Feast of the Baptism of the Lord: Baptism opens the door to eternal life

January 12, 2019

What is a sacrament? The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1131 teaches that,
“The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.

The Lord: Circumcision and baptism
We celebrate the circumcision of the Lord on the Feast of Mary, Mother of God, January 1. With that, he entered the covenant with Abraham. Abram, our father in faith, accepted circumcision, an external sign of his covenant with God. Gen. 17:10-14. [i] Thereafter, all the male descendants of Abraham underwent circumcision as the sign of their entry into God’s covenant to the present day. We celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord today which begins ordinary time, the season when we focus on the public ministry of Our Lord. Jesus was a circumcised Jew when he was baptized by John the Baptist for the forgiveness of sins. He took his place among all of us, when he lead the way into the Jordan River.

St. Paul taught circumcision or non-circumcision did not matter. Baptism was spiritual circumcision and it mattered because it was rebirth into life in Christ:

“In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand, by stripping off the carnal body, with the circumcision of Christ. You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” Col. 2:11-12.

Under the Old Abrahamic Covenant, only males were circumcised. The Church, following St. Paul, taught that the Spirit had lead them to teach that males and females would receive the circumcision of baptism.

For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Chris t. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus . And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendant, heirs according to the promise. Gal. 3:27-29.

After significant argument, the early Church decided that Christians need only be baptized to enter the covenant through Christ. Gal. 2 This was a significant departure from the law of Israel.

The Early Church on the Lord’s Baptism
I once had a young lady ask why the Church spent so much time talking about the Old Testament, when she just wanted to learn about Jesus. The early Church Fathers, following the evangelists, explained the sacrament of Baptism by looking for ‘types,’ that is, symbols and interpretations presented by the Old Testament that can explain why Jesus taught us to baptize. Here are some examples of how the early Church, looking back to the Old Testament, understood baptism.

Noah, the Ark and the Dove

St. Peter Chrisologus, a Fourth to Fifth Century theologian, wrote that the dove that appears at Jesus’ baptism is like the dove that returned to Noah to signal the end of the flood. The coming of Christ and baptism signals the “world’s shipwreck is at an end forever.” [ii]

The Waters of Eden and the Tree of Life

Pseudo-Hippolytus, an anonymous Fourth Century theologian, commented that the waters of baptism were the waters of rebirth and were the very waters that irrigate paradise in the final chapter of Revelation. [iii] Those waters fed the tree of life which Adam and Even were barred from eating when they were cast out of Eden.

Moses, the Exodus and the Column of Fire

St. Maximus of Turin, a fifth century writer, taught that Jesus leads the way through the waters of baptism like the “column of fire” that lead the Israelites through the Red Sea and the desert for forty years. [iv]

Baptism is the way into Christ and eternal life. It is a visible sign of an invisible reality. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus commands his disciples,

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit.”

We baptize because the Lord commanded it like God commanded Abram to be circumcised. How then to explain it all?

Why typologies and myths?
A myth is a sign that points at something. At the beginning of Advent, I talked about the importance of myth. Specifically, I mentioned some Greek myths that are interesting but generally accepted as an explanation of reality. I explained that Jesus is a myth that is a fact. His story did not begin, “Once upon a time…” He lived in a particular time and place. He really was baptized and commanded his followers to do the same.

Jesus of Nazareth, risen from the dead, is the way that we understand our relationship with God and how it is we are supposed to live and hope. Myths are ways that we organize what we know but do not fully comprehend. Myths are not necessarily false, but they can be misleading and, sometimes, insightful. Jesus is the myth that is true. They are ways that we interpret the world. [v]

We all use myths. Science uses myths. Biologists refer to the “building blocks of life” or “genetic engineering.” Our bodies are not composed of blocks nor are we machines to be engineered. It is mythic thinking to see material reality as a “well-oiled machine” or our brains as “computers.” We use machine imagery to describe reality because increasingly are lives, homes and work are wound up with machinery and it is an understandable metaphor.

Complex human beings within their mothers wombs are more than a ‘clump of cells.’ We are image using creatures. Whether a pregnant mother describes the life within her womb as a baby or fetus illustrates how mom thinks about unborn life. Reality is complicated and so we use myths and types to organize what we mean. The danger of myths is when they collapse as metaphors and we really think we are just cells, machines or computers. That happens when you read of social theorists arguing over whether artificial intelligence might some-day have rights.

