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He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
We are baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire because Jesus brings humanity with him into his own baptism. At creation the Spirit hovered over the waters and from this primordial state all things were brought forth. God caused the world to revert to this uncreated state when he brought his judgment in the time of Noah. He promised after that he would not destroy the world again by flood. Yet his creatures, because of sin, still fell back into nothingness, eventually succumbing to death. It is those waters which Jesus entered as the new ark. His Body, the Church entered with him. The Spirit descends like a dove, proclaiming Jesus, and therefore all who are in him, to be beloved children of the Father. In this ark even death cannot destroy us.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
We tend to treat baptism like it is no big deal. We hear 'sacrament of initiation' and think of something primarily ceremonial. Honestly, we like those things. We're good at those things. We are less sure about fire. Fire isn't something that can be predicted or contained. It is either extinguished or unleashed. We need to realize just how important this fire is to God so that our own baptisms can have their full intended effect.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
It is fire more than ceremony that leads to genuine renewal. It is not because we check the box of attendance that we are heirs of eternal life. That which is old and dying within us is allowed to burn away to give place to the rich new grace that God pours out. Baptism does this. Our part is to let the flame continue burning and to stir up the gift we have received when it seems to weaken.
He saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he richly poured out on us
through Jesus Christ our savior,
so that we might be justified by his grace
and become heirs in hope of eternal life.
We, like Jesus, are now anointed with the Holy Spirit and power. We, like him, must now go "about doing good and healing those oppressed by the devil" for God is with us. The world longs for God to come with power. They long to taste the reward and receive the recompense he offers. They long to hear the voice of the shepherd. It is the Spirit we receive that they desire. It is the fire we have that they long to have burn within their own hearts. Therefore we must continue burning brightly ourselves.
The LORD grasps us by the hand and calls us to the victory of justice. Because his Spirit is within us we in turn must live as be his hands and feet in this world.
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
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.
Fire seems dangerous. But if we embrace it we can proclaim a genuine comfort to a people who have been so long in the cold, light to those so long in darkness, and peace to those who have never truly known peace.
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