Sunday 11 January 2026
The Baptism of the Lord
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7. The Lord will bless his people with peace – Ps 28(29):1-4, 9-10. Acts 10:34-38. Matthew 3:13-17.
Universal sacrament
Astonishing that only a month ago on this date we contemplated John, the baptiser of Jesus, in prison, a victim of injustice. Here we see, in the Old Testament, Isaiah promise justice, not only for Israel but for ‘the Earth’; ‘the islands’; ‘nations’. This is the importance of Jesus being baptised by John, because baptism would become the universal sacrament, open to all the peoples of the Earth; the equalising path to becoming members of the single human family of the Father. Jesus describes this use of baptism as fulfilling ‘all righteousness’, suggesting it is part of God’s vision for the world. In keeping with this, the reading from Acts today reports an excerpt from Peter’s preaching not only to the household of the Gentile centurion Cornelius but to his kinsmen and friends – and with baptism comes the potential for human harmony, human equality, and the justice for which Isaiah so thirsted.
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