Baptism Of The Lord (C)
There are no texts within the Older Testament that point specifically to the “Baptism of the Lord.” It is difficult, therefore, for those who construct lectionaries to identify Older Testament texts that can be related to the baptism of Jesus. It is also difficult for us who prepare and present homilies and sermons based on the lectionaries to ground our presentations on the Older Testament texts selected to be read on this day in which we focus attention on the baptism of Jesus.
Psalm 29
The specific life setting of Psalm 29 is obviously a thunderstorm hitting the entire west coast of Canaan and moving inland along a broad front that extends from Lebanon in the north to the wilderness of Kadesh in the south. The awesome sounds of the storm are attributed anthropomorphically to Adonai, whose voice is acclaimed as full of power and majesty. It is only in regard to this voice of Adonai that there is any notable connection with the specifics of the Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 account of Jesus’ baptism.
Isaiah 43:1-7
This text is a poetic celebration of the redemption of the people of Israel announced by the Lord God who has created, formed, and bought back from slavery God’s people Israel. God is said to love the people of Israel, who are honored and precious in the eyes of God. God is presented as promising to be with the people to lead and guide them safely through every danger that they might encounter, as well as to give the people of Egypt and the lands to the south of Egypt as a ransom price to buy back the people of Israel.
We can best connect this account to the baptism of Jesus texts by noting how God is said to love God’s people Israel in this Isaiah 43:1-7 text and to be pleased with Jesus, adopted through his baptism to become God’s chosen Son in the Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 text. By our baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we too are adopted into God’s chosen family of people. Through the use of this Isaiah 43:1-7 text as we celebrate the baptism of Jesus and our own baptism, we are symbolically united with the Israelites and Jews, not separated from them, but joined together with them. The Older Covenant and the Newer Covenant become one Covenant with one God.
Acts 8:14-17
Acts 8:14-17 is a small segment of the Lukan writer’s story about a man named Simon who wishes to purchase the power to bestow the Holy Spirit of God by placing his hands on people. In this text baptism in the name of Jesus was followed sometime later by the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the Lukan writer there apparently was some sort of progression from the baptism of Jesus to baptism in the name of Jesus to the gift of the Holy Spirit before, during, or after baptism in Jesus’ name. Possibly it was to illustrate a growing perception of the Trinity concept of God, i.e., God the Father bestows the gift of baptism on Jesus the Son of God and together they provide the gift of the Holy Spirit of God. We can compare this to the Trinitarian formula for Baptism in Matthew 28:19, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all kinds of people, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (my translation). Various Christians since the first century have interpreted the gift of the Holy Spirit in many different ways. The concept should be a unifying factor within Christianity, not a cause for boasting or division. Each of us has a share in the responsibility of making it and keeping it a unifying factor.
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
The Lukan writer linked the baptism of Jesus more closely to the baptism of “the people who had come to John” than did the Markan and Matthean writers. Also, the Lukan writer depicts the Holy Spirit of God as coming down in “bodily form,” as a dove coming down and landing upon his head.
For the writers and people of the Synoptic traditions, the baptism of the Jesus of history, his life, teachings, and everything that he did were pleasing to God and to them. Just as they perceived Jesus as in many ways recapitulating the life and experiences of all of the chosen ones of God who had preceded him (the Israelites and the Jews); so also should we. We should live so that everything that we do will recapitulate the life and teachings of the Jesus of history in his Jewish context, the Jesus of history who, after God raised him from the dead, is perceived by us to be the Christ of faith. Therefore, we shall want to learn as much as we possibly can about the specifics of the life of the Jesus of history. Then we shall live with him, die with him, and we believe that we shall also be raised from the dead with him, to the glory of God! This is essentially the message that we are called to share during the Epiphany season, the bridge between Christmas and Lent and Easter.
