Vaccine distribution normally is nothing glamorous. As the son of a pediatrician, the times I would visit my mom at the office would include at least one child wailing at the prospect at receiving a shot in an exam room. It is usually a private affair between a physician and a patient. The recent wave of political leaders and members of diverse demographic groups receiving the COVID-19 vaccine have added a public dimension to a commonplace event. They are trying to build up confidence in the vaccine’s effectiveness for the wider public. They humbly roll up their sleeves to receive their shot from a nurse or physician, modelling what they hope the rest of the public will do in due time.
This image of the vaccine distribution I find has a deep resonance with the baptism of the Lord. John baptized many people on the river Jordan for the sake of repentance and covenant fidelity of the nation Israel to God. Jesus was not unique in this regard; in fact, we are left with a salient question, “why did Jesus get baptized at all?” I have no definitive answers, but I wonder about the purposiveness of including his baptism in the gospel narratives out of the many events that filled Jesus’ ministry. Similar to the public vaccine distribution, the evangelists want to disclose the identity of Jesus to us through his baptism.
St. Gregory of Nazianzus offers an insightful comment in an excerpt included in the Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours: “He comes to sanctify the Jordan for our sake and in readiness for us; he who is spirit and flesh comes to begin a new creation through the Spirit and water.” Jesus needs baptism in a different way than we do. We need it because we are both a victim and perpetrator of the brokenness of the world. The Church speaks about this inheritance as the stain of original sin, which baptism washes away. Jesus needs baptism to fulfill his mission from the Father. Jesus comes to the water in order that the waters may be holy for us.
The new creation that Jesus is and invites us into flows from the deepest recognition of his identity: “You are my beloved . . . with you I am well pleased.” From realizing who he is in the eyes of the Father, he knows his mission. May we pray for that same grace to know who we are in God’s eyes, and the openness to respond to the love in a mission.
When is a time in prayer you heard or felt the love God has for you well up in your heart? What did you feel prepared to do in response?