Readings
for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord - Year B
First
Reading: A reading from the prophet Isaiah
Oh, come to water all you who are thirsty;
though you have no money, come! Buy corn without money, and eat,
and, at no cost, wine and milk. Why spend money on what is not
bread, your wages on what fails to satisfy.
Listen, listen to me, and you will have good
things to eat and rich food to enjoy. Pay attention, come to
me: listen, and your soul will live.
With you I will make an everlasting covenant out
of the favours promised to David. See, I have made of you a
witness to the peoples, a leader and a master of the nations.
See, you will summon a nation you never knew,
those unknown will come hurrying to you, for the sake of the Lord your
God, of the Holy One of Israel who will glorify you.
Seek the Lord while he is still to be found, call
him while he is still near.
Let the wicked man abandon his ways, the evil man
his thoughts.
Let him turn back to the Lord who will take pity
on him, to our God who is rich in forgiving; for my thoughts are
not your thoughts, my ways not your ways - it is the Lord who speaks.
Yes, the heavens are as high above the earth as my
ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts.
Yes, as the rain and the snow come down from the
heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield
and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the
eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty,
without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.
The
word of the Lord.
Second
Reading: A reading from the first letter of St John
Whoever
believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten by God; and
whoever loves the Father that begot him loves the child whom he
begets. We can be sure that we love God's children if we love God
himself and do what he has commanded us; this is what loving God
is - keeping his commandments; and his commandments are not
difficult, because anyone who has been begotten by God has already
overcome the world; this is the victory over the world - our
faith. Who can overcome the world? Only the man who believes
that Jesus is the Son of God: Jesus Christ who came by water and
blood, not with water only, but with water and blood; with
the Spirit as another witness - since the Spirit is the truth - so that
there are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water and the blood, and all
three of them agree. We accept the testimony of human witnesses
but God's testimony is much greater, and this is God's testimony, given
as evidence for his Son.
The
word of the Lord.
Gospel:
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
In the course of his preaching John the Baptist said, 'Someone
is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not
fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have
baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.'
It was this time that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was
baptised in the Jordan by John. No sooner had he come up out of
the water than he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit, like a
dove, descending on him. And a voice came from heaven, 'You
are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.'
The Gospel of the Lord.
