Empowered to live and work for God (Thursday after Epiphany)

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In the main, “mission” presupposes that one must have been sent by another. No one sends himself or herself on mission. And so, there must be a sort of empowerment or commissioning by the sender before the appointee can go on with the mission entrusted to him/her. For example: after elections, elected officials are empowered or commissioned to carry out their mission by the constitution during inauguration ceremonies or the like. If there is no ritual of commissioning or empowerment, one has no basis or power or authority upon or with which he or she can act or carry out the mission designated to him or her.


We are still celebrating the birth of a Savior, a King, a Redeemer, and so on. These names or titles are clear indications that Jesus was not born for us to admire his good looks. No, He has a well spelt-out mission entrusted to him by the Father to execute: the MISSION of LOVE. This mission He would basically carry out in the form of liberation: LIBERATION from all shackles (the shackles of ignorance, diseases, demonic possession, poverty, political/economic oppression, etc). All of the above is clearly spelt out in His “mission manifesto” which He read out in the synagogue (cf. Luke 4:14-22). At His baptism, He received the empowerment of the Spirit needed for the accomplishment of that mission. The Spirit of God commissioned and empowered Him and gave Him the tools and gifts needed for the execution of the mission He received from the Father.


At our baptism, we were also empowered by the same Spirit to join Jesus in the execution of that same mission: the mission of LOVE. Next Sunday is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. All the synoptic gospels narrate that the Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a DOVE (cf. Matt. 3:13-17; Mk. 1:7-11; Luk. 3:15-16.21-22). A dove is an animal that is used as a symbol of peace; it is never known for violence of any sort: no hatred is found in it. I have never heard that it is a predator to any animal; it gently moves around; stepping on no animal’s toes. And that is why Jesus told his disciples as he commissioned them for mission that “THEY SHOULD BE AS INNOCENT & GENTLE AS DOVES” (cf. Matt. 10:16).


I think it is sufficient to say that it is the same “dove-like” Spirit that descended on us when we were baptized. It was not a vulture that descended on us; it was the Spirit of God in the form of dove that descended into our hearts and minds. What it means then is that there should be no room for hatred or violence in our hearts as we execute the mission we have received. It is a mission of love, not HATRED. It is a mission of peace, not VIOLENCE. It is a mission of JUSTICE, not INJUSTICE. St John has this to say, “IF ANYONE SAYS THAT HE LOVES GOD AND HATES HIS BROTHER, HE IS A LIAR; FOR HE WHO DOES NOT LOVE HIS BROTHER WHOM HE HAS SEEN, CANNOT LOVE GOD WHOM HE HAS NOT SEEN” (1 Jn. 4:20).

  

Taking into account the amount/level of hatred and wickedness in our society, sometimes, I wonder: “Was it not the DOVE-LIKE Spirit of God (cf. Mk.1:10) that we actually received at baptism?” A dove is a symbol of peace & love, not violence or hatred. But some of us tend to be more brutish than vultures or vampires. Has the Spirit of God in us been displaced by the "spirit" of something else? There's so much hatred, nepotism, tribalism, sectionalism and the rest even among Christians. We kill, backbite, assassinate, defraud, dehumanize others and destroy their good names. One who has the Spirit of Christ can never do any of the above. At our baptism, we received the "dove-like" Spirit of God and were empowered to live & work for one another.


Prayer:

May we always speak, behave, live and think EVER CONSCIOUS of the indwelling Spirit of God in us, Amen!


Have a Spirit-filled day!



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