Your Attention, Please

If you want to get someone’s attention, you can do lots of things: you can shout, wave your arms about, call out the person by name with a bullhorn. But if you want to keep someone’s attention, you need to do something more. You have to convince them that what you have to say is for their good – that it will benefit them in some way to keep listening to you.

In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist tells the crowds that, in effect, he is only God’s bullhorn. John was not the Messiah, as the people expected, but had come only to get their attention in advance of Someone coming who was mightier than he. It was this One who would truly bring the message of Good News, a blessing of peace for God’s People. And as we heard, in this very Gospel, that Someone arrived on the scene: Jesus came to be baptized, and we heard not John but a voice from heaven declaring who he is: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

There is a clear continuity between what John had preached and the ministry of Jesus, but there are also some notable differences as well. John ministered in the desert, preaching repentance, and gathering large crowds. Jesus, on the other hand, was milder, perhaps gentler, traveling to towns and villages and often letting his actions speak louder than his words. As we recall him healing the sick and forgiving sinners, we see how he perfectly embodies what Isaiah had written about him: “Here is … my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting… a bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench.” John had gotten the people’s attention in boisterous ways, but Jesus holds it, not with ostentation but with acts of compassion and a patient demonstration of the love of God brought forth visibly into time.

The Baptism of the Lord (1940) by Pedro Subercaseaux

Today we mark the conclusion of the Christmas season and, in a certain sense, its pinnacle as well. In the Baptism of Jesus, we see how everything that we have been celebrating the last several weeks – the Lord’s birth in Bethlehem, his manifestation as God’s Son to the Magi, his presence in the Holy Family – all of that has been aimed ultimately at making clear the care and concern that God has *for us*. The life of the Son of God made man gains our attention, and holds it, because in his life, we see God reaching out and touching the lives of real people. And this is how God comes to save us – not shouting, not crying out in condemnation – but by healing, forgiving, giving freedom, and having compassion. In Jesus of Nazareth, we see the love of God revealing itself for each of us. And that, to quote that immortal line from Linus to Charlie Brown, is what Christmas is all about.

Friends, the challenge for us – in this time, and every time, in this year, and every year – is whether we know the love of God in that way, and whether we know it well enough to make it known then to others. Do you believe God comes to you with tenderness and mercy and compassion? And can you make that kind of love known to others? Think about the situation in your life, or the person in your life, where the Lord might be calling you to express that kind of love. If you tried by yourself – with your own power, with your own way of loving – there’s no way you could do it. But in the Lord Jesus, you can – not with your power but with his, not with your love but with his. Once the Lord Jesus walked the earth doing good: comforting the distressed, lifting up the downtrodden, visiting the sick, forgiving sinners. Now, he does those very same things in and through his Church, in and through us. He gains the attention of those in need, not by our shouting or waving our arms about, but by our love.

As we prepare for this Eucharist, may the grace of our baptism be renewed in each of us, so that as we reveal the love of Christ to others, the Lord may always be with us “well pleased.”