Father Randy Koenigsknecht
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In this homily, Father Randy reflects on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, explaining Jesus’ mission as the Lamb of God who takes away sin and baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. He invites us to ongoing conversion, deeper prayer, and a life immersed in the Spirit that leads to joy, freedom, and evangelization.
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Father Randy:
So last week, as you may recall, we celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and we heard about that moment of Jesus’ baptism. Remember that the baptism—this is one of the most crucial moments of Jesus’ life. It’s the moment that his saving mission actually starts. And John says in the Gospel that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
Fundamentally, those two things are the reason why Jesus came: to free us from our sins and to give us the Holy Spirit, so that we can eventually become saints, like we see up in the apse, surrounding the Lamb in heaven. And so the title “Lamb of God” reveals right away what Jesus’ plan is—that he is going to lay down his life in sacrifice for us, that he will love us to the end. And where we have failed to love God and our neighbor throughout our lives, Jesus perfectly loves.
It’s an act of love from a human heart so great that it more than compensates for all the offense of our sins. It’s the response of perfect love that our own wounded hearts—our hearts turned inward by sin—would never have been able to give to the Father. It’s the love of Christ poured out on the cross as the Lamb that atones for our sins and brings us back to the Father.
Now the key for us is to receive it. We have to be willing to let him. We have to let him be our Savior and commit to following him. That’s the response—that’s what repentance means. I turn away from the old way of life, I ask Jesus for forgiveness, and I commit myself to following him in this new way. And that is where the second part of Jesus’ mission really comes in: to baptize us with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is power. He is the one who simultaneously convicts us of our sins and of the Father’s eagerness to forgive them—that if we repent, he wants to show us mercy. And the Spirit then gives us the strength to actually carry out the demands of love, the demands of following Jesus with all the sacrifice it requires, and to do so with joy. It’s not just a burden; it’s not something to just grit our teeth and get through. We can experience joy as we live in the fullness of life.
This is the way we’re meant to be—with God, united with our neighbor, following him. And as we’re changed by that experience of gradually living in the power of the Holy Spirit, of turning our life more and more over to Christ, we’re naturally led out into ministry, into evangelization. Evangelization is simply being so excited about what God has done for you that you want everyone else to know. You want them to experience the same freedom, the same joy that you have found, and to know it for themselves.
But getting to that point requires a little bit of work. It requires ongoing encounters with the Father, with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit—spending time in prayer, talking with God, asking for the Spirit. We’re not called to have a one-and-done encounter, a quick dip of the toe in and then pull back. No, Jesus wants our lives to be immersed in him, that every part of our life is touched by the Spirit, that we seek ongoing connection.
Because that brings us to the very practical part today: if Jesus wants to baptize you with the Holy Spirit—if he wants to “pickle” me, so to speak—that’s where he wants to be. And it’s very fitting that I’m dressed as a pickle today. So what do I need to do? How do I make that happen?