Feast of the Lord's Baptism

“Spirit of God descending like a dove” (Mt. 3:16)

The Dismissal of Christmas 2010

January 9, 2011, Feast of the Lord’s baptism
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 Acts 10:34-38 Matthew 3:13-17

First reading from Isaiah

Thus says the Lord: “Here is my servant, whom I strengthen—the one I have chosen and with whom I am pleased. I have filled Him with my spirit, and He will bring justice to every nation. He will not shout or raise His voice or make loud speeches in the streets. He will not break off a bent reed nor put out a flickering lamp. He will bring lasting justice to all. I, the Lord, have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth. Through you I will make a covenant with all peoples. Through you I will bring light to the Gentiles. You will open the eyes of the blind and set free those who sit in dark prisons.”

The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Glory to you, Lord.

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?” But Jesus replied, “Let it be so now. For in this way we shall do all that God requires.” So then John baptized Jesus. After His baptism, as soon as He came up from the water, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
Christmas 2010 come and gone

With the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism, we say good-by to Christmas 2010. The three Kings have come and gone. The Christmas tree has been defrocked and thrown out on the curb. The poinsettias stubbornly hold on for dear life. Christmas long awaited has come and gone. Tomorrow the liturgical clock is turned back to Ordinary Time. Then we will trudge along in the deep snows of winter until Ash Wednesday (March 9th), when we will enter again into the Extraordinary Time of Lent in preparation for Easter (April 24th ) 2011.

Baptism: a ritual washing

Hebrews 9:10 mentions various ritual washings which were an important part of the Old Testament system, and the Greek word used there for those washings, which were proverbial in the Old Testament, is baptismos. Chapters 15 and 16 of Leviticus are replete with ritual cleansings. On the Day of Atonement, when the high priest was allowed to enter into the holy of holies, he had to take off his linen garments and wash (baptize) his body with water. (Lv. 16:23-24) In the New Testament the Pharisees and teachers of the Law carried ritual washings to a ridiculous extreme as they insisted upon the ritual washing not only of people but also of such things as cups, jugs, kettles and beds. (Mk 7:4)

Jesus’ baptism -- problematic

People come to John to confess their sins, and to be ritually washed with water by him. They go home dripping wet but feeling clean in a way they never felt before. Word spreads and soon everybody is coming to be baptized -- to be ritually cleansed by John. Mind you, even Jesus Himself, of whom 1 Peter 2:22 says “He committed no sin,” and of whom Hebrews 4:15 says “He was tempted like us in every way but did not sin,” – even that sinless One comes to be washed by John!

Baptizing Jesus - washing Him clean - is problematic for John, and also for us. He and we wonder why this sinless Jesus needed to be ritually cleansed by John. In essence John says to Jesus, “Look, I need to be baptized by you. I’m the sinner here! Why are you coming to me?” But Jesus replies, “Let it be so now. For in this way we shall do all that God requires.”

A preacher who wants to know what other people think about the baptism of Jesus blogged the following:

What really does Jesus’ baptism mean? I’d like to know, and I’d like to know before this Sunday when I preach on Jesus’ baptism. I have an idea, but if you have one I wish you would share it with me, and preferably before Saturday night! Just click on the word “comments” below and tell me why Jesus was baptized. The winner might be (could be, may be) mentioned in Sunday’s sermon!

Jesus’ baptism: identification with sinners

A possible and perhaps partial answer to the problematic baptism of Jesus is this: When He allowed Himself to be ritually cleansed by John, He was identifying with sinners whom He came to save. (Is 53:12) Though he was without sin, He became one with sinners who needed to repent. (Heb. 2:17) Though there was no sin in Him, there was, indeed, sin on Him: the sins of the world were on Him. The sinless Lamb of God bore our sins, and when He was washed clean by John, all of us sinners were washed clean with and in Him.

Our baptism also problematic

Not only is Jesus’ baptism problematic, our baptism also has its problems. At the end of the day, we ask what is it that is washed away in us by the waters of baptism? The traditional answer says that it is the sin of our first parents Adam and Eve, which we inherit by our very birth into the human family that’s washed away. But modern psychiatry cringes at the thought that we can be conceived and born with someone else’s sin on our souls. What’s more, it is hard to believe that the new-born babe whom we carry to the baptismal is stained with someone else’s sin.

Traditionally it’s been said that the washing with water and the anointing with holy oil in the baptismal rite make Christians different from Jews and Muslims. Whether baptism makes us significantly different is an open question. Because of his close contact with many different people, Gregory Baum, a Jewish convert and popular theologian during Vatican II, writes, "The conviction grew in me that there was not much difference between the baptized and the non-baptized.” Jews, Christians and Muslims, he writes, all have basically the same hopes and despairs, loves and hates, defeats and victories. They all display the same selfishness and generosity, the same pettiness and heroism. (Journeys by Baum)

Our baptism: anointed to make a difference

A new generation of theologians, while not denying Original Sin, seeks a more plausible understanding of it. It prefers to say that we are not born with sin, but rather are born into sin. That is to say, we are born into a sinful world which as a serpent lies in wait to stain the immaculate robes of our conception and birth. And the waters of baptism ritually wash the sinful world out of us, and the baptismal anointing with oil consecrates us for sacred purposes; it commissions us to go forth and make a difference on the highway of life.

Just as Jesus’ anointing commissioned Him to make a difference. One Sabbath, in his hometown synagogue, Jesus got up to read a passage from Isaiah which, He said, was fulfilled in Him: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me; therefore, he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoner and recovery of sight for the blind and to release the oppressed.” (Lk 4:16; Is 61:1-2)

A parable about stopping to make a difference

Jesus crafted a magnificent parable about stopping to make a difference on the highway of life: A man going from Jerusalem to Jericho was waylaid by robbers and left half-dead. Along came a Jewish priest and Levite who didn’t stop but passed right by the wounded man. Then along came a Samaritan who slammed on the brakes of his busyness and stopped to pour the oil of compassion on the poor man’s wounds. Then he hoisted the man unto his beast of burden and hurried him off to the nearest inn where he provided for the man’s care and cure. Jesus ends that parable with the commission to “Go and do likewise.” (Lk l0: 25-37)

The Samaritan’s stopping was, indeed, a great blessing for the man waylaid by robbers. It restored him to health, and filled with gratitude he went to the Temple to thank Yahweh. The Samaritan’s stopping was also a great blessing for the Samaritan himself; it filled him with that great good feeling which comes when one has made a significant difference on the highway of life. What’s more, it turned the good man into that immortal Good Samaritan whose praises have been sung down through the centuries.

Conclusion
A quaint dismissal of Christmas

With the feast of the Lord’s baptism, we say good-by to Christmas 2010. After searching through a basketful of discarded Christmas cards looking for a particular card which had drawn my attention, I found it. It contained a quaint dismissal of the Christmas season. Slightly rewritten, it reads:

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the three kings have returned to their villas,
when the shepherds are back in their fields,
when the Lord stands dripping wet in the waters of His baptism,
business `as usual’ is over,
and the business of our baptismal anointing begins:
to make a difference on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.