministry that of a forerunner preparing the way of the Lord. He came as a witness to testify to the light that was coming into the world. He said he was unworthy to stoop down and untie the sandals of the one who was to come after him, who would baptize the people not with water but with fire. And, indeed, the one to whom he testified, Jesus, came himself to John once—found him waist deep in the waters—and was baptized.

The only mention of Jesus baptizing anyone appears only in our brief reading this morning from the gospel of John (the synoptic gospels are silent on the matter). Followers of John the Baptist (to be distinguished from John the Evangelist) hear that Jesus is also performing baptisms, and a discussion about Jewish rites of purification arises. John’s followers tell him of the crowds that are going out to Jesus, saying, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John's reply is simple: "“I am not the Messiah, [...] For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease."

This reply--"He must increase, but I must decrease."--is the simplest defintion of Christian discipleship I know, for to love Jesus and to follow his way of love is to hold nothing back from him but rather to offer it freely and unreservedly to him for the sake of whatever purposes he wills of our hearts and hands.

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist, Christ's forerunner. We celebrate John's birth as the beginning of the preparation of the world to meet its savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, on earth. And we celebrate the truth that John's vocation is our ongoing work too. Like our forebearer in the faith, we are to be wholly dedicated unto the purposes of God and with every word and deed to testify to the light of God's love in Jesus Christ.

Today, beloved, be salt and light!

Yours in Christ,
Peter+