12 January 2014 - immersed

12 January 2014 - immersed 

In the waters of baptism our sinful old self is put to death.  "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?" (cf. Rom. 6:3).  Creation itself is thrust back into the chaotic abyss from which it is brought forth just as it is in the time of Noah.  And only in the ark of the body of Christ do we survive this flood.  Only on this ark does the Spirit who hovered over the waters of creation in the beginning now descend like a dove.  Only here do we see the sign that the flood is at an end.  The recreation that takes place in the time of Noah is partial and external.  These waters of baptism which Christ makes holy heal us in a way which internal, complete, and indelible.  We believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus has no need to descend into these waters.  He does so for the same reason that he brings dry land forth in the beginning.  He does so for the same reason he shows Noah how to build an ark.  He is baptized out of love for us.  But to become the ark himself, to become our solid ground, is an even greater humility and love than any we have seen henceforth.
As Paul tells us, "whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away behold new things have come."  The baptism of Jesus is the dawn of the new creation.  We see the waters of sin and death receding.  It is therefore connected to his birth.  In his birth the first spec of dry land appears in the womb of Mary.  At his birth too the Holy Spirit hovers.  It presages the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and therefore the birthday of the Church.  If we have eyes to see it Jesus is making all things new right now at this very moment (cf. Rev. 21:5).

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.

Jesus is the firstborn of this new creation (cf. Col. 1).  We see now how the Holy Spirit is always present when God is creating.  The anointing of Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power marks him as more connected to the new creation than to the old.  That is why in his presence the sickness of the old creation is reversed.

I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

We share in this same anointing.  In our baptism we enter into the ark of the Church in the body of Christ.  We share in the baptism of Jesus which empowers him to heal "all those oppressed by the devil".  To be baptized  "with the Holy Spirit and power" are not separate things.  We share both.

Let us therefore sing praise to him who makes all things new.

The God of glory thunders,
and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
The LORD is enthroned above the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as king forever.