Day 34: The Anointed One

I'm Fr. Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and this is the Rosary in a Year podcast.
We're through prayer and meditation. The rosary brings us deeper into relationship with Jesus and Mary and becomes a source of grace for the whole world.
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The first luminous mystery is the baptism of Jesus. Matthew chapter 3 verses 13 through 17.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? But Jesus answered him, Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

Then he consented.

And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened,

and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

And behold, a voice from heaven saying,

This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. I like to begin by pointing out the main theological theme and then we can go into some of the details.
Each of the luminous mysteries, each of the mysteries of light is going to reveal something of Jesus specifically, of the nature of Jesus, the nature of his mission, and the nature of the kingdom of God. So what's revealed here in the first luminous mystery, the baptism of Jesus? Of course, we see the mystery of the Trinity beginning to emerge, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, the Spirit of God descending like a dove.

And then we have the Father's voice, right? This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. And of course, at the center of this is Jesus.
Now, the fullness of this mystery is not complete. It's going to continue to be revealed unto Pentecost, but here we kind of see the dawn of this revelation.
Also being revealed here is a deeper understanding, a deeper revelation of who Jesus is. Jesus is the Messiah.
He is the anointed one. He's the one on whom the Spirit of God descends.
And what's going to be revealed in the life of Jesus, but already beginning here in some of the details of the baptism of the Lord is how he will be the Messiah, the nature of the way in which he will come to save Israel. Of course, the setting for the baptism is the Jordan River.
And for the people of Israel, the Jordan River is very important, right? For Joshua, the crossing of the Jordan is the climax of the Exodus. For Elijah, this is where he's taken up to heaven.
For Elisha, this is where he began his prophetic ministry. For Naaman, the Syrian, this is where he was cured from leprosy.
So the Jordan River itself is very important, very particular. We won't have a chance to go into all of the details of John the Baptist, but who is John the Baptist? Earlier in chapter three, John the Baptist is shown to be a fulfillment of the prophet spoken of by Isaiah, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.
What's important here is that he is not the Messiah. He is not the awaited for one, but he is proclaiming that the Lord will come.
We are waiting for the intervention, the salvific intervention of God. And this is what John the Baptist is proclaiming.
And now some details of the baptism of John itself. Now the baptism of John is, it's different from some other ritual washings, which were quite common.
Holy Father, Pope Benedict and Jesus of Nazareth, he says about this baptism of John, it is meant to be the concrete reenactment of conversion that gives the whole of life a new direction. It's about beginning anew, a total reorientation of one's life.
What's noteworthy here in Matthew chapter three, verse six, is it says, and they were

baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. And what Pope Benedict explains is

that in the Judaism of the day, there was both a formulaic confession of sin, like kind of a very

general confession of sin, but also there was a very personal sort of confessional-like practice

This is the first time I was going to John, come to be baptized, to begin anew, to confess their sins and the entering into and the exiting, the exodus from the water had symbolism of both purification and new beginning. With this in mind, it's no surprise at all that as Jesus approaches John, pursuing baptism, John's response, as we read, is John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you and you come to me.
This baptism, it's a call to repentance. It's a baptism for sinners.
So how can Jesus becoming desirous of baptism? And he doesn't really give a full explanation. He just says, let it be so for now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.
John consents. And explaining beautifully what's happening here, our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, he says this, in the light of the death and resurrection of Jesus, we come to understand that what's happening here is this, is Jesus loaded the burden of all mankind's guilt upon his shoulders,

and he bore it down into the depths of the Jordan. He inaugurated his public activity by stepping into the place of sinners.
And so we see here this prefigurement of what Jesus will do at the cross. As he, the place where sinners come to be free to unload their sins, to begin anew, Jesus takes the sins of all of mankind upon himself.
And he takes those into the waters as he will take them to the cross, as he will take them into the tomb. and then he rises again washed, cleansed, purified as he will take them to the cross as they will take them into the tomb and then he rises again washed cleansed purified as he will with all of mankind's sins at the resurrection and for this reason it makes sense that in the future Jesus will refer to his own death as a baptism like can you be baptized with the baptism with which I will be baptized referring to his death.
That there's a prefigurement here in Jesus' baptism of Jesus' death and what he will do with all of the sins of mankind. And so this is the nature of how he will save us.
By taking upon himself the burden and the consequences of sin. And having them cleansed in the waters of his blood.
In John's gospel, as Jesus approaches, John the Baptist sees him and says, Behold the Lamb of God. And what Jesus is going to reveal himself to be is the fulfillment of the Lamb of God, the Passover Lamb.
But also, and a little bit less sort of emphasized, is the fulfillment of the scapegoat, part of the offering, the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement. I'm going to go ahead and explain both of those real quick.
First of all is this, is the Day of Atonement. So the Day of Atonement and the sacrifice of the day of atonement are to cleanse and reconsecrate the sanctuary, the people, and the priest.
And so what happens on the day of atonement once a year is that the high priest enters the Holy of Holies and he's going to offer the sacrifice of a bull as a sin offering for himself. Then he's going to take two goats.
One is sacrificed as a sin offering for the Lord. And another, which is where we get sort of the term scapegoat, another, he lays his hands on it.
And this symbolizes the goat bearing all of the iniquities of the people. And then instead of being sacrificed in the temple, it is led and sacrificed in the wilderness.
You could say it's led into and released into the wilderness, bearing upon itself the sins, the iniquities of the people. And I think that's, it's important to emphasize this here because we've just talked about Jesus taking upon himself the burden, taking upon himself the iniquities of all people.
And then where's the next place that Jesus goes? The very next verse after the baptism is Jesus being led into the wilderness. But what's going to be even more emphasized in Jesus's life and a reflection upon the saving mysteries of Jesus is Jesus as the new lamb of God, the new Passover lamb.
Of course, the Passover in question is referring to the Passover event by which God helped deliver the people of Israel out of slavery, out of Egypt. And so there's this continuation of the Passover and the Passover lamb.
In the Passover, what happens, right, is an unblemished lamb is chosen. It's sacrificed.
Its blood is spread. Its flesh is eaten.
And then every year this is done as a memorial. And so Jesus, as John said, is the lamb of God.
He is the unblemished lamb chosen to be sacrificed, to spill his blood, who gives himself as flesh,

and then ultimately in the memorial sacrifice of the Mass.

All right, my friends, so as we pray today with the first luminous mystery,

let us join the people of God at the Jordan River.

Let us be struck with awe as the heavens are rent over. As the Spirit in the form of a dove descends, pointing out Jesus, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the long-awaited-for Messiah.
As the Father's voice thunders, Behold, this is beloved son. Let's be moved by the majesty of this moment,

but also may our hearts already begin to be pierced.

As we see the one, the Lamb of God, the beloved son,

the one who freely takes upon himself, not only the sinfulness and the iniquities of all mankind, but of our own, the pure, innocent, unblemished Lamb who freely goes to the slaughter for our salvation. Let us pray in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

All right, friends, thanks for joining me and praying with me again today.

I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow.

Poco a poco.