Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Good News #201 01102026: From Jordan to You: Why Jesus Chose Baptism

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Good News #201 01102026: From Jordan to You: Why Jesus Chose Baptism · Catholic Spirit Radio

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Welcome to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio, a program for teens and almost
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teens to better understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is relevant in their
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lives, and it's a place where your questions about faith and religion can be answered.
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And now, here's your host, Deacon Al.
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Good evening, and welcome to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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I am Deacon Al Lundy. I'm a permanent deacon here in the Peoria Diocese,
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and I'm very happy to be with you Saturday and Sunday evenings from 8 to 8.30
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with the good news of Jesus Christ.
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We look at the readings from the Mass of the weekend, especially the Gospel,
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and we talk about how it affects us in our life today.
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So thank you for joining us. I hope you'll make this a regular occasion for you.
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And I usually start off by talking about what's going on, things that are happening in my own life.
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So it's winter, which means I'm not gardening a lot, But the weather was so nice.
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I had to get outside for a little while.
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So I cut down some dead hostas and some other plants and raked them up and filled
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the garden tote, the landscape tote, and did it all in about 30 minutes and said, that's enough.
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I needed a break. But I did get a little work done in the garden,
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and I always love doing that.
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Things at the landscaping at the church are looking really, really good.
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We did a lot of landscaping just before the winter hit, and I'm happy to say
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some things are still green. Even after the freezing temperatures and all the
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snow, we see life, and that's great. I'm really happy to see that.
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For me, church-wise, really busy week because we had Holy Day, so multiple Masses.
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Had a baptism, had a funeral service that I did at a funeral home.
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And what a lovely family. This was the Allens.
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This was a funeral for Penny Allen, who lived to be over 99 years old.
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That's a life. When you break that 99 mark, that's a life.
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There's a lot of blessings that go into living that long.
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And what I thought was especially neat, just a great God wink.
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The day that penny passed was the
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day that the government stopped minting pennies so talk
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about breaking the mold once once
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she was in heaven with god he broke the mold no more pennies so that was and
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she had family she had nieces and nephews that came from europe for this funeral
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i mean the place was packed it was and such a wonderful woman the the stories
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they told of her a couple great eulogies one from one of her daughters and one from a grandson,
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and they were just wonderful eulogies.
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They have just absolutely idyllic remembrances of Penny.
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And her funeral was on her late husband Jack's birthday. So we sang happy birthday to Jack.
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Yeah, it was, I mean, just all sorts of neat coincidences that went into this.
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But I wish I'd gotten to meet her because from everything I read about her in
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her obituary, everything that her relatives were saying about her,
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this was just a really wonderful, joyous woman.
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So good on you, Penny. Enjoy the new life in heaven.
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And to the families, again, my condolences for losing such a wonderful woman.
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But gosh, you just have to celebrate 99 years of life. That's an amazing milestone to reach.
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So, another 99-year-old story.
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So, we're going through our Christmas cards, and one of them was from a dear
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friend of mine from decades ago, and I quite honestly didn't realize he was
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still alive. I was so glad to hear he was. I have to go see him.
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He's at a nursing home here in town. He's 99. He's over 99.
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And I said, you know, I should come visit you. And he says, well,
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why don't you meet me for breakfast sometime?
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He says, every Monday, I drive up to Denny's and meet some friends for breakfast.
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I said, oh, you need a ride? He said, no, no, I drive.
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He's 99 and he's still driving.
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And I'm thinking, man, I love you like a brother, but I'm staying home.
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I don't know that I want to be on the road with 99-year-old drivers.
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I don't know that I want to be driving when I turn 75, let alone when I turn 99.
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So we'll see. But, man, I give him a lot of credit to have the wherewithal to
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still be driving at the age of 99 and drive across town.
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That's not an easy traffic to get through on a Monday morning. So good on him.
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Let's see what else is going on. I said a lot of masses. We finally,
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we've got some delmatics.
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A delmatic is kind of like the chasuble that the priest wears.
