A homily for the Baptism of Jesus
At Halloween time, I carved a pumpkin into a jack o lantern and I texted that out to my friends, including Ryan, newly ordained guy, and he texted back him in his Halloween costume. And it was a jacket, like a hoodie. That’s at six seven and he has a stole on and he’s carrying, oils in his hands, and he says he is doing the anointing of the sick seven.
So I texted back, I don’t know what that means. I texted back, I’m a bit lost in the imagery. Just give each a scapular and that will get them into heaven. Playing off the anointing thing. He texted back. Six seven is a meme. Popular among the teens. So it’s a play on words and theological sacramental allusion of anointing of the sick seven, because the sacrament is called anointing of the sick. So six seven and the meme is like, you just do this and six and you say, six, seven. What does it mean? I don’t think anybody knows what it means. I bring this up as we’re celebrating the baptism of Jesus. What does it mean? Because oftentimes we think baptism is the washing away of sin.
Jesus is sinless. Why would he do that? But baptism is more. It all comes from Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans. Saint Paul, after the soul saw incident, is baptized, but he isn’t told what it means, so he thinks about it. Well, last time he was all wet. He was getting clean. So maybe it’s the washing away. Not of dirt of sin.
The first time he was all wet and people looked at him. He was being born. So he says, well, it could be like being born again. And then he’s, you know, he’s a seafarer or that’s why he’s traveling around the Mediterranean in a boat. Could it be like burial? Burial at sea. Just drop the body in a baptism because they bury the baptized by immersion.
And so it was like being buried. And then you come out again. Resurrection could be like that. And he says, every time I enter a building, I wash my feet and hands. It was the custom made. So maybe it’s just entering a building. The building of the church. So he has a lot of ideas. What baptism means. What is it?
Which is it? I think it’s all of them. So six. Seven. We don’t know what it means. It means anything to anybody. But it’s a powerful meme for youngsters. Especially because it means they belong. They’re the in-group. They are there. I think that ultimately is what baptism means. We belong. We’re here. We’re. We are the in-group. Maybe that’s why Jesus chose to be baptized.
To be part of us. With us. Journeying with us. I don’t know what Jesus would do with six seven, but I think he loves baptism. Saint Teresa of Avila says, in this house, all are friends, all are loved, all are helped, all are held dear. And that’s what baptism does, It brings us into that house. And that’s what we celebrate today.
