The Sánchez Archives BAPTISM OF THE LORD Year C

By
Patricia Datchuck Sánchez

Grace Teaches us

ISAIAH 42:1-4, 6-7
ACTS 10:34-38
LUKE 3:15-16, 21-22

The annual commemoration of the baptism of Jesus gives every member of the gathered assembly pause to consider not only that inaugural event of Jesus’ public ministry but also their own baptismal initiation into the life of Christ and of the church. Those who were baptized as adults and shared in the experience of the catechumenate can readily appreciate the process of Christian initiation; those who were baptized in infancy can appropriate the catechumenate experience later in life while learning from those who have handed on to them the rich heritage of the faith. Each year, both cradle Christians and adult converts to Christ have the opportunity to become renewed in their baptismal commitment by sharing in the preparation of the catechumens who will be baptized at the Easter vigil.

In his study of the sacrament of baptism and of its vital importance to the faith-life of the Christian, Bernard Häring (A Sacramental Spirituality, Sheed & Ward, New York: 1965) reminded his students that baptism is a “gift of grace which teaches us.” It was this gift of grace that called us to Christ in the first place and which remains present within us, challenging us to change and to be transformed by its power. Grace provides both the impetus of our growth and the direction of our lives. Grace teaches us, yesterday, today, tomorrow; it is the privilege and responsibility of each believer to live a life in answer to the word of grace, daily spoken to us by God.

Centuries before Häring, Gregory of Nazianzus (Oratio 40, 3-4: PG36, 361C) similarly described the sacrament of baptism as “God’s most beautiful and magnificent gift”. . . We call it grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth and seal. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; baptism because sin is buried (baptism in Greek means to bury, plunge or immerse); anointing for it is priestly and royal; enlightenment because it radiates light; garment since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God’s dominion over us.

Today’s remembrance of baptism as a grace that teaches us may also be observed with a renewal of the promises that each of us has made in baptism and to which we are to be committed through our lives.

Q. Do you reject evil and sin and accept to be taught by God’s grace?
A. I do.
Q. Do you reject pride, arrogance and self-sufficiency and humbly accept to depend on God as the source of your life and strength?
A. I do.
Q. Do you reject materialism and a preoccupation with acquiring the goods of the earth and freely choose to make God the basis of your security and so share what you have with the needy?
A. I do.
Q. Do you reject poverty and homelessness and accept to be responsible for the well-being of the less fortunate?
A. I do.
Q. Do you reject injustice in all its forms, moral, social, economic and political and pledge to become a part of the solution to this world’s inequities within the parameters of your own family, your own neighborhood, your own community?
A. I do.
Q. Do you reject discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age or class and promise to welcome those who would not otherwise find acceptance and to defend their rights against those who would deny them?
A. I do.
Q. Do you reject apathy, indifference and accept to be your brother and sister’s keeper?
A. I do.
Q. Do you renounce self-importance and an ambitious struggle for power over others so as to accept the Christian’s role of servant of all?
A. I do.
Q. Do you believe in God, who creates, parents, redeems, forgives, guides and provides?
A. I do.
Q. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, savior and brother in whose name you are being saved?
A. I do.
Q. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, ever present to empower, sanctify and teach the church?
A. I do.
Q. Do you believe in the Church, the sacrament of Christ among humankind?
A. I do.
Q. Do you freely and willingly renew your baptismal commitment and do you promise to live each day in accord with the gift of God’s grace that teaches you?
A. I do.

ISAIAH 42:1-4, 6-7

Daniel Berrigan, in his excellent and provocative study of Isaiah (Isaiah, Spirit of Courage, Gift of Tears, Fortress Press, Minneapolis: 1996) calls this, the first of the four Servant Songs (see also Isaiah 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12), a celebration of the fact that, like the anonymous servant, each of us has been called, named, chosen and sent by God.