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But the priest is a poncho. It's seamless. It's one big cloak.
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And that's because, if you remember from Scripture, Jesus, when they,
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at the crucifixion, right, right, the big thing about his clothing was it had no seams.
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So the chasuble that priests wear is seamless.
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And the ones that the deacons wear are dalmatics.
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And they're called dalmatics because that's the region of the Middle East where
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they came from, Dalmatia.
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So they're called dalmatics. That was the first place where they were worn.
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It's very similar but it has sleeves and,
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And our pastor, when he got here, ordered a set for my brother Deacon and I to wear.
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And that was a year ago last June.
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And they finally came like two days ago. I lost the bet because we'd been waiting so long for these.
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My money was on the second coming of Christ before the Dalmatics showed up.
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And evidently, I've lost the bet because they're here. So right now,
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they are hanging over my bathtub in a very steamy bathroom at home.
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We're trying to get some of the wrinkles out from the packaging,
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get some of the creases out, without having to actually take an iron to it because
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it's very fragile fabric.
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And I wouldn't want to leave iron marks in them. So I'm trying to just steam
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them out by hanging them in the bathroom.
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So if you come to my house, I have a beautiful new bathroom with all kinds of,
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it's all done in liturgical colors now. So we're letting that kind of steam out.
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I was invited by one of the soon-to-be parishioners, my church,
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to be his confirmation sponsor.
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I can't tell you how touched I am by that. I've known this young man who's now,
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gosh, he's probably in his 40s, I would guess, late 40s.
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But I've known his dad for over 30 years.
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And his father is a minister, evangelical minister. and this young man and his
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wife are both coming into the Catholic Church.
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Yeah, and he has asked me to be his sponsor and I couldn't be more touched.
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Couldn't be more touched.
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Just a really neat fellow. I just have great respect for him.
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He's a professional here in town, a doctor and just a super guy.
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So we start that next week. I start attending OCIA with him and start attending
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the scrutinies that will take place, the three scrutinies that will take place in Peoria.
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And then he and his wife will be coming into the church at the Easter Vigil.
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So that's big. I'm really excited about that. Oh, and I have to make a correction
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from last week's program.
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I did a pitch for Curcio. I'm big on Curcio. I think Curcio is a wonderful, wonderful program.
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And I said we had Curcio coming up in March for women, and it's not, it's for men.
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And I should know that because I've been on the March Curcio team like every
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year for like 12 years, and you'd think I would know that March is a men's Curcio.
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So if you're 21 or older and you're looking for just a really fantastic weekend
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away from home and work and the chaos of life and just spend 36 hours, 72,
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I'll get it right, 72 hours.
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With fellow Christians from all different denominations here in the Bloomington
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area. And you might have a Curcio.
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I know they have Curcios in Champaign and in Rockford, I believe.
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There's one in the Quad Cities.
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So you might have another Curcio near you. Look into that.
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It's just a wonderful weekend away, again, with fellow Christians,
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a lot of great fellowship.
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Here in Bloomington, we put you up in a hotel for three nights.
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And we feed you like kings and queens, entertain you, and you listen to a number
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of talks, 14 in ours. Some have 15, some have 12.
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We do 14 talks. Five of them are from clergy, and the rest are from the laity.
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And it's all about recognizing and enhancing the Holy Spirit in your life.
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And it's just a great experience.
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I've never talked to anyone who went to it and didn't enjoy it.
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And some just say, gee, that was really nice. I'm glad I did it.
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And others say, oh my gosh, that changed my life.
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So we run the whole gamut of mountaintop experience to, yeah,
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that was a nice ride. I enjoyed that.
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So you get out of it whatever you need. The Holy Spirit invites you there,
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encourages you to go and make sure that you get whatever it was you needed.
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And different people need different things spiritually.
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So Curcio, in some areas it's called Great Banquet, Walk to Emmaus.
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It's really the same program. It just depends on which church sponsors it.
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In the Catholic Church, we call it Curcio.
