Word to the Wise
Monday, January 10, 2011 - The Baptism of the Lord
[Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17]Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit......[Isaiah]<br /> After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, "This my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." [Matthew]
The feast of the Baptism of the Lord brings to an end the Advent/Christmas/Epiphany liturgical seasons! But it also brings to a beginning the public ministry of Jesus! He shows up as an adult follower of John the Baptist! What happened in between? We don't know really. There are some fanciful and fantastic stories of the "hidden life" but the early Christian community apparently did not think much of the stories of Jesus' life after the "finding in the temple." The gospels are silent. One account has Jesus beginning his public ministry after the arrest of John the Baptist. Another has him beginning right after his baptism. As any policeman or lawyer knows, eye witnesses to the same incident can give very different interpretations of that event, depending in some part on what is going on their own lives or histories! The gospel writers had some basic facts, one of which was that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and that this event was a theologically important moment. Matthew, consistently concerned with seeing Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, interprets Jesus' baptism through the lens of Isaiah the prophet, as the quotes above show!
We just don't know why, after the "overtures" of the "infancy narratives" and the Prologue to the Gospel of John, the curtain rises on the Jordan River and John the Baptist. Jesus is at first a face in the crowd, but then comes forward. The drama that begins at the Jordan will end on Calvary. But at the moment, Jesus is identified as God's "Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased." This makes him the central character. His life has significance for ours. The gospels were put into writing years after Jesus' death and represent the stories preserved and treasured by the community. The Holy Spirit enabled these stories to be put into writing for our benefit. They are not fixed histories but living dramas that draw us in. Will we leave the crowd there at the Jordan and follow this "new guy?" AMEN
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