Baptism of the Lord, 2010

LUKE 3: 15-16, 21-22
ONE QUESTION WHICH HAS TROUBLED CHRISTIANS ALMOST FROM THE BEGINNING IS WHY JESUS SUBMITTED TO BAPTISM. EVEN JOHN SEEM TO HAVE PROBLEMS; WE HEAR HIM SAY IN ANOTHER PLACE THAT JESUS SHOULD BE BAPTIZING HIM, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND, AND JESUS REPLIES, LET IT BE SO FOR NOW. WE KNOW THAT JOHN WAS GIVING A BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE, THAT IS, THOSE WHO WERE BAPTIZED WERE DEMONSTRATING THEIR REGRET FOR THE WAY THEY HAD BEEN LIVING THEIR LIVES, AND THE INTENTION TO TURN THINGS AROUND. AND SO AS WE TRY TO GET OUR MINDS AROUND THE FACT OF JESUS, WHO IS BOTH GOD AND MAN, WHO IS SINLESS, UNDERGOING THE BAPTISM OF JOHN, WE KEEP COMING UP WITH POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS; MAYBE HE WASN'T REALLY GOD UNTIL THE BAPTISM – AFTER ALL, THAT SEEMS TO BE WHEN GOD CLAIMS HIM AS HIS SON. BUT WE KNOW THAT ISN'T RIGHT. WELL, MAYBE HE IS JUST GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS; BUT THAT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE SOMETHING SOMEONE WHO CLAIMED TO BE “THE TRUTH” WOULD DO. OR, MAYBE HE IS SANCTIFYING THE WATER WITH WHICH WE WILL BE BAPTIZED. OR, AS SOME SCHOLARS MAINTAIN, THE BAPTISM TOOK PLACE IN THE JORDAN RIVER, NEAR THE SPOT WHERE THE WANDERING HEBREWS HAD CROSSED OVER INTO THE PROMISED LAND WHEN JOSHUA WAS LEADING THEM. WHEN THEY TOOK POSSESSION OF THE LAND, THE WANDERING FUGITIVE SLAVES BECAME A NATION; AND THE PEOPLE BEING BAPTIZED BY JOHN WERE RE-ENACTING THAT MOMENT AS A SIGN OF THEIR REDEDICATION TO GOD AS JEWS. IF THIS WERE THE SITUATION, JESUS COULD CERTAINLY PARTICIPATE IN THAT SORT OF BAPTISM WITHOUT RAISING ANY QUESTIONS.
BUT AS I WAS THINKING ABOUT THIS GOSPEL, THIS BAPTISM OF JESUS, IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT MAYBE THE EXPLANATION IS SIMPLER THAN ANY OF THESE. MAYBE JESUS DID UNDERGO THE BAPTISM OF JOHN, THE BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE, PRECISELY BECAUSE IT WAS A BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE. JESUS REALLY WANTED TO REPENT.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, WE ARE TOLD THAT JESUS IS LIKE US IN ALL THINGS EXCEPT SIN. ALL THINGS. JESUS IS THE COMPLETE HUMAN BEING, THE FULFILLED HUMAN BEING, THE HUMAN BEING WHO IS THE WAY GOD MEANT US TO BE. THE REST OF US ARE, TO VARYING DEGREES, INCOMPLETE. AND IN OUR FALLEN HUMANITY, WHAT KEEPS US FROM FULLY REALIZING OUR HUMAN NATURE IS ALWAYS, SIN. YOU AND I STRUGGLE TO OVERCOME SIN AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. IF YOU ARE LIKE ME, YOU PROBABLY KEEP STRUGGLING, BUT LONG AGO GAVE UP HOPE THAT THE STRUGGLE WOULD END ANYTIME BEFORE DYING. EVERY TIME WE OVERCOME ONE SINFUL TRAIT WE DISCOVER ANOTHER, AND WE KNOW THAT THE GREATEST OF SAINTS BECAME SPIRITUALLY SADDENED BY EVEN THINGS THAT WOULD SEEM TRIVIAL TO YOU AND I – THE MORE “PERFECT” THEY BECAME, THE MORE SENSITIVE THEY BECAME TO EVEN TINY IMPERFECTIONS. OUR STRUGGLE, OUR SENSITIVITY TO THE EFFECTS OF SIN IN US NO MATTER HOW HOLY WE MAY BECOME, IS A SIGN OF BEING LESS THAN FULLY HUMAN. AND FOR US TO REPENT IS FOR US TO HAVE AN INNER STATE WHICH SAYS THAT WE KNOW WE'VE NOT MET THE MARK IN THE PAST, AND WE WILL TAKE STEPS TO DO BETTER IN THE FUTURE. REPENTANCE SEEMS TO BE SOMETHING THAT MAKES US MORE HUMAN RATHER THAN LESS HUMAN, AND JESUS, WHO HAD NOTHING TO REPENT ABOUT, TAKES ON THE STATE OF REPENTANCE THAT IS PRESENT MOST STRONGLY IN THOSE WHO ARE MOST ADVANCED IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE; THE KNOWLEDGE THAT SIN KEEPS US FROM REALIZING OUR TRUE DESTINY AS HUMAN BEINGS, AND THE SADNESS THAT THIS IS SO. JESUS, WHO IS GOD BECOME MAN, IS SO TRULY MAN THAT HE SHARES WITH US, HIS BROTHERS AND SISTERS, HIS OWN FLESH AND BLOOD, THIS SENSE.