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But I've had family members who have gone to Great Banquet, and we've compared
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notes, and it's the same program.
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So, you know, whichever one you end up going with, but if the one thing I like
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about our curcios here is that they're non-denominational, so ecumenical.
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So we have Christians from all walks of life.
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It's done with a Catholic flavor, and we don't apologize for that because it's
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Catholics that are putting the program on. And so we do talk about Catholic
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things from time to time.
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And we have, our services are definitely Catholic services, Catholic masses.
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But it's just a great program. I've seen people of all faiths,
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all Christian faiths, come out of this as one of the great experiences of their Christian lives.
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So if you're interested, for the Curcio that I'll be working with,
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our website is bncurcio.
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So B-N for Bloomington Normal. Curcio is C-U-R-S-I-L-L-O.
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It's a Spanish word. It means short study.
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So I invite you to look into a Curcio in your neck of the woods.
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And if you just want the experience and there's nothing near you,
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I'll invite you to go to our website, bncurcio.org, and you'll find all the
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information you need there to register.
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And we would love to see you at Curcio. March is a men's. in June,
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we'll have a women's program.
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And so we do two men's programs, two women's program, a year alternating between the two.
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So that's what's going on with me. This weekend is the baptism of our Lord.
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And so that's what our readings will be about. And we're going to look at those.
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We'll have Isaiah, a letter from Paul, and we'll have a.
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I'm sorry, reading from the Acts of the Apostles. So Isaiah,
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Acts of the Apostles, and then the Gospel of Matthew.
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And we'll do that for you after we get back from these messages.
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You're listening to Catholic Spirit Radio. This is Good News.
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And welcome back to Good News. I am Deacon Al Lundy.
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If you have a question about Catholicism or Christianity that you would like
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us to address here on the air,
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you can drop us an email to goodnews at catholicspiritradio.com,
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and we will be glad to entertain your question here on the show.
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So the one that comes up every year at this feast is, why did Jesus have to
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get baptized? He didn't have any sin.
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So what's the point? That's a good question.
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But it's actually answered in Scripture, where it says he did it for righteousness.
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He did it to—you have to remember that Jesus came to teach us,
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to lead us into proper acts of the faith.
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And baptism, he says, is necessary. It's not just nice. It's necessary.
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And so to set that example, Jesus didn't have to be baptized.
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He chose to be baptized. He asked John to baptize him. And John even tried to talk his way out of it.
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He said, you should be baptizing me, not me baptizing you.
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And Jesus said, no, this is the way it's meant to be. This is how it has to
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happen for the full righteousness of the act.
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And the thing to remember is that Jesus isn't being changed by the water as
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we are during our baptism.
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Jesus is changing the water. It's Jesus who's bringing holiness into the waters of baptism for us.
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And so he's doing this for multiple reasons, to set a good example,
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to help lead us to baptism, and also to prepare the waters of baptism for us,
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where a real transformation does take place.
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And yes, part of that baptism from John was to wash away sins.
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But keep in mind, even John says to the crowd that the baptism he does is not
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the same baptism that Jesus will do.
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So he's doing a baptism of reparation, really, to prepare the Jewish people
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for the coming of Christ, for the coming of the Messiah.
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However, our Christian baptism does so much more than that.
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It not only wipes away sin, it wipes away the stain of original sin,
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which is a deficit of grace that we take on because of the sins of Adam and Eve.
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Not the guilt of that sin, but we take on the effect of that sin.
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And baptism washes away that effect and brings us back into relationship with
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Christ, a relationship that was lost through original sin.
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So there's a lot that baptism does.
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It brings us into the community of Christianity, something that John's baptism did not do.
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So, John tells us that Christ's baptism is different.
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And what a lot of people miss in Scripture is that the apostles,
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Jesus taught the apostles how to baptize.
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Because if you remember, he sent them out to baptize. Well, before he could
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send them out, they first had to know how to do it.
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So, Jesus taught them how to baptize. And Jesus and the apostles were gathered
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on the opposite shore from John.
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While John was still doing his baptism, Jesus and the apostles were doing the baptism of Christ.
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At the same time. So these were different baptisms.
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So along with the question, why did Jesus get baptized is, well,
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did the apostles get baptized?
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Yes, they did. Now, Jesus didn't do it, but Jesus taught them how to do it.
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And it makes sense that they would have baptized one another in preparation
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for baptizing the crowds that would come to them.
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What about Mary? Did Mary have to be baptized? If Mary was sinless,
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why did she need to be baptized?
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Well, for some of the same reasons that Christ was, to set the example.
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How would it look if Jesus said, everybody has to be baptized, but don't baptize her?
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You know, her mom doesn't count. So yes, the apostles, one of the apostles would have baptized Mary.
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It just makes sense. It's just logical.
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So who did Jesus baptize? Well, Scripture says no one.
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It's very specific. It says that the apostles were baptizing with Jesus,
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but that Jesus did not himself baptize anyone.
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So those are just some of the most common questions that surround the baptism.
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So let's look at our readings.
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We start with a reading from the Old Testament. This is from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
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This is, for those of you following along in your Bibles, this is from chapter
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42, verses 1 through 4 and 6 through 7.
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Thus says the Lord, Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased.
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And upon whom I have put my spirit. He shall bring forth justice to the nations,
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not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street.
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A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
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until he establishes justice on the earth.
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The coastlands will wait for his teaching.
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I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice. I have grasped you by the hand.
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I have formed you and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations,
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to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement,
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and from the dungeons, those who live in darkness.
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The word of the Lord. So I want to remind you, Isaiah is about 700,
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800 years prior to Christ.
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But he's telling people this prophecy of the coming Messiah.
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And this is really important because people were asking, well,
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asking John, are you the Messiah?
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Well, if you read this prophecy from Isaiah, it's pretty clear that he's talking
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about John the Baptist not being the Messiah.
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He's saying, the servant I uphold, my chosen one, whom I please,
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he shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out,
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not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. That was John.
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John had his own role to play, but he wasn't the Messiah.
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He said that when the Christ came, it would be quiet, a quiet ministry,
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a gentle ministry, as opposed to John, who was quite rebellious in his ministry.
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And so this shows the distinction between John the Baptist and Christ the Messiah.
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The next reading is from the Acts of the Apostles, so this would be written by Luke.
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It says, Peter proceeded to speak to those gathered in the house of Cornelius,
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saying, In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
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Rather, in every nation, whoever fears Him and acts uprightly is acceptable to Him.
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You know the word that He sent to the Israelites as He proclaimed peace through
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Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
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And it's happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that
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John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.
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He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil,
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for God was with him. The word of the Lord.
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So Peter is reminding the people that the Messiah didn't come just for the Israelites,
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just for the Jewish people.
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This is what makes Christ's church Catholic.
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Universal is what Catholic means. It used to be that your faith,
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your religion was determined either by your family or by your tribe.
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Whatever the tribe was, that's what you were. Whatever your parents were,
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especially your mother, whatever religion your mother was, that was normally
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the religion you practiced because dad was at work.
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So the children were taught by mom. So mom taught what she knew of God.
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And so Peter's saying that God shows no partiality. He welcomes everyone.
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The church is universal. The church is Catholic.
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And in fact, it was being called Catholic by the very beginning of the second century.
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We have a letter from Ignatius of Antioch calling the church Catholic.
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This letter is dated approximately 107, I think between 102 and 110.
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So we'll say circa 107. So we know that the early church, the only church that
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Christ established was first called the Way.
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The apostles were called followers of the Way. Then Luke tells us in Acts of
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the Apostles that at one point it was called Christian.
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First, it was in Antioch that they were called Christians, followers of the Christ.
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But then we have from Ignatius a letter in the very beginning of the second
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century calling the church Catholic, universal, because it really didn't matter
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what your family line was.
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It didn't matter what tribe you'd belong to, what nation you lived in.
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Anyone could become Catholic simply by following Christ. So we hear that in this reading. In our.