When the Church uses language, we can't escape being human. Baptism is the door to eternal life, but we don't mean that here really is a door on the front porch of heaven. When the Church uses types, we don’t mean that baptism is a bird, an eschatological river or a column of fire. We do mean that the ancient ways that God helped humans, that nobody living has experienced, are in real life experienced in baptism. Jesus leads us into the waters of baptism where we are made Sons of God. The unseen life of God descends upon us and we and our children become beloved children of God. Metaphorically, we may be at sea in a great flood, but solid land is close by. We may be thirsty, but the waters of eternity will be ours and are now presently if we had eyes to see. We are not lost as long as we have the column of fire leading us as the Ancient Israelites were lead in the desert. Baptism is a visible sign that opens the door to the world as God sees it. Jesus leads the way.

The March for Life: January 19 at the Cathedral
As much as we progress, we never get any further in some very basic, human ways. The disturbing news from China is the claim that genetic ‘engineers’ have genetically altered or engineered babies. The respect for the dignity of life is threatened when we see human beings as merely another animal to be made the object of an experiment. It is the natural outgrowth of a cultural view that people are inconvenient or disposable. Bishop Edward Weisenburger will be celebrating a Mass for Life and will lead the March for Life next Saturday morning at the Cathedral. Both materialists and people of faith have their images for understanding a very complicated reality. Some myths are very damaging to human beings. We ought to remind our neighbors that the door to God is open through baptism.

[i] “ I will maintain my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting covenant, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you . I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now residing as aliens, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their Go d. God said to Abraham: For your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages. This is the covenant between me and you and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised . Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. That will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.” Gen. 17:7-11.

[ii] “Today Christ enters the Jordan to wash away the sin of the world. John himself testifies that this is why he has come: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Today a servant lays his hand on the Lord, a man lays his hand on God, John lays his hand on Christ, not to forgive but to receive forgiveness. Today, as the psalmist prophesied: The voice of the Lord is heard above the waters. What does the voice say? This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Today the Holy Spirit hovers over the waters in the likeness of a dove. A dove announced to Noah that the flood had disappeared from the earth; so now a dove is to reveal that the world’s shipwreck is at an end forever. The sign is no longer an olive-shoot of the old stock: instead, the Spirit pours out on Christ’s head the full richness of a new anointing by the Father, to fulfil what the psalmist had prophesied: Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.” St. Peter Chrisologus (4 ^th C.)

[iii] “This is the water that is linked to the Spirit, the water that irrigates Paradise, makes the earth fertile, gives growth to plants, and brings forth living creatures. In short, this is the water by which a man receives new birth and life, the water in which even Christ was baptized, the water into which the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove. Whoever goes down into these waters of rebirth with faith renounces the devil and pledges himself to Christ. He repudiates the enemy and confesses that Christ is God, throws off his servitude and becomes an adopted son. He comes up from baptism resplendent as the sun and radiating purity and, above all, he comes as a son of God and a co-heir with Christ.” St. Peter Chrisologus. Revelation 22:1-2 is the reference concerning the waters irrigating paradise: “ Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lam b down the middle of its street. On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month; the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations.”

[iv] “The Gospel tells us that the Lord went to the Jordan River to be baptized and that he wished to consecrate himself in the river by signs from heaven. Reason demands that this feast of the Lord’s baptism, which I think could be called the feast of his birthday, should follow soon after the Lord’s birthday, during the same season, even though many years intervened between the two events. At Christmas he was born a man; today he is reborn sacramentally. Then he was born from the Virgin; today he is born in mystery. When he was born a man, his mother Mary held him close to her heart; when he is born in mystery, God the Father embraces him with his voice when he says: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased: listen to him. The mother caresses the tender baby on her lap; the Father serves his Son by his loving testimony. The mother holds the child for the Magi to adore; the Father reveals that his Son is to be worshipped by all the nations.

That is why the Lord Jesus went to the river for baptism; that is why he wanted his holy body to be washed with Jordan’s water. Someone might ask, “Why would a holy man desire baptism?” Listen to the answer: Christ is baptized, not to be made holy by the water, but to make the water holy, and by his cleansing to purify the waters which he touched. … I understand the mystery as this. The column of fire went before the sons of Israel through the Red Sea so they could follow on their brave journey; the column went first through the waters to prepare a path for those who followed. As the apostle Paul said, what was accomplished then was the mystery of baptism. Clearly it was baptism in a certain sense when the cloud was covering the people and bringing them through the water. But Christ the Lord does all these things: in the column of fire he went through the sea before the sons of Israel; so now, in the column of his body, he goes through baptism before the Christian people. At the time of the Exodus the column provided light for the people who followed; now it gives light to the hearts of believers. Then it made a firm pathway through the waters; now it strengthens the footsteps of faith in the bath of baptism.” St. Maximus

[v] “Myths are not lies. Nor are they detached stories. They are imaginative patterns, networks of powerful symbols that suggest particular ways of interpreting the world.” Midgley, Mary. The Myths We Live By (p. 1). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.