Fr. Henry O’Shea
SOME FORTY YEARS AGO THE COMMUNITY HERE MADE A RECORDING OF TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS SONGS IN ENGLISH FROM KILMORE IN COUNTY WEXFORD, WHERE THERE IS A TRADITION OF THESE SONGS GOING BACK TO THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
THERE ARE TWELVE SONGS IN ALL, ONE FOR EACH DAY OF CHRISTMAS. THE FIRST VERSE OF THE CAROL FOR THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY INCLUDES THE WORDS: ‘THREE GREAT WONDERS FELL ON THIS DAY.A STAR LED KINGS TO THE PLACE WHERE HE LAY.WATER TO WINE IN GALILEE,AND CHRIST BAPTISED IN JORDAN’.
OF THE THREE WONDERS, THE WESTERN CHURCH HAS TENDED FOR CENTURIES TO DEVOTE MOST ATTENTION TO THE VISIT OF THE THREE WISE MEN, SYMBOLIZING AS IT DOES THE SHOWING OF CHRIST TO THE NON-JEWISH PEOPLE.
THE MIRACLE OF CANA HARDLY REGISTERS AT ALL. IF IT DOES REGISTER, WE THINK OF IT PRIMARILY AS JESUS’S FIRST MIRACLE AND EMPHASISE THE PHYSICAL HAPPENING RATHER THAN JESUS’S SHOWING OF HIMSELF FOR WHAT HE WAS AND IS – WHICH IS THE ESSENCE OF ALL MIRACLE STORIES.
BELIEVERS HAVE ALWAYS HAD DIFFICULTY WITH THE THIRD WONDER OR SHOWING – THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. WHY HAD THE ONE WHO INSTITUTED THE NEW BAPTISM TO RECIEVE THE OLD BAPTISM, THE BAPTISM OF JOHN THE BAPTIST? WHY DID THE GIVER OF NEW AND BETTER THINGS ACCEPT SOMETHING FROM ONE WHO WAS AWARE THAT HE HAD NO LONG ANYTHING TO GIVE? – ‘SOMEONE IS FOLLOWING ME, SOMEONE WHO IS MORE POWERFUL THAN I AM, AND I AM NOT FIT TO KNEEL DOWN AND UNDO THE STRAP OF HIS SANDALS’.
IS ONLY PART OF THE EXPLANATION TO SAY THAT JESUS ACCEPTED BAPTISM IN ORDER TO GIVE US AN EXAMPLE OF HUMILITY. HIS ACCEPTANCE OF BAPTISM IS ONE OF THOSE HAPPENINGS, THOSE MYSTERIES IN JESUS’S LIFE, WHICH TELL US WHO AND WHAT HE WAS AND IS.
LIKE ALL THE OTHERS, THIS MYSTERY CANNOT BE REDUCED TO A NICE STORY OR TO A CHEERY AND CHEERING MESSAGE OR RULE OF THUMB FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING. IN A SOUND-BITE AGE SUCH AS OURS, BUZZ-WORDS ARE INFLUENTIAL. ONE SUCH WORD IS EMPOWERMENT .
EMPOWERMENT IS NOT AN ELEGANT WORD BUT IS A VERY DYNAMIC CONCEPT. EMPOWERMENT MEANS AN IDENTIFYING SHARING. SHARING IN SYMPATHY, SHARING IN LIVING, SHARING IN ACTION WITH OTHERS, ABOVE ALL IT MEANS MAKING BEING AND ACTION POSSIBLE FOR OTHERS.
CHRIST’S BAPTISM IS A SIGN AND A MAKING REAL OF HIS EMPOWERMENT OF US. CHRIST’S EMPOWERMENT OF US INVOLVES HIS TAKING A BODY LIKE OURS, HIS IDENTIFICATION WITH EVERY ASPECT OF OUR HUMAN EXISTANCE – EXCEPT SIN. AND WHILE NOT SAYING YES TO OUR SIN, THAT IS, WHILE NOT SAYING YES TO OUR SETTING OURSELVES UP AS GODS AND GODESSES, HE GOES SO FAR AS TO TAKE THIS SIN UPON HIMSELF AND MAKE HIS LIVING AND HIS DYING THE CURE, THE REMEDY, FOR THIS SIN.