AND JESUS WHO IS SINLESS, NEVERTHELESS SHOWS IN HIS LIFE THAT BECAUSE OF SIN EVEN HE MUST SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. FIRST OF ALL, HE LIVES HIS LIFE CONFINED TO A HUMAN BODY, SUBJECT TO DECAY, INJURY, PAIN; EVEN WHEN WE ARE YOUNG AND HEALTHY, WE QUICKLY REALIZE THAT OUR BODIES ARE LIMITS, THEY HOLD US BACK, THEY KEEP US FROM DOING WHAT WE WANT TO DO. I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS VERY YOUNG I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHY I HAD NOT BEEN GIVEN THE ABILITY TO FLY LIKE SUPERMAN. MY BODY HELD ME BACK. SECOND, JESUS MEETS PEOPLE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND HIM, SOMETIMES THROUGH IGNORANCE, SOMETIMES WILLFULLY; COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PEOPLE SHOULD BE CRYSTAL CLEAR, AND NEVER FILTERED THROUGH ATTITUDES AND UPBRINGING, NEVER MISUNDERSTOOD OUT OF IGNORANCE. THAT'S A CONSEQUENCE OF SIN AS WELL. AND JESUS OBVIOUSLY SUFFERED AND DIED. THAT IS THE ULTIMATE CONSEQUENCE OF SIN. SO JESUS CAN REPENT THOUGH HE IS SINLESS. YOU AND I REPENT WHEN WE REALIZE THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR SINS. JESUS LIKEWISE REALIZES THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR SINS IN HIS OWN LIFE AND DEATH. AND SO HE GOES TO JOHN AND RECEIVES THE BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE.
SO AS WE MEDITATE ON THE STRANGE SCENE OF GOD BEING BAPTIZED IN A BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE BY ONE OF HIS CREATURES, PERHAPS WE SHOULD SAY, HOW REAL, HOW DEEP IS OUR OWN REPENTANCE. LIKE JESUS WE LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE SIN, OUR OWN SINS AND THE SINS OF EVERY ONE WHO HAS EVER LIVED AND EVER WILL LIVE, HOLDS US BACK FROM BECOMING THE HUMAN BEINGS THAT GOD CREATED US TO BE. THE FIRST STEP IS TO REALIZE THIS, DEEP IN OUR HEARTS. THE SECOND IS TO FEEL REGRET, TO BE SORRY, NOT ONLY FOR OUR SINS, BUT FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD. JESUS IS SINLESS, BUT SINCE HE TOOK ON OUR NATURE, HE HAS THE RIGHT TO REGRET THE SINS CAUSED BY THAT NATURE. THE THIRD PART OF REPENTANCE IS TO RESOLVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE SITUATION, AND WHAT WE CAN ALWAYS DO IS TO DEAL WITH OUR OWN SINS, -- BUT SOMETIMES WE ARE CALLED TO DEAL WITH THE SINS OF HUMANITY AS A WHOLE, THE INJUSTICE, THE POVERTY, THE IGNORANCE THAT NEED NOT HAVE BEEN. AND DEALING WITH PERSONAL AND SOCIAL SIN IS THE HARDEST PART.
JESUS WAS BAPTIZED IN A BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE, BUT ORDERED HIS APOSTLES TO BAPTIZE ALL IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND OUR BAPTISMS, THE BAPTISM THAT JESUS HANDED DOWN TO US, GIVE US THE GRACE TO MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF THE REPENTANCE THAT WE FEEL. SO ON THIS DAY WHEN WE REMEMBER THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD, LET US ASK FOR A RENEWAL OF OUR OWN BAPTISMAL GRACES, SO THAT WE CAN RESPOND TO THE FATHER WHO CALLS US ALL NOT TO BE DIVINE, BUT TO BE FULLY HUMAN.