Baptism helps us to know the personality of Christ.

Many people are fond of solving puzzles, riddles, and crossword puzzles, not for financial or other material rewards but for their inner enrichment. Whoever among the faithful reads this Gospel puts himself in the role of a puzzle-solver, who can not only enrich himself for this world, but it can serve him for eternity as well. Let us consider it again.

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “He who comes from above is all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks earthly. He who comes from heaven is above all and bears witness to what he has seen and heard…” (Jn 3:31-32).

Those who compiled the liturgical texts omitted ten verses between yesterday’s and today’s Gospel text. In the previous text, John the Baptist bore witness to Jesus. In today’s again, the Lord Jesus speaks of a twofold witness. “He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks earthly” ( Jn 3:31). He was referring to John the Baptist. “He who comes from heaven is above all – he testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony” (Jn. 3:31-32). And that is Jesus.

From this, we know that a person can accept Christ and his words, but he can also reject them. Whoever gets them becomes a Christian and, at the same time, agrees with the Word of God. But this is not the end of the matter. There are challenges ahead for the Christian. We must communicate this knowledge of Christ to others. In the Gospel, then, we reveal the mystery of the person of the Lord Jesus, recognizing that he is God’s ambassador, the Savior of the world, and the Judge of all. We are all witnesses. Even John the Baptist is only a witness, even though we consider him the greatest born of woman because he introduced the Lord Jesus to us, revealed his person to us when he pointed to him and said: “This is the one…!” (Jn. 1:30).

The baptism we have received also flows for us the duty, like John the Baptist, to bear witness to Christ. This means that our words and our whole life are to speak of Christ. In doing so, the Christian must not put himself before Christ. Like John, the Christian is also to stand aside as a witness because he is only a mediating element between two parties. Let us ask God for the light of faith, that we may give a good testimony that is believable and does not obscure the truth.

Although we received baptism as children and did not realize its significance for our earthly and eternal life, we should multiply baptismal grace in the state of having acquired the use of reason and being aware of our responsibility to have free will. At the baptism of Christ in the Jordan River, the words were spoken: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17).

To know Christ is the duty of every baptized person. Prayer – conversation with Jesus, Holy Mass – encounter with Jesus, Sacrament – receiving Jesus. All this is not only our duty but also our necessity because in doing so, we fulfill what God rightly expects of us, but at the same time, we acquire the necessary merits without which salvation is impossible. From the earliest times of Christianity, the followers have called themselves Christians, among whom we also belong. We have a name after Christ, and hence the obligation that we should indeed bear witness to Christ after baptism.

There are many things in the faith that we will never know or know fully. Many things we accept and believe, and though we cannot explain them, we feel that it is not contrary to them that we cannot get them. The person of Christ is the pinnacle of our lives. St. Paul wrote on this subject: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20).