John
Milton, who once marvellously celebrated the birth of Jesus in his "Ode to
the Morning of Christ's Nativity," later attempted a sequel upon the
Passion. After writing a few stanzas he ceased in despair and later published
the fragment he did write with an appended note: "This subject the author
finding to be above the years he had when he wrote it, and not satisfied with
what was begun, left it unfinished." Whatever our years may be, they do
not mature us to deal with a theme of such magnitude as the suffering and death
of our Lord. When we have said our finest word about the whole redemptive
drama, there is something that breaks through language and escapes. Similar
words could be uttered about the Baptism of our Lord. As we move into that dim
borderland where our reach exceeds our grasp, we must be measured at last in
terms of our splendid failure to say the impossible.
In the movie The Apostle, starring Robert Duval, there is a powerful scene. Duval is running from the law. He has bludgeoned the youth pastor in the church where he was pastor. The assumption is that he has been baptised and ordained as a minister of the Gospel. The scene in the movie shows a contrite and repentant Duval baptising himself in a river. He announces to God and to no one else that he is baptising and ordaining himself as an apostle. (There is an old black man who has just finished fishing who witnesses the baptism and ordination. Duval is not aware of his presence.)
The
scene raises questions about the Baptism of our Lord. Why did he not baptise
himself? Why should he seek out John the Baptist and insist that John baptise
him? Perhaps an even larger question without an adequate answer is: "Why
did Jesus feel a need to be baptised?"
At the risk of attempting to answer questions that have difficult answers, perhaps some conjecture will suffice. John the Baptist, recognising the difficulties in this situation, refused to baptise Jesus. He insists that Jesus should baptise him. Someone has suggested that Jesus "is baptised as a witness to God's claim upon him. He is baptised and by that action says, in effect, 'I belong to God.'" In Baptism, Jesus identifies with a community. We do not know all that we would like to know about John the Baptist's community.
We
do not know who was present at this baptism, other than John the Baptist
himself. We can surmise that there were others in the community who witnessed
this Baptism. While we are now in the season of Epiphany, the Baptism of Jesus
is a ratification of his Incarnation. He identifies with a community and with
the people in that community.
In our Baptism, we too gain an identity. At the time of our Baptism, person carrying out the rite makes the sign of the cross on our forehead and announces that we "are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ's own forever." We become a part of what God has been doing in the world since the time of creation. Baptism is the initiatory rite into the church and indicates full inclusion into the household of faith. Like our Lord, we too become incorporated into the human condition.
The
season of Epiphany is the season in the Church Year in which the identity of
Jesus is made clearer to his followers. Baptism calls us to claim our place and
our power. There is a period of silence in the life of Jesus from about the age
of twelve to his thirtieth year. From the time of Jesus in the Temple , we know little until his Baptism. Out
of his Baptism comes a clearer view of what his life's work was to be.
Gabriel Marcel Marques, in his book, One Hundred Years of Solitude, writes about a village in Central America. A virus strikes this community and the effect of the virus is that is causes amnesia. It becomes necessary to hire a person from the outside world to help them recover their memory. This person, from the outside world, goes about the village putting signs on all things with their names. The signs remind the villagers that "this is a ceiling," "this is a floor," "this is a table," and all through the village everything has a sign naming what it is.
Outside
the village, the outsider places two signs. On one sign is written: "This
is the village of
Macondo ." A sign
posted above that reads: "God Exists." Our Baptism and the Baptism of
our Lord are signs and symbols of God's delight in us. Each time a person is
baptised, it is a sign that God exists. The sign of the cross on our foreheads
reminds the world that God exists. It is also a sign that the Creator takes
delight in us and calls us to the community of faith.
So for those familiar and those who have never read or heard it let us again hear again these words drawn from the baptismal rite:
We thank you, Almighty
God, for the gift of water. Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of
creation. Through it you led the children of So for those familiar and those who have never read or heard it let us again hear again these words drawn from the baptismal rite:
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