Chapter
21
by Fr. Thomas Keating
The Baptism of the Lord
First Sunday after Epiphany
As the people were filled with expectation,
and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be
the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with
water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie
the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Luke
3:15-16)
Now when all the people were baptized, and
when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and
the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice
came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well
pleased." (Luke 3:12-22)
The parables
challenge our value systems, conscious and unconscious, thus preparing the soil
of our souls for the divine seed, the transmission of grace, which is the
kingdom of God. From this perspective, the celebration of the liturgy is the
coming of the kingdom.
In the Christmas
season, we are presented with one sacred mystery after another. Each one of
these feasts has a significance or spiritual meaning. The spiritual meaning is
not just an insight but conveys the spiritual power that can change our lives.
There are various
levels of spiritual meaning in the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the
Epiphany, and the baptism of the Lord, which comprise the Christmas season. As
we live longer, we see the mystery at deeper levels. The nature of the mystery
is to be both awesome and fascinating at once. We are afraid of it but cannot
leave it alone. Faith accesses both the awesomeness and the delightfulness of
the mystery.
On the feast of
Epiphany, we are presented with the Magi, symbols of seekers of the truth of all
time. They arrived at the crib with all their scientific knowledge and were
asked to accept as the goal of their long journey an infant lying in the crib
making goo-goo eyes at them. The challenge shattered their ideas of wisdom and
truth. Their faith, however, triumphed over their expectations. They were able
to fall down and worship "God in infant clothing." Such are the facts
of the story as presented by the evangelist.
This text describes
the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. How could the Son of God receive a sacrament
designed for sinners? What was there to redeem in the redeemer? yet Jesus
submitted to John's baptism of repentance. When John demurred saying, "How
can this be? I am not the Christ." Jesus said, "Do it anyway."
Jesus descended into
the waters of the Jordan. What was Jesus doing in that muddy river? Since he had
no sin, he must have been identifying with ours. This is one of those moments in
the gospel when Jesus bears witness to his identification with the human family
in its sinfulness, brokenness, tragedy, suffering, and death. If this is the Son
of God, then Jesus is telling us that his Father is not just in heaven. He is in
total solidarity with human need in its most extreme forms. The heavenly Father
is with us just as we are and where we are.
Jesus hangs out with
sinners. Thus it is okay to be human; it is okay to be whoever we are. God is in
total solidarity with our privation and pain.
The baptism of Jesus
is the outward sign of who he is. The significance of his baptism is that he has
become one with sinful humanity. On the level of his human nature, he has
relinquished his holiness as God's Son and become one of us.
More information can be obtained by reading the
book The Kingdom of God is Like . . .by Fr. Thomas Keating. It is offered
in our Book
Store.
