Epiphany I: Baptism of the Lord

Isaiah 42:1-9
Acts 10:34-38
Luke 3:15-16,21-22

+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Everyone knows that Christmas and Easter are the two great high points of the Christian Year. But contrary to popular belief and practice, even among many Christians, these feasts are not limited to a single day. We are supposed to have extended periods of celebration to appreciate the richness and meaning and joy of Christ's gifts to us. Easter lasts fifty days, from Easter Sunday until Pentecost, when we focus on the risen Christ's presence with us. Christmas has the twelve days until the feast of the Epiphany, and the full Christmas cycle lasts well into Epiphany, all the way until Candlemas, 2 February, forty days. Italians don't remove their creches until Candlemas. So even though our Christmas decoration are still up and we're well beyond the twelve days, I assure you that we are not pushing the season. We have forty days to contemplates the Incarnation, God becoming man.

Epiphany, of course, has its own themes: Christ's shining his light into the world, the God-man's manifestation to all people. During the weeks of Epiphany the gospel focuses on events where Christ made himself known to the world: the Magi coming to Bethlehem, Jesus' baptism, the wedding at Cana, the Transfiguration. We are now in this period of overlap of Christmas with Epiphany, and we have these two themes claiming our attention: God becoming man, and God making himself known to the world. Today's feast, the Baptism of our Lord, neatly ties these two themes together.

On the mural over the altar, the third saint from the left, with the big scowl, is S. Athanasius, one of the most important Christian theologians. He's holding his book On the Incarnation of the Word of God, and the Greek writing on the book is his top sound-bite: "[The Word of God, the Son of God] became man that we might become God" (De Incarnatione Verbi Dei, [chapter VII] §54). This is a marvelous saying, the heart of the gospel. It is the great hope our religion gives us: we will become gods - not our own independent, isolated gods, but eternal creatures living in perfect union and harmony with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, loving God perfectly, loving one another perfectly, loving ourselves perfectly. We will be divine. We are going to die, and are going to be buried, and our bodies are going to rot, but ultimately we are going to be gods. We are going to be gods because God came to us and became one of us. That is Christmas.

It is also baptism. When Jesus arrived at the River Jordan to be baptised by S. John, S. John gets upset. He tells Jesus: "I need to be baptised by you." (Mt 3:14) But Jesus does not allow that he differs from all the rest of the people John was baptizing. Jesus is one of us. We know that Jesus didn't need to be baptised, that he had no sin, that he was already one with his Father, that he already was full of the Holy Spirit. But Jesus identifies himself fully with his people, with us; he is fully one of us.

A sign of our own sinfulness is our eagerness to distinguish ourselves from other people, to show that we're better, or more clever, or more elevated. I know my perversity: when I'm around Democrats, I'll often make Republican arguments; when I'm around Republicans, I'll make Democratic arguments. The point is: I am not like you! What's worse is when we start holding ourselves as morally superior to others: "At least I don't do that!" That's not the way of Jesus. When Jesus came to the Jordan to be baptised, to be born anew, just like when he came to us in Bethlehem, he gladly identifies himself with all human beings and does what we sinners are required to do. The point is: I am like you! God humbles himself to be born of S. Mary, to be an infant, and to struggle and to suffer as we do. God humbles himself to be baptised. There's no attitude, no separation, no holier than thou implications whatsoever, and he certainly was holier than us!

When we are baptised, we receive the Holy Spirit; we put on Christ; he is part of us. In a few moments, God is going to become part of Isabel, and part of Isabel is going to become God. God identifies himself with her; she becomes his child. In her, we see Christ, just like we ought to see Christ in one another. Isabel is going to become a follower of Christ. That will be her primary identity throughout life.

Baptism tells us who we are. Number one, I am a follower of Christ. He is my primary allegiance in all things. Everything else flows from there. All of the other things I am in life begins with being a follower of Christ. I know who I am as a priest, as a husband, as a father, as a son, as a brother, as a friend because I start with my baptism when God became part of me, and when I dedicated my life to him. When we say that someone has 'self-esteem', we mean that person knows who they are, and knowing who you are comes from identifying with Jesus, knowing that he loves you as you are, knowing that we always have hope. That's baptism. God identifies with us, and we with him. It's a new start to life, a new birth, a new way to orient ourselves in life.

Our Lord's own baptism marked the beginning of his public ministry, his active proclamation of the gospel. His baptism was a revelation. It's an epiphany. It showed the world that Jesus was God, and it proclaimed what God was doing. S. Luke makes this point three ways in today's gospel. First, he says that after Jesus was baptised, he prayed. Jesus is enjoying simple, pious intimacy with his Father, and then the heavens were opened. The image is from Isaiah the prophet, who cries to the Lord: "O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down." (Isa 64:1) Isaiah prays that God would reveal himself again as he did in the Exodus, when Israel had escaped from slavery and began a new age of freedom. Luke uses this imagery to make the point that in Christ God is fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy and acting to initiate a new age.

Second, Luke says that the Holy Spirit descended upon Christ. In Genesis, in the beginning, the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters and brought forth creation and light and order from nothingness and darkness and chaos. The Holy Spirit has now come to usher in this new age of Christ, an age in which the creation, now corrupted by human sin, will be restored and redeemed. The Holy Spirit will be characteristic of Jesus' ministry; it will be the gift he gives to his followers so that they may continue to serve and witness to God, so that the powers of light conquer darkness.

Third, a voice from heaven declares: "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased." This heavenly declaration is a combination of two Old Testament sayings. First, Psalm 2:7 - "Thou art my beloved Son" - was used at the ancient coronation services for Israel's king. The second half is from Isaiah; they are God's words to his faithful servant in whom he delights (Isa. 42:1). This heavenly voice, therefore, combines two aspects of Christ's ministry: Christ's sovereignty, his kingship, and his faithful service. Christ's kingdom is a new kind of kingdom - one where the King serves, one where power is displayed in service. Christ does not rule with an iron rod, but with patience and love and sacrifice.

The heavens opening, the descent of the Holy Spirit, and the voice from heaven - each of these reveal Christ's divinity and the nature of his ministry. I don't expect these things to happen at today's baptism, or at anyone's baptism. But our baptism does reveal to us what our Christian lives should look like, what our ministry should look like. For in baptism, as we become part of God, and God becomes part of us, we assume responsibilities: joyful, life-giving responsibilities - the ministry of Christ.

In the baptismal covenant, we vow to be faithful members of the church, regularly participating in the mass, praying, following the teaching of the Apostles. We vow to resist evil and to turn from our sin. We vow to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ. That is, we vow to be evangelists. We vow to serve Christ by loving all people. We vow to seek justice and peace and to respect all people. And when we keep these vows, God grows in us, and so does our hope to be gods.

+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.