Called into being at a time we did not know, born into the world of parents whom we did not choose, each of us is sustained from moment to moment, day to day, year to year, by the constant call of God. If God would cease calling, we would cease to be. Called into being, we are also named by God; the name stands for a primordial choice, a vocation, a summoning. God’s naming sets the terms of human existence; it is of no small significance that the name God bestows in these songs is servant. Named by God, we are also chosen. Jewish commentaries have suggested that the servant songs celebrate God’s choice not of individuals but of a community. But, Berrigan warns against “reading this text from the point of view of ego, whether personal or political.” If I am chosen, if you are chosen, if, as a community, we are chosen, it is in order to be sent as a sign of God’s loving compassion for the world. Baptism, then can be understood, as an occasion to acknowledge God’s call, to own and answer to the name which has been given to us, to freely choose to be chosen and to agree to be sent.

As is indicated in today’s excerpted text, the Isaiah servant was called, named, chosen and sent in order to establish justice (vv. 1, 4, 6). To better understand the biblical concept of justice, contemporary believers must momentarily put aside the secular notion of justice as “fair treatment and due reward in accordance to honor, standards or civil law” (The American Heritage Dictionary, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston: 1982). Mishpat, or justice in the biblical sense, pertains to the demands of God’s word and God’s will. As Stephen C. Mott (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, Harper and Row, San Francisco: 1985) has explained, justice is founded in the being of God for whom it is a chief attribute. God’s justice is closely related to love and need. In contrast to secular human justice which distributes benefits to all equally, God’s justice functions according to the criterion of need. Therefore the special focus of God’s justice are the poor, widows, orphans, slaves, resident aliens wage earners and those with physical infirmities. (vv. 6-7; Job 29:12-17; Psalm 146:7-9; Malachi 3:5). Since God’s justice is so directed, a corresponding quality is demanded of God’s people (Deuteronomy 10:18-19; Isaiah 59:15-16) and of those who envisioned that the Servant would be sent to establish justice for the nations, i.e. for all the people of the earth.

As is evident in the gospels, the early Christians believed Deutero-Isaiah’s Servant songs were realized in the person and through the mission of Jesus Christ. Called, named, chosen and sent by God to establish justice, Jesus has set the example and plotted the course which each believer, baptized in his name, is to follow. As we remember Jesus’ baptism today, and as we recall our own experience of the sacrament we might take the occasion to allow grace to teach us, to acknowledge God’s call, to answer to the name which has been given to us, to once again, freely choose to be chosen and to agree to be sent.

ACTS 10:34-38

Because the Lucan evangelist cooperated with the promptings of the Holy Spirit and complemented his gospel with a second volume (Acts), centuries of believers have been able to appreciate the power of grace at work, teaching the early Christians about God’s saving justice. The lengthy narrative about Cornelius’ being accepted by Peter and welcomed into the community through baptism has been called “a landmark decision” for the nascent church because it openly affirmed the understanding of salvation as a universal gift.

Cornelius was, for all practical purposes, someone whom many Jews and Jewish Christians would have regarded as outside the pale of God’s justice. He was a gentile and a soldier, representing the hostile occupying forces of Rome. Luke describes him as a centurion from the Italian cohort; in that position he would have been in charge of 100 Roman soldiers. But Cornelius was also a “god-fearer” (Acts 10:2), i.e. a gentile who prayed, frequented the synagogue and gave alms to the poor but did not submit to circumcision or observe Jewish dietary laws and feasts. God, who searches hearts (Psalm 139:23) and who discerns the intents of every heart (Hebrews 4:12) found him acceptable (Acts 10:34).

The fact that Peter and other Jewish Christians of similar background were not so inclined. did not initially accept Cornelius threatened the unity of the developing church. As increasing numbers of gentiles were being converted to Christ, the exclusivism which had generally characterized Judaism had to yield to a universal inclusiveness among Jewish Christians. Acts 10-11, Luke illustrates in vivid detail the process of this transformation.

With grace all the while teaching him, Peter was led to understand that God shows no partiality; gentiles are as welcome as Jews to share in the blessings of salvation. Nor should any conditions, e.g. circumcision, etc. be imposed as prerequisites to their acceptance. Peter’s ingrained concepts of purity and holiness also had to be rethought. Just as no type of food could make a person unclean or ritually defiled (Acts 10:1-23), nor could contact with any person. Recall the Jewish belief that contact with gentiles (sinners, etc.) rendered one unclean and therefore unable to participate in communal prayer and liturgy. Because baptism does not automatically wash away a person’s former way of life, these ideas and other such notions regarding the question of ritual purity proved to be a major hurdle for the early church to overcome. With grace as their teacher, the first generations of Jews who came to Jesus learned that God shows no partiality; therefore, as God’s servants, they were not only to tolerate gentiles but to welcome them into their homes and to share together with them the bread of their table and the bread of the Eucharist.

