January 10 2016 (C) Baptism of the Lord
A. The bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)
B. Reflection & Dialogue: Baptism and Christian spirituality; baptism and the belief in the heavens open to us
The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)
First Reading (Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11). Prepare the way of the Lord. This reading is chosen to go with today’s Gospel reading. Both speak of a new age about to begin. In the first reading a heavenly voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God”. These words are recalled and cited in the introduction to the proclamation of the new age by John the Baptist.
We may now consider this first reading in its original setting in the Book of Isaiah. This reading is the beginning of the second major division of the book of Isaiah, known as Deutero-(or Second) Isaiah. The reading is better understood when put in its original historical setting. Soon after 585 BC news of the destruction of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah reached the exiles in Babylon, among whom the prophet Ezekiel was active. After the destruction, Ezekiel’s message of disaster turned to one of hope for the future. The exiles are represented as coming to him to hear a message from the Lord, whose words they ignore in practice. They regard the prophet as a singer of love songs, or a ballad singer. His promises or prophecies of a better or glorious future for God’s people in their homeland would have appeared as empty of content as a ballad. Babylon was still supreme, under the mighty Nebuchadnezzar who had destroyed Jerusalem. Matters were changing by 560 when Nebuchadnezzar’s dynasty was no more. In 556 Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, came to the throne, and soon deserted Babylon. By 559 Cyrus king of Persia was advancing and would clearly soon set his eyes on Babylon. Then the new unnamed prophet, known as Second Isaiah, was called to his mission. In his heavenly vision he hears a voice calling on him to proclaim consolation to Jerusalem. God’s anger has now turned to love and hope. Her exile is declared at an end. A further heavenly voice proclaims that (figuratively) there will be a levelled highway for God’s triumphal return to Jerusalem. Zion, that is Jerusalem, is then addressed as a joyful messenger to bring these glad tidings to the (devastated) cities of Judah. (It is better understand as “joyful messenger Zion, Jerusalem” than “joyful messenger to Zion, to Jerusalem”.) Israel’s God is coming over the desert to Jerusalem in power, tenderly leading his scattered flock home.
The text is a great divine vision for the future, too great to be realized in that immediate instance, and hence through history inspiring later generations. King Cyrus, who conquered Babylon in 539 BC, did permit the Jews to return home and rebuild the Temple (not Jerusalem or it walls), Not too many returned, but the Temple was rebuilt by 515, and the tiny population of Jerusalem and Judah did continue (with brief periods of independence 164-63 BC) as subject nation to Persia, Greece and Rome. Fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy would have been looked forward to. The Greek translation (Septuagint) punctuates Isaiah 40:3; “A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare a way..’”, as “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way..’”, cited in this Greek form in the New Testament (for John the Baptist; Gospel reading). The Aramaic translation (Targum) renders the end of v. 9 (“Say to the cities of Judah:) ‘Here is your God’”, as “The kingdom of your God is revealed”, a translation possibly current in Jesus’ days, and very near the New Testament message.
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 103[104]). Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are.
Second Reading (Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7). He saved us by the cleansing waters of rebirth and by renewing us with the Holy Spirit.
The epistle to Titus is one of three letters (1-2 Timothy, Titus) known as Pastoral Letters. Although in the name of Paul they more probably represent an extension of his teaching to later situations than coming directly from Paul himself. They seem to represent a developed Christian community, with bishops and deacons in charge, possibly from the later first century. Christians have attained an identity as a group in the Greco-Roman world and are exhorted to live lives that will win respect in this world, but lives faithful to the Christian message and the centrality of Christ.
There are two distinct pages in today’s reading, both referring to the revelation of God’s love through Christ. The first passage (Titus 2:11-14) might be headed: God’s grace has been revealed to the whole human race. Today’s text, and the other Pastoral Letters, use inclusive language: Christ has died for all. God’s grace has been made manifest in the first coming of Christ (including his birth and life), and Christians are exhorted to let that manifestation remind them of the central Christian message of leading true Christian lives. Christ died to set us free for this. Our life here below is between two comings of Christ, the first at his birth and life, the second at his second coming, called “the Appearing of the glory of our great God and saviour Christ Jesus”. This expression “great God and saviour Jesus Christ” seems to refer to Christ as God, although a possible alternative rendering might be: “of our great God and of our saviour Christ Jesus”.
The second passage (Titus 3:4-7) also begins with reference to the revelation of the kindness and love (philanthropy, love of humanity) of God for the whole human race, stressing that this was not for any human merit or righteous action on their part. It was solely from God’s own compassion that he saved us, by means of the cleansing water of rebirth at baptism and by renewal through the Holy Spirit, poured over us through Jesus Christ our Saviour. It was all intended so that we may be justified freely by his grace, and look forward to inheriting eternal life. This is a very apt text for today’s feat of the Baptism of the Lord, recalling the centrality of Christian baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit which enables believers to live a Christian life.