CHRIST’S EMPOWERMENT OF US, EXPRESSED IN HIS BAPTISM, MAKES US ABLE TO ACCEPT THE END OF OUR SEPARATION FROM GOD, MAKES US ABLE TO BE RECONCILED WITH GOD. THIS EMPOWERMENT MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO EMPOWER ONE ANOTHER AND TO BE RECONCILED WITH ONE ANOTHER.
FOR A JEW, BAPTISM WAS NECESSARY ONLY FOR THOSE WHO WERE NOT PART OF THE CHOSEN PEOPLE. THAT IS, BAPTISM WAS A RITUAL PURIFICATION OR CLEANSING REQUIRED OF THOSE WHO WANTED TO BECOME PART OF THAT PEOPLE.
THE GREAT CHANGE BROUGHT BY JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS THAT HE MADE IT CLEAR THAT EVEN THOSE WHO BELONGED TO ISRAEL BY BIRTH WERE NOT EXEMPT FROM THE NEED FOR CONVERSION AND REPENTANCE.
IN RECEIVING JOHN’S BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE, JESUS THE SINLESS ONE, IDENTIFIES HIMSELF WITH THE SINFUL, AND EMPOWERS THEM BY OPENING THE DOOR OUT OF SIN, BY MAKING THEM ABLE TO BECOME PART OF THE NEW, THE TRUE, ISRAEL OF THOSE WHO ARE RECONCILED WITH GOD.
THIS IS WHAT THE BAPTISM OF JESUS MEANS TO US AND ACHIEVES FOR US. BUT BEHIND THIS MEANING AND THIS ACHIEVEMENT IS ANOTHER AND MORE FUNDAMENTAL ASPECT WHICH HAS TO DO WITH WHO AND WHAT JESUS WAS AND IS – AN ASPECT WHICH MAKES MEANING AND ACHIEVEMENT POSSIBLE.
THE TEARING OPEN OF THE HEAVENS, THE COMING DOWN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE VOICE FROM THE CLOUD, ALL REVEAL WHO JESUS IS – THE SON OF GOD, THE SECOND PERSON OF THE HOLY TRINITY. THEY REVEAL THE FORM HIS MISSION, HIS LIFE-WORK, IS GOING TO TAKE – SUFFERING SERVICE.
JOHN THE BAPTIST MAKES IT CLEAR THAT HE HIMSELF IS NOT THE CHRIST, NOT THE MESSIAH. AND THE MESSIAH WHO APPEARS IN THE PERSON OF JESUS IS QUITE DIFFERENT FROM THE AVENGING WARRRIOR-KING EXPECTED BY ISRAEL.
THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE IS GENTLE, THE KING AN OBEDIENT SERVANT, HIS THRONE A CROSS.
BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE PROCLAIMING, HEALING, TEACHING PART OF HIS MISSION, JESUS IS REVEALED AS GOD IN THE FLESH. IT IS NO CO-INCIDENCE THAT LATER ON, JUST BEFORE THE SUFFERING, DYING AND RISING PART OF HIS MISSION, JESUS IS ONCE MORE REVEALED AS GOD IN THE FLESH, THIS TIME GLORIFIED IN THE TANSFIGURATION.
ON BOTH OCCCASIONS THE VOICE IS HEARD FROM THE CLOUD. ON BOTH OCCCASIONS THE CLAIM OF SONSHIP WITH GOD IS LINKED WITH SUFFERING AND WITH SERVICE.
THE HALF-RECOGNIZED MESSIAH RECEIVES THE BAPTISM OF IDENTIFICATION WITH THE SINFUL, IDENTIFICATION WITH US, AND IS REVEALED AS THE SON OF GOD.
HE EMERGES SILENTLY FROM THE BAPTISMAL POOL OF OBEDIENCE AND OF SHOWING, TO BEGIN A LIFE OF SUFFERING SERVICE. HE EMERGES TO EMPOWER, TO BRING AND MAKE POSSIBLE, JUSTICE, SIGHT FOR THE BLIND, AN END TO DARKNESS, THE BEGINNING OF HOPE, THE POSSIBILITY AND REALITY OF RESPONSIBILITY.
HE EMERGES TO BE DESPISED AND REJECTED, BUT ULTIMATELY TO BE EXALTED AND LIFTED UP. OUT OF THE BAPTISMAL POOL OF OBEDIENCE AND SHOWING HE BRINGS WITH HIM THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN HIM. HE BRINGS THEM, THAT IS US THE BAPTIZED, TO THE SAME SUFFERING, THE SAME SERVICE AND ULTIMATELY TO THE SAME EXALTATION.