The end of the Season
of Christmas arrives this Sunday, as we celebrate the event that marked the end
of Jesus’ early life and the beginning of his public ministry: the Baptism.
The Christmas
decorations coming down in our churches and homes inevitably leaves a feeling
of sadness and nostalgia. We don’t want
to move on from meditation on all the joyful aspects of Our Lord’s early life,
the incidents of wonder and mystery, like the angels singing to the shepherds,
or the visit of the Magi. Nonetheless,
as we leave the Christmas Season behind, today’s readings remind us of the
power of the Holy Spirit that we share with Jesus! The very Spirit of God has been given us in
our own baptisms—this Spirit has ushered us into a new world, a New Creation in
which we can daily walk with God, just like Adam and Eve once walked with God
in the garden in the cool of the day.
So we will look for
“New Creation” themes as we work through this Sunday’s Readings.
The celebrant has a
choice of Readings for this Feast Day: either the standard ones for any Year
(ABC: Isa 42:1–7; Ps 29:1–10; Acts 10:34-38) or optional readings (introduced
in 1998) for Year C: Isa 40:1–11; Ps 104:1–30; Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-7. In either case, the Gospel for Year C is
Luke’s account of the Baptism of the Lord: Luke 3:15-16, 21-22.
[The celebrant should
pick one sequence or the other, not
choose the First, Psalm, and Second Readings randomly. Each sequence
(ABC or C) has a kind of
integrity and commonality of theme. If the celebrant chooses the ABC sequence, scroll to the end of this post, where I comment on them.]
I will first comment on the
Year C sequence in this post.
Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
the rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by a strong arm;
here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
the rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by a strong arm;
here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.
This very famous
passage is the introduction to the second part of the Book of Isaiah (40-66), a
section of Isaiah which, since ancient times, was regarded as one continuous
description of the “latter days,” that is, the coming era of peace and
restoration marked by the arrival of God’s “Servant,” who would later be referred
to as “the Messiah,” literally, “the one smeared with oil” (i.e. anointed).
When asked about his
identity in the Gospels, John the Baptist identifies himself as the fulfillment
of Isaiah 40. Since Isaiah 40 is the
“introduction” to the “latter days” in the Book of Isaiah, we may say that John
the Baptist identifies himself as a kind of “Introduction Incarnate,” a
“Prologue in a Person” or “Foreword in the Flesh.”
We comment on each
section of this beautiful prophecy:
Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.
This passage is set to music in utterly sublime
fashion by G.F. Handel in the oratorio The
Messiah. http://bit.ly/22L0Wsk
These verses mark the transition in the Book of
Isaiah from a primary emphasis on condemnation of Israel for past sins (Isaiah
1-39) to a primary emphasis on hope for restoration in the future (Isaiah
40-66). The hope for restoration is
largely dependent on a mysterious figure the prophet refers to as “the Servant,”
and describes extensively in passages found in chs. 42, 44, 49, 50, 52-53, and
61. The identity of the servant is
enigmatic. As we can see in Acts 8:34
(the account of the Ethiopian eunuch who asks Philip who Isaiah’s “servant”
is), ancient readers were as confused as moderns concerning the identity of the
servant. In biblical scholarship,
debates continue to rage on this subject.
Followers of Jesus, however, are convinced that Isaiah’s “Servant” is
Jesus of Nazareth. That is the claim of
the gospels and of the Church.
The message of these verses is that the
punishment on Israel (represented here by her capital, Jerusalem) has been
sufficient. Now is the time for
restoration and forgiveness. So the public
arrival of Jesus marks the end of condemnation of sin (in the ministry of John
the Baptist) and the beginning of the forgiveness of sin and healing (in the
ministry of Jesus).
A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
the rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Who is this voice crying out? The prophecy does not tell us, but John the
Baptist identifies it as himself. The
message of the “voice” employs the imagery of ancient highway-building for the
visit of a king or emperor to the distant parts of his empire. Workers (essentially slaves) would be
employed to level the road (valleys filled in, hills dug down) for the king’s
highway. In this text, however, the
coming King is the LORD himself.
In the Gospels, it becomes clear that we are not
talking about a physical highway. The
“highway of God” is Jesus: “I am the Way, the truth, the life,” Jesus says in John 14:6.
The “valleys” that need to be raised are the “poor in spirit,” who may
despair of their salvation because they are overly aware of their sins (see
Luke 18:13). These people need to be
raised up to hope for salvation. The
“mountains” are the proud, who need to be humbled before they can be saved (see
Luke 18:11-14). These themes are prominent also in the Blessed Mother’s
Magnificat (Luke 1:52-53).
Go up on to a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by a strong arm;
here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.
Here, a herald identified only as “Zion” and
“Jerusalem” is commanded to announce to the people of God that their LORD has
arrived to be their shepherd.
The promise of the LORD being a good shepherd is
closely related to some other important Old Testament texts: Psalm 23 and
Ezekiel 34. The accounts of the Feeding
of the 5,000 in Mark 6 and John 6 draw heavily on imagery from these two passages. Jesus shows himself to be the Good Shepherd
by feeding the tribes of Israel on the mountain heights with good pasture until
they are fully satisfied. But the
Feeding of the 5000 is really an anticipation of the Eucharist. We experience Jesus “feeding his flock” every
time we receive his Body and Blood.
This theme of announcing the arrival of the LORD
is, of course, strongly related to the Gospel Reading, because the Baptism was
the public debut of Our Lord’s ministry and message. With the descent of the Holy Spirit, we see
that Jesus is God in our very presence.
2. The Responsorial consists of selections from
Psalm 104:
R. (1) O bless the Lord, my soul.
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
you are clothed with majesty and glory,
robed in light as with a cloak.
You have spread out the heavens like a tent-cloth;
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
You have constructed your palace upon the waters.
You make the clouds your chariot;
you travel on the wings of the wind.
You make the winds your messengers,
and flaming fire your ministers.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you have wrought them all—
the earth is full of your creatures;
the sea also, great and wide,
in which are schools without number
of living things both small and great.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
They look to you to give them food in due time.
When you give it to them, they gather it;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
If you take away their breath, they perish and return to the dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
you are clothed with majesty and glory,
robed in light as with a cloak.
You have spread out the heavens like a tent-cloth;
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
You have constructed your palace upon the waters.
You make the clouds your chariot;
you travel on the wings of the wind.
You make the winds your messengers,
and flaming fire your ministers.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you have wrought them all—
the earth is full of your creatures;
the sea also, great and wide,
in which are schools without number
of living things both small and great.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
They look to you to give them food in due time.
When you give it to them, they gather it;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
If you take away their breath, they perish and return to the dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul.
We want to note here the strong creation imagery
of the Psalm. The Cosmos is described as
God’s “palace” which he has constructed “upon the waters” with the help of the
“wind” (“wind” and “Spirit” are the same word in Hebrew, usually ruach, sometimes also nishmah, “breath, spirit”) under the
outspread “tent-cloth” of the heavens.
The “waters,” the “Spirit,” and the “heavens” will recur in the Baptism
account.
This Psalm praises God as the creator of the
heavens and the earth. The principle of
creation is summarized at the end: “When you send forth your spirit, they are
created, and you renew the face of the earth.”
This Psalm helps us to understand the Baptism as
a great manifestation of a New Creation.
Just as the Spirit hovered over the waters of the first creation in
Genesis 1:2, and then brought forth the dry land, so in the Gospel reading the
Spirit will descend on the waters and Jesus will emerge. Jesus is the New Creation. He brings us into a whole new existence. We don’t really start to live until we know
Him. So St. Paul says, “If anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation!” (2 Cor 5:17).
(As an aside, the doctrine of creation has
fallen on hard times because many think or fear that modern science has, in
some way, eliminated divine agency from the natural world and its origins. This is extremely far from the truth. The origins of the natural world and of life
continue to defy purely naturalistic, materialistic explanation. See here for
example: http://bit.ly/1RykyCn)
At each of our baptisms, we are created
anew. We come to baptism in the darkness
and non-existence of sin, in a state of privation where we lack the Spirit of
God which alone truly gives life. We are
submerged in the waters over which the Spirit hovers, and emerge like the dry
land, like Jesus, a truly new creation.
3. The Second Reading is Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7
Beloved:
The grace of God has appeared, saving all
and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires
and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age,
as we await the blessed hope,
the appearance of the glory of our great God
and savior Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness
and to cleanse for himself a people as his own,
eager to do what is good.
When the kindness and generous love
of God our savior appeared,
not because of any righteous deeds we had done
but because of his mercy,
He saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he richly poured out on us
through Jesus Christ our savior,
so that we might be justified by his grace
and become heirs in hope of eternal life.
The grace of God has appeared, saving all
and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires
and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age,
as we await the blessed hope,
the appearance of the glory of our great God
and savior Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness
and to cleanse for himself a people as his own,
eager to do what is good.
When the kindness and generous love
of God our savior appeared,
not because of any righteous deeds we had done
but because of his mercy,
He saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he richly poured out on us
through Jesus Christ our savior,
so that we might be justified by his grace
and become heirs in hope of eternal life.
This passage is a short homily, if you will,
from St. Paul on baptism. The “non
existence” we experienced before baptism is characterized by “godless ways and
worldly desires” and “lawlessness.” It
is essentially the relentless and self-destructive pursuit of money, sex, and
power that we see all around us. The New
Creation is “to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age” because we
have become “heirs in hope of eternal life.”
It is a totally different kind of life from the ground up, because
instead of desperately trying to have as much pleasure as possible before we
die, we spend our lives in peace preparing for eternity. This is the new life inaugurated by the “bath
of rebirth … renewal by the Holy Spirit … richly poured out on us.”
4. The Gospel is Lk 3:15-16, 21-22:
The people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
After all the people had been baptized
and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,
heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him
in bodily form like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven,
“You are my beloved Son;
with you I am well pleased.”
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
After all the people had been baptized
and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,
heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him
in bodily form like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven,
“You are my beloved Son;
with you I am well pleased.”
The “heaven was opened” may be understood in
both a natural and supernatural way: a break in the clouds, but also a new
opening of access to the realm of God.
The descent of the Spirit “in bodily form like a dove” evokes the image
of the Spirit “hovering”—that is, moving back and forth (Heb. hithhalēk)—over the waters of creation
in Genesis 1:2. Then the voice of the
Father is heard from heaven: “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well
pleased.” This statement of the Father
echoes several important passages of Scripture:
(1) “Abraham, take your son, your beloved son, whom you love …” (Gen
22:2), the introduction to the account of the sacrifice of Isaac, in which
Isaac is thrice called the “beloved son” (agapētos)
in the Septuagint (LXX) Greek translation of the Old Testament. This allusion shows Jesus as a New Isaac, the
beloved Son who will sacrifice himself on the holy mountain out of love for God
and for his Father.
(2) “I will declare the decree of the LORD,
He
said to me, ‘You are my son
This
day I have begotten you” (Psalm 2:7)
The royal coronation hymn of the Davidic kings
had this line for the new king to recite as he ascended the throne. It is an affirmation of the Davidic covenant,
by which each heir to the throne had the privilege of a filial (sonship)
relationship with God: “I will be his father, and he will be my son” (2 Sam
7:14). This echo implies that Jesus is
the Son of David, the heir to throne of Israel.
In fact, the baptism comprises the washing and anointing ceremony by
which each Son of David marked the beginning of his reign (see 1 Kings 1:38-40;
understand that the Gihon was the stream where the new king was washed before
being anointed by the priest and prophet).
Note that in most of the Gospels, shortly after the Baptism Jesus begins
to preach “The Kingdom of God has arrived.”
Indeed, it has: because he has begun his royal reign.
(3) “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my
chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him,” (Isa 42:1). The verbal parallels are inexact, but the
thematic parallels with the Baptism and the words of the divine voice from
heaven are very clear. This is why Isa
42 is the standard ABC reading in the Lectionary for the Baptism. The parallels between the passages show that
Jesus is the mysterious “servant” of Isaiah, who is marked with God’s spirit,
comes to preach good news to the poor (Isa 61:1-2), and will suffer and die to
redeem many (Isa 52:13–53:12).
Jesus is the fulfillment of the whole Old
Testament expectation: the new Isaac, the new David, the manifestation of the
Isaianic Servant. But especially in
today’s reading, he is the manifestation of the New Creation.
******
Some may choose to use the standard
(ABC) readings for this feast. Here is
some commentary:
1. The First Reading is Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7:
Thus says the LORD:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
a bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of
justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.
This reading from Isaiah is a
portion of one of Isaiah’s famous “Servant Songs,” these long poems Isaiah
loved to compose which describe the mysterious “servant of the LORD” who is to
come and save Israel.
This particular Servant Song
is very rich in imagery and theological content. I can’t deal with every motif and image
employed here, so I will focus on one: the royal motif.
It is clear from the language
of Isaiah 42 that the “servant of the LORD” is a royal figure. Look at how he is described in the first
several verses: he is (1) the “servant” of God, (2) the “chosen one,” and (3)
the one anointed with the Spirit (“upon whom I have put my Spirit,” cf. Isa
61:1-2).
Now look at how David is
described in Psalm 89, perhaps the most important psalm about the Davidic
covenant in the entire Psalter:
19 Of old thou didst speak in a vision to thy faithful
one, and say: “I have set the crown upon one who is mighty, I have exalted one chosen from the people. 20 I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him (Ps
89:19-20)
The point is, the figure
described in Isaiah 42:1-7 is a kingly figure, a royal person in the image and
likeness of David; in fact, the Son of David.
This theme continues in the
remainder of the reading. It is said
that the “servant” will bring forth justice to the nations, the earth, and the
coastlands. This is an allusion to the
ideal image of Solomon, the Son of David, who ruled an international empire,
was renown for his brilliant application of justice in the court of law, and
taught justice to the nations through the wisdom literature (cf. 1 Kings 3-4,
10). The “bruised reed” and “smoldering
wick” are images of the oppressed, of people so poor and disadvantaged that
they are barely alive. In his
application of justice, this royal servant will not run roughshod over such
people, but will coax them back to life through his righteous
administration.
Later, the reading speaks of
the “servant” releasing the “blind,” the “imprisoned,” those in “dungeons” and
in “darkness.” These are all probably
references to the same group of people: those wrongly incarcerated by unjust
rulers who preceded the “servant” in royal office.
So we note that there is a
heavy emphasis on the implementation of true justice as a role of the coming
servant. Moreover, the implementation of
justice was not primarily the role of the prophet or the priest, but of the
king. Thus, while it is not a matter of
“either/or,” we do observe that this reading focuses most on the royal dimension of the coming Servant.
Finally, we note one of the
most puzzling statements in this whole oracle, which comes near the end of our
selection:
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations …
I slightly prefer the
rendering of the RSV, which says, “I have
given you as a covenant to the people, etc..” What is what puzzles: How can a person “be” a
covenant? It makes no sense. You can “make” a covenant between persons,
you can “mediate” a covenant, you can “write” down the stipulations of a
covenant, you can “renew” a covenant, but you can’t “become” a
covenant. What does Isaiah mean? How can the servant “become” a covenant for
the people, rather than “make” a covenant with them? It is difficult to make sense of this concept
if one is limited to the historical context of Isaiah’s own day. The meaning of this cryptic promise will only
become apparent in light of events much later in salvation history.
We should also note that the
lines “a covenant of the people” and
“a light for the nations” are in
poetic parallelism in Hebrew, and should be understood as mutually illuminating
in terms of meaning. So it is not that
“he will be a light to then nations, but
not a light to the people, and he will be a covenant to the people but not to the nations,” but rather “he
will be light and covenant to both the people (Israel) and the nations
(Gentiles).” Therefore we have here an
oracle of the opening up of the covenant relationship with God to people of all
nationalities.
2. The Responsorial is Psalm 29:1-2, 3-4, 3,
9-10:
R(11b)
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Give to the LORD, you sons of God,
give to the LORD glory and praise,
Give to the LORD the glory due his name;
adore the LORD in holy attire.
R.
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters,
the LORD, over vast waters.
The voice of the LORD is mighty;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
R.
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The God of glory thunders,
and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
The LORD is enthroned above the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as king forever.
R.