Alternative First Reading (Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7). Here is my servant in whom my soul delights. This beautiful oracle is the first of four ‘songs of the servant’ in the Book of Isaiah. (The others are 49:1-6; 50:4-9, or 4-11; 52:13-53:12.) This text speaks of God’s special choice of this servant prophet, beloved by God. As befits biblical leaders he is empowered by God’s Spirit. It speaks of his nature; he is gentle, but faithful to his mission until he has fulfilled it. It tells of the mission given him by God, a mission which God empowers him to carry out. He is to be a covenant of the people Israel, to remind them of their mission. He will also be a light to the nations beyond Israel, and will release captives, captive Israel, from its bondage. A question naturally arising is the identity of the servant in the mind of the prophet, writing towards the end of the Babylonian exile. Opinions differ: historical Israel, ideal Israel, an Old Testament person before or after the time of the poet prophet, the prophet author of the text himself. The servant is left unidentified, to be identified by his very special personality, his choice by God and his special relationship with him, his tremendous mission. His person and mission could stand as identifying and standing as a model for Israel, God’s chosen people, with a world mission, or for a chosen individual with such a mission. It would be fulfilled as God saw fit, and this was through God’s Son, Jesus Christ, as is made clear at the baptism of Jesus when Jesus is anointed with the Spirit, and the voice from heaven, replacing the Isaiah’s word “servant” with “Son”, declares that the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled in Jesus.
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 28[29]). The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Alternative Second Reading (Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38). God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit. The setting for this reading in the Acts of the Apostles is the scene in which Peter is told by the Holy Spirit to go to the house of the pagan centurion and preach the good news to him. Up to this believers were from the Jewish community only. Due to God’s command, Peter now understood that the Gospel was for all Jew and pagan and stresses this in his address to the centurion Cornelius and his household. Peter gives a summary of the Gospel message, beginning, as all early Christian preaching did, with the baptism activity of John the Baptist. While he does not explicitly mention the baptism of Jesus, Peter implies it, as the occasion in which God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power, in the strength of which he continued his saving mission.
Gospel (Luke 3:15-16, 21-22). While Jesus after his baptism was at prayer, heaven opened.All four gospels begin their account of the public life of Jesus with the preaching of John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus. Today’s reading from Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism highlights two points: the heightened messianic expectations among the people and the place of prayer in Jesus’ ministry. We know from the account of the more or less contemporary Jewish historian Josephus that John’s ministry of baptism made a great impression on the people. It was natural that some would take him to be a wonder working messiah, which John denies. John speaks of another to come after him who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. John does not specify what precisely he means by the Holy Spirit. This will be made clear in Jesus’ baptism. Jesus identifies himself with “all the people” who seek John’s baptism. A point made by Luke, not in the other Gospels, is Jesus’ prayer after his baptism. It was the beginning of a new moment in his mission, and Luke notes that at such moments Jesus retired for prayer. Before choosing his twelve apostles Jesus went out to the mountain and spent the night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12). Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane is recounted in all three Synoptic Gospels. Jesus was involved in the revelation of God’s mystery, a mystery to be understood by faith and in prayer. After his baptism it was during his prayer that heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus, and the voice from heaven declared to Jesus that he was the Father’s beloved Son. The open heavens meant that earth was in contact, in dialogue, with heaven. God was no remote impersonal being. Revelation was a reality. What the descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus meant is spelt our further by Peter in his address to the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:38; alternative second reading). In the power of this Spirit Jesus went about doing good during his public life.
B. The Bible in Dialogue with Questions of the Day: Baptism and Christian
spirituality; baptism and the belief in the heavens open to us
Reflection. Baptism and Christian Spirituality. Our celebration of the baptism of Jesus is not just about an event in the life of Christ, or the beginning of his public life. All the New Testament texts are at pains to point out that at his baptism he was anointed with the Holy Spirit. In the power of that Spirit he went about doing good and undoing the work of sin and Satan. The Church from the beginning has looked on Christian baptism as intimate union with Jesus and his baptism, and with the giving of the Holy Spirit to believers. This Holy Spirit makes us aware that we are children of God. Possession of the Spirit is an anointing that gives confidence of faith in Christ and his church. The Holy Spirit works quietly to help believers live the Christian life in the spirit of the beatitudes. Today in certain quarters there is much talk about spirituality, sometimes with the implication that while religion is inferior, spirituality is good and respectable. In our world it is well to note that spirituality can be used in different senses. It can be used, and is used, by humanists with little regard for faith or belief in God or the other world. Spirituality in this sense is a quality or manifestation of the human spirit, irrespective of any belief. For Christian believers spirituality is life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, a life of grace. All believers, rich and poor, young and old, learned and otherwise, have a spirituality, just a they possess the Holy Spirit, given at baptism and abiding all through life.
Belief in the heavens opened. All the Gospel narratives speak of the heavens being opened at the baptism of Jesus, and of the Father’s voice speaking from heaven. The open heavens mean that there is another world, with an absolute God, and that there is contact between the two – not an abstract or remote contact but a close and personal one. Profession of faith in this other world and all it stands for is made at any baptism, be it of an infant or an adult. The pouring of the material element of water on the head at baptism is an expression of deep faith, and has sense only with such faith. Belief in another world and contact with it, in the opened heaven, is naturally denied by humanists and atheists, and because of this the ultimate sign of rejection of Christian belief is the refusal to have children baptised.
Belief in this open heaven is sustained by faith and contact with the sacraments. This is one message for us of this feast of the Baptism of Christ.
