January 8th, 2018: 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.
AWho 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:
C the
rending of the heavens;
C the
descent of the Spirit;
C the
hovering dove;
C the
heavenly voice.
1. AOn 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 fulfill
the prayer uttered long before by the prophet Isaiah. AOh, 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 Asaw ... the Spirit ... descending
upon him.@ Mark=s words evoke the opening of our
first reading, from Isaiah: AHere is my servant whom I uphold ... upon whom I have put
my spirit.@
Jesus, according to Mark, fulfils Isaiah=s prophecy about a coming Aservant of the Lord;@
the one, Isaiah prophesied, who would Abring forth justice to the nations.@
Jesus does not do this with the conventional means of power politics,
however. He does it quietly, gently: Anot 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: AA bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench.@
3. The descent of
God=s Spirit was, Mark writes, Alike a dove.@ This image of a dove fluttering over
Jesus= head as he emerged from the waters
of Jordan
4. Finally, there
is the heavenly voice, proclaiming as Jesus comes out of the water: AYou are my beloved Son; with you I am
well pleased.@ In our first reading Isaiah speaks
of God=s Aservant.@ The heavenly voice at Jesus= baptism declares that he is more
than a servant. Jesus is God=s Abeloved 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
Aanguish@: 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 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: AFather, this is your beloved
daughter. This is your beloved son.@
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