The First Sunday of Epiphany:
The Baptism of Jesus

(Artwork: The Baptism of Christ, Corinne.Vonaesch)

This is one of those Sundays when you can look at two different events. Since it is the first Sunday after Epiphany you can focus on the events of the Wise Men arriving in Bethlehem (Epiphany) or the traditional Sunday after Epiphany reading of the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.

In our Church-based mind, of course, they go together. Proclamation (showing Jesus) to the world- Epiphany- leads to non-believers believing and then baptism. Whether that's "Biblical thinking" or not can be a matter of debate and controversy. But there are a lot of things in our faith that are non-Biblical and yet serve the proclamation of the Gospel and the life of discipleship quite well. I think this is one of them.

Mark 1:9-11-- At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.

As usual Mark is to the point. Not a lot of wasted words (like a preacher/blogger). Jesus arrives, is baptized. The heavens are torn open and the Spirit descends. No explanation, no added detail. Take it and move on. Mark never lingers on any event for too long- except the Passion. That's his focus.

So what is baptism and what does it have to do with the proclamation?

A very simple connection, I have a hunch. Far simpler than we want to make it in our debates over infant -vs- believers baptism or even in what is to heppen in baptism. In baptism the person

• Is being symbolically washed
• Which opens the person to receive the Spirit
• And who Jesus is, is being proclaimed.

Baptism is itself the proclamation that there is someone greater than the person being baptized. The one being baptized is being committed and dedicated to that greater One. In a very real sense that is what happens at the Jordan. When we set aside the additional details of the other Gospels, Mark has Jesus being given the Spirit and God- the greater One- proclaims Jesus who is now dedicated to him.

Yes, I know that it takes some shoe-horning of details to make it fit our baptismal styles. The ones being baptized in our churches and lakes and rivers are not Jesus. They are simply human beings making a statement about what they believe, waiting for the heavens to open and give them or their children the Spirit.

But I wonder. Whatever Jesus' conscious awareness was of who he truly was, at that moment in that place Jesus was "simply" and completely a human being making a statement about what HE believed. And the heavens opened and He received the Spirit.

What more is there than that? What more needs there be than that?

An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace!