The Christmas vacation and party are over. We are back to our daily routine. We go back to our workplaces. The joy of Christmas somehow diminished. We no longer sing that joyful song, “PASKO NA” but now our song is “PASOK NA”.  But we are not alone. This is also the song of Jesus, “PASOK NA.” After his baptism, Jesus will begin his public ministry, preaching the Kingdom of God. Hopefully, like Jesus, we know the center of our life and the purpose of our work or mission. For Jesus, the center of his life is the will of His Father.

Centering our life in God like Jesus first of all is about listening to the voice of love, the voice of Abba, Father. As we celebrate today the baptism of Jesus, let us focus our attention on the loving message of the Father. As Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, there was a voice coming from above, “you are my beloved son; with you, I am well pleased. This is the voice of the Father. The Father calls his son beloved.

When we were baptized, the priest mentioned our name and baptized us in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In baptism, we become the beloved daughters and sons of God. In the book of prophet Isaiah, said, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. I have written your name on the palms of my hand.” He will not forget us. And he calls us tenderly by our own name. Sometimes we don’t want to be ourselves. And even we don’t want our own name. We want to become another person.

For us Christians, the name is not only to reveal our identity, our name, but it is also to signify our mission. After his baptism, Jesus started his public ministry, preaching the Kingdom of God. By entering into the Jordan River, to be baptized, Jesus enter into our human condition and embrace all our experiences. He was tempted like us. He crosses the river in order to free us from our enslavement. This reminds us of the story of the exodus when Israel crossed Jordan in order to enter the promised land.

Jesus wants us to cross together with him so that we become free people and know that we are the children of God. Jesus rises from the river to raise us up to the Father because our true home is not here in the world but in the Father’s house. That is why in the baptism we die in Christ so that we will rise with him in the resurrection. Let us follow Jesus, entering, crossing our world with the conviction that God never abandons us for He is our Father and we are his children. And he always calls us by our own name.