Baptism of the Lord
Isaiah: 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Matt 3:13-17
How does today’s feast grab you? Not very firmly, I suspect. After all, we have celebrated the great feasts of Christmas and Epiphany; even the Holy Family has been and gone. Today’s feast of the Baptism may feel like something of an afterthought, an appendix tagged on to ease us back into normality, to prepare us for the green of Ordinary Time after the heady seasons of Advent and Christmas.
And yet, it wasn’t always thus. In the early Church, the Baptism of the Lord was seen as one of the focal points of salvation history, and so as a focal point also of the Church’s year. In the first two or three centuries of Christianity, Christmas didn’t feature particularly highly. Quite rightly, Easter was seen as the great feast of Christians, whilst at this time of year, Epiphany had a prominent role.
“Ah,” you may say, “we know about Epiphany. It is the showing forth of Jesus to the Wise Men, who represented the Gentiles, the non-Jewish people, and it thus shows that Jesus is the Saviour of all, and not only of the original Chosen People.”
“Quite right!” may come the answer. “Go to the top of the class and kiss the teacher. But bear in mind that, originally, Epiphany was far more than that. It had three parts, as those who pray the Divine Office are, perhaps a little puzzlingly, aware.”
The first part involved a running together of what, since the fourth century, have been celebrated as the two separate feasts of Christmas and Epiphany: in other words, the “showing forth” of Jesus both to the Jews, in His birth as a Jew of a Jewish mother, and His revelation to the Jewish shepherds and other Jewish people in Bethlehem; and to the Gentiles, as represented by the Wise Men.
The second part was the “showing forth” of Jesus as the Beloved Son of the Father at His Baptism, when the heavens opened, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and the Father’s voice bore witness. This was the central, and most prominent part of Epiphany, putting even the Christmas event in the shade. Finally, the third part was His “showing forth” in the marriage feast at Cana, when He “let His glory be seen”, His glory as God Himself.
In the showing forth of Jesus, rather than in His birth, the Church of the first two or three centuries found its locus at this time of year. How then is Jesus to be shown forth today? Baptism provides the starting point for us, as it did for Jesus Himself.
“You are my Son, the Beloved. My favour rests on you” proclaimed the Father, as the Spirit descended on the Son at His Baptism. “You are my son/daughter, the beloved. My favour rests on you” proclaimed the Father as the Spirit descended on us, as you and I were baptised in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So the task of showing Jesus forth devolves on us.
How are we to fulfil that task in an increasingly uncomprehending, uninterested world? A few nights ago, I watched on you-tube an episode of “Tales of the Unexpected” from around forty years ago. In the background of one scene, Christmas carols could be heard. If the programme were to be remade today, I suspect that the carols would be replaced by Slade, Wizzard, or Bing Crosby: I have certainly heard “Here it is, merry Christmas” far more frequently than “Silent Night” in recent days.
In Britain, Jesus is being quietly forgotten, rather than deliberately shut out. In recently Catholic Ireland, by contrast, the state, in its various forms, seems intent on eradicating all traces of its Christian past, which it seeks to depict as uniformly dark and evil. I read before Christmas that the Lord Mayor of Dublin was planning to replace the live crib in the city centre with a “winter wonderland”. There was to be no room at the inn.
So how do we fulfil the reality of this feast, these feasts? How do we show Jesus forth? You and I at least must be faithful. You and I must be open and receptive to the God who comes, the one who is always Emmanuel—God with us. If we are faithful, He Himself will do the work through us, His beloved sons and daughters. Let us remember always that He IS with us.