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Sorry, in our gospel today, gospel is from Luke. This is from chapter three of Luke.
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And he writes, oh, and let's back up. Did Luke know Christ personally?
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No, but he did know Paul and Peter and some of the other apostles.
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And he took it upon himself to investigate the stories of the gospels, of the other gospels.
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And he went back and he talked to eyewitnesses and he talked to the people who lived in those areas.
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And so Luke is really the historian of the early church.
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And so he went out and verified what was being said by John and what was being
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said by Mark and by Matthew and by Andrew and some of the other evangelist apostles.
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So Luke writes, Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.
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John tried to prevent him saying, I need to be baptized by you,
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and yet you're coming to me.
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Jesus said to him in reply, Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.
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Then he allowed him, and after Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water,
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and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending
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like a dove and coming upon him.
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And a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son,
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with whom I am well pleased.
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The gospel of the Lord. So what does this do for us?
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Well, the word of God, Christ, invites us to fulfill the promises of our baptism,
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to live every day in the life of a true Christian who has been transformed by
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baptism, by the Holy Spirit.
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And that's the big part of the Holy Spirit for Catholics. This is where the
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indwelling of the Holy Spirit comes to each person.
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So God is within each of us that have gone through baptism.
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So, in the gospel, we see how Jesus was baptized by the prophet John in the
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Jordan, and at that very moment, the Trinity is manifested before us.
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We see Christ, the Son of God.
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We hear the voice of God. We see the Holy Spirit, and they all converge on Christ.
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So, that's one of our first views, public views of the Holy Trinity.
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I was just talking to a young lady the other day who's really on fire for her Christian faith.
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She was telling me some of the things she's, some of the opportunities she's
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had to witness to others.
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And I thought, wow, this is great. What a wonderful Christian example.
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And then she says to me, you know, I'm thinking this year I'm going to get baptized.
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Now this is not a young woman. This is a woman with grown children.
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And she understands what it means to live in the likeness of Christ.
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And she's trying to do that, but yet she's never been baptized.
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And I talked to her about that because how unfortunate, you know,
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to have in your mind that,
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what it means to be Christian, but to not have opened your heart and soul to Christianity yet.
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Baptism is that important. Jesus says you must be baptized for salvation.
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It's great to do nice things. It's great to be a good person.
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But unless that goodness is rooted in Christ's goodness, it's like the difference
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between being a fan and being on the team.
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It's great to be a fan of the team and like what they do and like to watch them.
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It's another thing to join them. It's through baptism that we actually join
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the Christian family, the Christian community.
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It's what opens our hearts that was closed by that original sin.
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This is what allows us to open our hearts and be in relationship with Christ.
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So I encouraged her to look into baptism, encouraged her to look into the Catholic
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faith to be baptized in, but all baptisms done in the Trinity are valid.
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So my concern is not so much to have her join the Catholic Church,
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but to have her really join the Christian community by giving herself to Christ through baptism.
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So what's holding you back? What's keeping you from a relationship with Christ?
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If you're baptized, are you living out the graces of that baptism?
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If you're not baptized yet, what are you waiting for? What is going to really
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move you to seek out that baptism, that membership in God's family?
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Something to think about this week as we go our way, leaving Christmas season
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with the baptism going into ordinary time and very shortly into Lent.
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It's going to be an early Easter.
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And so, wish you a good, a good ordinary time leading into a good Lent and a wonderful Easter.
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Hope to see you attend the Vigil Mass and watch people come in to the Catholic
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Church, that transformation that Jesus offers us through baptism and confirmation.
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And may Almighty God bless you, protect you from all evil, and bring you to everlasting life.
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Good night. You've been listening to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio,
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A program for teens and almost teens to better understand that the gospel of
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Jesus Christ is relevant in your life. Submit your questions to Deacon L.
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At goodnews at catholicspiritradio.com. That's goodnews at catholicspiritradio.com.
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Deacon will answer your questions about faith and religion.
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Thank you for listening to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio.