Brief synopsis of the readings: Isaiah proclaims our first reading and it’s hopeful. The Lord proclaims his servant “with whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased.” This servant “shall bring forth justice to the nations.” The Lord has called this servant “for a victory of justice,” who will set “a covenant of the people, a light of the nations” who will open the eyes of the blind and set prisioners free. He will deliver those who live in darkness. The Gospel comes from Luke where John baptizes Jesus. When Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and a voice came from heaven proclaiming: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.

What does it mean for us to be chosen? Let’s face it: it’s a good feeling. Most of us can canvas our childhood and remember times when someone looked at us and said: “Yes, you’re the person I want for this.” Conversely we also remember the pain when sides were being chosen and we were “chosen last.”

The idea of being left out when others are chosen brings universal feelings of dread and loneliness. None of us likes to feel inadequate or not good enough, but feelings of importance and inclusion can often cause us to be cruel to others. I think these feelings inform these readings.

In our interactions with each other we make choices all the time. We choose one job candidate over several others. We choose one life partner to the exclusion of everyone else. And it’s necessary: we can’t hire everyone who applies for a job and we can’t be exclusive with more than one person. But we also trust that a large pools of employers and large pools of job applicants will sort itself out.

The choices we make in these interactions occur in a finite world and they make sense. But we live in a world of faith that’s infinite where everyone can be chosen and we don’t fully believe it.

And yet from almost our earliest days we’ve made choices over who we think are saved. We think we know enough of God’s mind to know who God has chosen (and more to the point who God hasn’t chosen). It’s not that we think Heaven has a limited amount of real estate and only a certain percentage can live there. Instead we think we know God’s criterion, God’s threshold for who gets in and who doesn’t.

Some faiths set the threshold on belief: Christians are in and Jews are out because it turns on an acknowledgement of Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. Catholics of previous generations learned that those who die without a mortal sin on their soul are in while those who died after missing mass are out. We even made a place for babies who died sinless but without baptism: Limbo.

It’s actually become kind of a cottage industry. Fifteen years ago two men wrote a book series called Left Behind. It described a series of events where God decides to end the world, but first “raptures” (ie, removes) those deemed worthy and subjects the rest to a time of tribulation. These books made a great deal of money for the authors and fed into a popular belief that we know the limits of God’s mercy and desire for the salvation of all.

But to those believers I point to the Gospel reading. Several things happen that appear puzzling. At first blush it’s a simple story: Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist. But, in a sense, why was Jesus baptized? And why was he baptized last, after “all the people”?

In nobody’s universe does Jesus need to be baptized. Old time Catholics were told that baptism erases “original sin” and that erasure allows for entry into Heaven. So why did John baptize Jesus?

I grew up hearing this reading and thinking that Jesus did this so that we would all see baptism as universal. He was “pretending” to need baptism to tell us that we should all be baptized.

But what if that’s wrong? What if the message of this wasn’t that we should all be baptized but that all of us are chosen? What if it means that being chosen is about inclusion instead of who’s in vs. who’s out? What if we’re all chosen and we’re given different roles, and that all these roles are of equal value?

I like the fact that Jesus was baptized as an adult. Some look at this and decide that baptism should be an adult decision. As for me, I think it means that baptism doesn’t remove anything (original sin) but adds something (a responsibility to build the Kingdom of God). But it also gives me an image of the universality of salvation.

The first reading from Isaiah clearly speaks of the servant that God loves. This servant will work for justice and as Christians we see this servant as a foreshadowing of Jesus. Clearly this servant is included, but that’s not the important part.

The heart of these readings show Jesus as baptized, as included, and as part of God’s plan. All these readings inform me that salvation isn’t about those who are chosen and those who aren’t. Jesus was baptized last to tell us that there is not “end of the line.” We are all chosen. Or put another way, it shows clearly how the last shall be first.

The idea that baptism is necessary for salvation, that faith in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior is necessary for salvation, that avoidance of mortal sin is necessary for salvation is not found in the Bible. The idea that Jesus’ birth, baptism, life, death, and resurrection is necessary for salvation informs today’s readings.

I like to think that we’re all saved by baptism, and not just those who are baptized. The birth of baptism 2,000 years ago ushered in a new era through the person of Jesus Christ. It points not only to salvation but to our role in that. Baptism began the public ministry of Jesus so that we could begin the process of learning how to build the kingdom.

This Gospel comes to us from the 3rd chapter of Luke. In the 4th chapter Jesus begins to preach and teach. The rest of his public ministry of how, now that salvation is ours, we should love one another.

Next week we find ourselves back in Ordinary Time. Now that our salvation has been assured, let’s make it Extra-Ordinary.