The story of Jesus’ baptism reminds us of what happens when one has a clear defined goal and purpose of existence; heaven is open to such a fellow’s vision. Jesus was one such being… who constantly is showing us through the gospel a way to live. Do you realize that everyone was going to john to be baptized because john’s preaching was fierce; warning them of the messiah who is to come? In other words, many came to be baptized as a result of john’s preaching which was pretty good and urgent. But Jesus came for a purpose; namely for healing our sick world, for baptism is a sacrament of healing. And what happen, the heavens were open for him immediately he step into the water.
Jesus went to john to be baptized, why to give us a firsthand example of what baptism could do in the life of a child of God. According to Saint Francis, there is no need to walk looking for where to preach our walking should be our preaching. People themselves can be the most effective of all sermon llustrations. All of us can point to people whom have affected us positively in the dark periods of our lives.
That’s a good illustration of who a baptized Christian is… people may never know him, never met him, they may never have seen him, but they know he passed through their world by the trail of light he left behind him. One of such persons was terry fox of Canada.
Terry fox was a twenty-two year old university student in Canada. A keen sportsman, he was on the college basket-ball team when in 1977 he contracted bone cancer and had to have his right leg amputated. While in the hospital someone sent him a newspaper clipping telling him about an amputee who ran in New York City marathon.
This fired Terry’s imagination so much that he wanted to do something useful with the few remaining years of his life. He decided to run across Canada from the Atlantic to the pacific to raise money for the fight against cancer. He spent eighteen months practicing running with his artificial leg and then on 12 April 1980 he began to run. He dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic in Newfoundland and set out with pledges for over one million dollars in his pocket.
Then tragedy struck when he was one hundred and fourteen days and three thousand miles into the run. The cancer spread to his lungs and he was forced to give up. As he lay in hospital bed pledges totaling twenty-four million dollars came pouring in. when he died, a stamp was issued in his honor and the nation’s highest accolade, the order of Canada, was conferred on him.
But the story does not end there. Donal mars, a postman in Cincinnati decided to complete the run. Like terry, he too was a cancer victim with just a short time to live. He began in the mid-west and ran to san Francisco. As he dipped his hand in the pacific ocean people noticed a large rainbow arched across the sky.
Terry and donal could have cursed the darknesss- instead, they decided to light a candel….
We are called to bring healing to a dark world. Remember Indomee…. To you, to me, is up to us make the world a better place…. My sincere prayers for you like Jesus, may the heavens be open for you always.