Through the Cornelius narrative and by means of Peter’s speech, Luke encourages his contemporary readers to allow grace to continue to teach them. Christianity is a way of life which admits of no prejudice or discrimination; because of Jesus’ universal saving activity, all people are called, named and chosen to be holy; all are sent to do good and to establish God’s justice in the world.

LUKE 3:15-16, 21-22

John, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, must have been a powerfully intriguing figure. Everything about him, the clothes he wore, the food he ate, the place he worked and the message he preached, and the time he appeared in history set him apart. His garments, a camel’s hair robe with a leather belt around his waist reminded his contemporaries of Elijah (2 Kings 1:8) and signified not only John’s prophetic role but also his mission of heralding the messiah. Recall the popular Jewish expectation that Elijah would return as precursor of the messianic age; Luke understood that John’s role fulfilled this expectation.

John’s diet of locusts and wild honey was the simple fare afforded him by his desert environment; nevertheless, it also conveyed an important message. Locusts were regarded as a destruction, honey was a symbol of a blessing. John was the herald of Jesus whose person and mission would create a crisis (from the Greek krisis which means choice or decision) for every living person. To choose for Jesus would result in blessing (honey); to do otherwise would result in consequences that could be metaphorically compared to the destruction wrought by dreaded locust. John’s desert venue reminded his contemporaries of the prophetic promises that God would call believers to the desert to renew the covenant with them (Hosea 2:14-23; Jeremiah 2:1-3; Isaiah 40:3-6). John’s message was a bold one, challenging all people, in every walk of life and at every level of the social strata to repent and seek forgiveness. As to the time of his ministry, Luke has featured John as the link between the old and the new covenants and as the bridge between the period of Israel and the period of the church.

Considering his importance and the impact he made on his contemporaries, it is not surprising that many believed John to be the messiah (Luke 3:15). Even after his death, many of his disciples expected him to return and inaugurate the messianic era. The fact that John still had disciples in Ephesus, a generation after the death and resurrection of Jesus (Acts 19:3) attests to his popular and enduring appeal. Therefore, each of the evangelists took care to clarify John’s role as preparatory and subordinate to that of Jesus.

In today’s gospel Luke has John himself diverting the people’s messianic hopes from himself in order to direct them toward Jesus (vv. 15-16). Jesus’ baptism by John (vv. 21-22) may have left some with the impression that John was greater than Jesus and/or that Jesus somehow needed to submit to a baptism of repentance. As further clarification of Jesus’ sinlessness and of his unique and superior mission, Luke offers his readers two witnesses. First, the Holy Spirit testifies, in the physical appearance of a dove. Luke Timothy Johnson (The Gospel of Luke, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN: 1991) points out the structural similarity between this scene and that of the annunciation (1:35) and the angelic song in the infancy narratives. In the annunciation the Spirit comes down and designates the child as Son of God. Furthermore, the power will overshadow Mary. The term overshadow is a clear allusion to the cloud of God’s presence in the Exodus which hovered over the meeting tent (Exodus 40:35). In the angel’s song (2:14), the heavens open and peace comes to rest upon those on whom God’s favor rests; the same favor rests upon Jesus at his baptism. The figure of the dove enables Luke’s readers to pull all of these events into a single focus. Jesus is the one in whom God is present, on whom God’s favor rests.

Luke’s second witness is the clarifying voice from heaven. By calling him the beloved and favored Son, Luke also casts Jesus in light of the Isaian Suffering Servant, favored, formed and called by God (Isaiah 42:1, 6, 7) and infused with the Spirit of God (Isaiah 42:1) to establish justice on the earth.

In this wonderful narrative of Jesus’ baptism, grace teaches us. Like the Isaian Servant and like Jesus at the Jordan, every baptized believer is formed and called by God; each disciple of Jesus is empowered with the presence of the Spirit, each of us is a beloved child of God on whom God’s favor rests.

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