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
This Psalm is a doxology
praising the greatness of the LORD as “king forever” over the whole universe
(“enthroned above the flood”). In the
context of this Mass, this psalm is a praise of Christ the King who is revealed
in his Kingship at the Baptism, and rises from the waters of the Jordan to be
“enthroned above the flood.” We will
expand on this idea below.
3. The Second Reading is Acts 10:34-38:
Peter proceeded to speak to those gathered
in the house of Cornelius, saying:
“In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts
uprightly
is acceptable to him.
You know the word that he sent to the Israelites
as he proclaimed peace through Jesus Christ, who is
Lord of all,
what has happened all over Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good
and healing all those oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him.”
This Reading from Acts
records a pivotal moment in the history of the world and human
civilization! In the context of Acts 10,
St. Peter is presiding over the first baptism of uncircumcised Gentile converts
to Christianity (Acts 10:47-48). This
was highly controversial in the early Church, because there was initial
disagreement among the apostles and elders of themselves over whether it was
appropriate to baptize Gentiles without first requiring them to be Jews (that
is, requiring circumcision: see Acts 15:1-35).
But here in Acts 10, Peter presides over the first such baptism of the
uncircumcised. Note how St. Luke, the
author of Acts, emphasizes Peter’s authority in the narratives that lead up to
Acts 10. We see Peter healing a
paralytic as Jesus did (Acts 9:32-35), and raising a woman from the dead as
Jesus did (Acts 9:36-43). This confirms
his authority to permit the baptism of the Gentiles and their entrance into the
Church, which was a fulfillment of our First Reading (“a covenant … and light
to the nations [or ‘Gentiles’]”), and a huge watershed in human history,
opening up the spread of the Gospel and the Church to ethnic groups in Europe,
Africa, and Asia, forever changing the history of cultures and nations, leading
to a day when (despite all difficulties) the whole world counts time by the
liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church (i.e. the Gregorian) and the birth
of Christ is one of the most universal and widely-celebrated international
holidays .
Our Second Reading records
the substance of Peter’s preaching on this occasion, which was a proclamation
of the ministry of Jesus Christ. St.
Luke sums up Peter’s account of Jesus’ earthly ministry like this:
beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good
and healing all those oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him.”
The Baptism of Jesus, which
began his earthly ministry, is identified her as “God anoint(ing) Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.”
This is a clue to us as to why Jesus was baptized. For Jesus, the baptism was not a washing with
sin, but an anointing with the Holy Spirit.
Didn’t Jesus have the Spirit before?
Of course, but it was an anointing “with the Holy Spirit and power,”
which should be taken as a hendiadys
indicating “a powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit” or “an anointing with the
Holy Spirit such as to release power.”
So the Baptism was an event in which God unleashed the power of the Holy
Spirit working through Jesus. The Spirit
and the Son join in mission to “do good and heal all those oppressed by the
devil.” Those oppressed by the devil,
whether caught in the chains of sinful habits or even outright possession, are
the ones to whom Isaiah referred when he said the Servant would “bring out prisoners from confinement, and
from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.”
The spiritual imprisonment of a life of sin is far greater than the
physical confinement of incarceration.
In fact, there are some who essentially imprison their bodies in order
to gain spiritual freedom: cloistered monks and nuns. Physically, their lives resemble those of
prisoners! Yet in spiritual freedom they
surpass many in joy.
4. The Gospel is Matt 3:13-17:
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan
to be baptized by him.
John tried to prevent him, saying,
“I need to be baptized by you,
and yet you are coming to me?”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us
to fulfill all righteousness.”
Then he allowed him.
After Jesus was baptized,
he came up from the water and behold,
the heavens were opened for him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and coming upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens, saying,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Knowing that one of the
primary reasons for baptism was to publicly signify one’s repentance from sin,
and that Jesus had no sin from which to repent, John objects to Jesus’ baptism:
“I need to be baptized by you, yet you are coming to me?”
But repentance from sin is
only one significance of baptism. There
are others equally or more important.
