JESUS' BAPTISM -- AND OURS.

Homily for the Baptism of the Lord. Is. 42: 1-4, 6-7; Mk 1:7-11.

AIM: To show from Mark=s account of Jesus' baptism the meaning of ours.

 

"Who is this man?" Jesus' contemporaries asked this question repeatedly.  People are still asking it today. Four details in Mark's account of Jesus' baptism, which we have just heard, help to tell us who Jesus is. Each is deeply significant to anyone familiar, as Jesus was, with the Jewish scriptures which we call the Old Testament. The four details are:

--      the rending of the heavens;

--      the descent of the Spirit;
--      the hovering dove;

--      the heavenly voice.

1.       "On coming up out of the water [Jesus] saw the heavens being torn open." Mark uses this dramatic expression to signal that Jesus' public ministry, which he is about to describe, will fulfil the prayer uttered long before by the prophet Isaiah.  We heard the passage six weeks ago on the first Sunday in Advent: "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down ... Thus would your name be made known to your enemies and the nations would tremble before you, while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for, such as they had not heard of from of old" (Is. 63:19-64:3).

2.       From the opening in the sky, Mark tells us, Jesus "saw ... the Spirit ... descending upon him." Mark's words evoke the opening of our first reading, from Isaiah: "Here is my servant whom I uphold ... upon whom I have put my spirit."  Jesus, according to Mark, fulfils Isaiah's prophecy about a coming "servant of the Lord;" the one, Isaiah prophesied, who would "bring forth justice to the nations."  Jesus does not do this with the conventional means of power politics, however. He does it quietly, gently: "not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street." Jesus, the servant of whom Isaiah wrote, acts upon people inwardly. He does not whip people up by propaganda or fiery denunciation. He gently molds us by the power of his example, wooing us with a love that will never let us go. This is what Isaiah meant by his words in our first reading: "A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench."

3.       The descent of God's Spirit was, Mark writes, "like a dove." This image of a dove fluttering over Jesus' head as he emerged from the waters of Jordan evokes a familiar verse at the beginning of the first creation tale in Genesis: "Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and God's spirit hovered over the water"(Gen. 1:2, Jerus. Bible). The Catechism says: "The Spirit who hovered over the waters of the first creation descended then on the Christ as a prelude of the new creation ..." (No. 1224).

4.       Finally, there is the heavenly voice, proclaiming as Jesus comes out of the water: "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." In our first reading Isaiah speaks of God's "servant." The heavenly voice at Jesus' baptism declares that he is more than a servant. Jesus is God's "beloved Son.@ 

Mark implies that Jesus alone perceived these four signs: the rending of the heavens, the descent of the Spirit, the hovering dove, and the heavenly voice.  Together they disclose who Jesus is. His identity remained hidden from the onlookers, however. Hence they continue to ask: AWho is this man?@ The whole of Jesus= public ministry, which Mark will now narrate, is intelligible only in the light of this mysterious event at the beginning, with it rich scriptural symbolism: the four signs which proclaim who Jesus truly is.

Mark also records John=s words before Jesus= baptism: AI have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.@ John=s baptism imparted forgiveness. His baptism of Jesus imparted power. At the Jordan Jesus received the Holy Spirit not just for himself, but in order to pass on this Spirit to others. To do so, however, Jesus would have to undergo another baptism which, he says, caused him "anguish": his baptism of blood on Calvary.  (Cf. Lk 12:50.) At his baptism in the River Jordan Jesus left behind his hidden life a Nazareth to embark on his public ministry. This ended at Calvary. From the garden tomb nearby Jesus rose in the power of the same Holy Spirit whom he had received in baptism, to impart this Spirit to all who would become his sisters and brothers in baptism.

When each one of us was baptized there was (to use the language of Isaiah and Mark) a real Arending of the heavens.@ God=s Spirit descended on each of us, to lead us from the darkness of sin into the light of God=s love; to create us anew.

The Catechism says: ABaptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte [the one baptized] >a new creature,= an adopted son of God, who has become a >partaker of the divine nature,= member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.@ The Catechism also says that baptism gives us Athe power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit@ (1265-6). Over each of us, at our baptism, God said: AThis is my beloved son. This is my beloved daughter.@ That is not what we are striving to become. It is what we already are: adopted children of God, partakers of his divine nature, members of Christ and co-heirs with him, temples or dwelling places of the Holy Spirit.

The whole Christian life C all our striving, all our praying, every attempt to be generous with God others C is our attempt to thank God for our high destiny, and for his great gifts, so far beyond anything we deserve. That lived thanksgiving will be complete only when the Lord calls us home, to present us to his Father.  When he does so he will repeat the words which recall those uttered at our baptism: "Father, this is your beloved daughter. This is your beloved son."