In the Old Testament, we see
that when the Son of David replaced his father as king over Israel, we was
taken to sacred water, anointed, and then began his reign. First Kings 1:32-40 records this ritual for
us. When he became king, Solomon was
taken to the Gihon, the spring that served as the only fresh water source for
all Jerusalem. The Gihon (Heb. “gusher”)
was named after one of the rivers of Eden, because it Jerusalem was regarded as
a mystical New Eden where one could “walk with God” in the Temple. So the Gihon spring was rich in symbolism: a
source of sacred water, it recalled the life-giving waters of God’s good
creation, before the Fall, in the Garden.
Now, 1 Kings 1 does not specifically say what they did to Solomon at the
Gihon, but there was no point in taking him there unless they were going to
wash him and/or have him drink, and based on ancient Near Eastern parallels as
well as other biblical texts, we may be confident that Solomon both washed and
drank from the Gihon, and then received the anointing from Zadok, the acting
High Priest, and Nathan, the ranking prophet (1 Kings 1:45).
So we observe this parallel
between Jesus and Solomon: like Solomon, Jesus is taken to a source of sacred
water (in this case, the Jordan, rich in salvation-historical symbolism) and
there washed and anointed by the ranking priest and prophet. John the Baptist stands in for both roles,
since he was clearly the ranking prophet of his day, and moreover was of
priestly blood through his father Zechariah (Luke 1:5).
This leads us to an answer to
our initial question: Why was Jesus baptized?
Not as a washing away of his sin, but “in order to fulfill all
righteousness,” which means, among other things, to fulfill the
Scriptures. And the prophetic meaning of
Solomon’s washing and anointing to begin his reign (1 Kings 1:32-40) had to be
fulfilled in the One who was greater than Solomon (Matt 12:42).
For Jesus, baptism means
something different than it does for us.
For Jesus, his baptism represents his ritual anointing in order to begin
his kingly reign. This is why the voice
of God the Father booms from heaven, saying “This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased.” The Father’s voice
echoes, among other texts, Psalm 2 (see v. 7), which was probably the Royal
Coronation Hymn of the ancient Kingdom of David. They may have sung Psalm 2 first for Solomon
when he ascended the throne of his father David, after the events of 1 Kings
1:32-40. Psalm 2:7-8 as a part that was
probably recited or chanted by the newly-enthroned king:
“I
will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, ‘You are my son, today I
have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will
make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.’”
(Psalm 2:7-8)
So we observe how the
extension of the reign of the Son of David over the nations, already seen in
previous readings, recurs here.
After the baptism (and his
prayer-sojourn in the desert), Jesus begins to travel through Israel
proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt 4:17). The “kingdom of God is at hand” because
Jesus, the King, has been anointed and begun his earthly reign. One of the most prominent signs that his
reign has begun is the practice of exorcism, which shows that the pretended
“ruler of the world” (Satan) has been defeated, and now Jesus is in
charge. The exorcisms fulfill Isaiah’s
promise that the servant “upon whom I have put my Spirit” will lead prisoners
out of captivity.
Did I say that Jesus’ baptism
means something different than it does for us?
Not quite. Our baptism also marks
our washing, anointing, and accession to the throne. We begin our kingly reign when we are
baptized. In our baptism, we are
anointed with the Holy Spirit, receive power over the devil, and are
strengthened to “do good and heal those oppressed by the devil.” We heal them through prayer, proclaiming the
good news, and taking them to receive the sacraments, especially baptism and
confession, which have exorcistic power.
Some of the finest exorcists
in the Church today have said that a good confession is better than an
exorcism. Struggling with sin and
spiritual warfare? A good application of
the message of the Readings this week would be to take advantage of the “second
Baptism” that we call the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In this sacrament, Jesus shows forth his
royal power by driving out sin and the devil in our lives. Make plans to make a good, thorough
confession this week, to strengthen yourself in your own kingly reign over sin
and Satan.
In the Mass at which these
readings are read, Jesus himself will later appear in person, under the forms
of bread and wine. These forms, his very
Body and Blood, will be declared to be the “New and Everlasting Covenant.” Then the priest will over His Body and Blood
to all who have been baptized into him. In this way, the Servant himself will
be “given as a covenant to the people,”
in order that those “who live in darkness”
may be brought out of confinement. And
so all Isaiah’s words find their fulfillment in Him.
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