He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire

 

 Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."  And with many other exhortations he preached to the people.  But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.  

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."

 

- Luke 3:15–22 

 

In yesterday's reading, we read the Prologue to Luke's Gospel which was dedicated to Theophilus, and then began chapter 3:  "Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the world delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed."  . . .  Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.  And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the LORD; make His paths straight.  Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked place shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' "Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."  So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?"  He answered and said to them, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise."  Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"  And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed for you."  Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?"  So he said to them, "Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages."  

 

  Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."  And with many other exhortations he preached to the people.   My study bible says that fire in this context has the primary meaning of the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is given to the world at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).  Moreover, my study bible says, in this passage it is a further declaration of the judgment of Christ, in which the faithless will burn (see 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10, 2:6).  It notes also that this fire is one:  it is the same Power and the same Spirit which both enlivens the faithful and destroys the faithless.  Images of this fire include the burning bush seen by Moses, which burned but did not consume the bush, and out of which He heard the voice of God (Exodus 3).  In the light of the New Testament, the burning bush is often seen as a "type" of Mary the Mother of God, who conceived by the Holy Spirit but in her purity of heart was not burned.

But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.  Herod had divorced his own wife, and married Philip's wife Herodias.  As Philip was still living, John the Baptist publicly criticized the marriage as unlawful, a contravention of Jewish law.  These sons of Herod the Great ruled for Rome, but came from a lineage of converts to Judaism and had been raised as Jews.

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."  My study bible comments that Jesus Himself does not need baptism.  But in being baptized, Christ accomplishes several things.  First, He affirms the ministry of John the Baptist.  Second, Jesus is revealed by the Father (the voice . . . from heaven) and the Holy Spirit as the Christ, God's beloved Son.  He identified with His people by descending into the waters with them.  Jesus also prefigured His own death, which gives baptism its ultimate meaning.  Christ also entered the waters, which sanctifies water itself for baptism.  His Baptism is also a fulfillment of many types given in the Old Testament, such as when Moses led the people out of bondage through the Red Sea (Exodus 14), and when the ark of the covenant was carried into the Jordan so the people could enter the Promised Land (Joshua 3; 4).  Finally, Christ opened heaven to a world separated from God through sin. 

My study bible has a lengthy note regarding Christ's Baptism.  For the Eastern churches, the Baptism of Christ is celebrated on January 6th, and it is known commonly as Epiphany ("Revelation" or "Manifestation") or more properly as Theophany, a revelation or manifestation of God.  The Son is revealed by the descent of the Holy Spirit, and by the voice of the Father.  My study bible says that this is the greatest and clearest public manifestation of God as Trinity in human history.  A hymn of the Orthodox church for this day proclaims, "The Trinity was made manifest."  My study bible adds that the words spoken by the Father ("You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased") also apply to everyone who is baptized and lives faithfully, as we know that sonship is bestowed by adoption (Galatians 4:4-7).  The Holy Spirit appearing as a dove is not an incarnation, but is rather a visible sign for the people.   The appearance of the dove further fulfills the type which was prefigured at the Flood.  My study bible quotes Theophan:  "Just as a dove announced to Noah that God's wrath had ceased, so too the Holy Spirit announces here that Christ has reconciled us to God by sweeping sin away in the flood waters of baptism."  It's worth understanding Scripture through this lens of the lengthy note from my study bible.  Although the Baptism of Christ is rendered in two rather simple verses in Luke's Gospel, what we learn from this lengthy note on the final verse in today's reading is how deeply a brief event may impact on the entire timeline of spiritual history as presented in the whole of the Bible.  Scripture reflects and reflects and reflects upon itself, each reflecting facet illuminating other passages.  What was received one way may be understood in completely new ways by new events, and such is the way that the New Testament illuminates the events of the Old.  A New Testament passage taken on its own will have completely different meanings revealed through a careful reading of the Old Testament.  These are but some of the ways that Scripture works.  Therefore, in Christ's Baptism, an event that took a but a moment in real time has an effect that stretches backward -- and forward -- in time to impact the whole of an understanding of spiritual reality, and which continues to have meaning and grow in its impact upon our faith and our understanding of the nature of God and of God's revelation to the world through Jesus Christ.  For our earliest Christian ancestors, "Scripture" consisted only of the Jewish Scriptures, what we understand as the Old Testament Scriptures.  But within the context of the wider Greco-Roman world, there were already highly developed traditions in place of interpretation of religious texts, such as in Greek drama, poetry, and music.   The ancient myths were already understood as not simply literal histories, but also as allegories; moreover over time they were reworked to reveal more sophisticated insights and understanding, and also through the extensive lens of the well-developed discipline of philosophy.  And all of this went into the early Church, especially through the early Church Fathers, who were among the ranks of the most highly educated and sophisticated of their time.  When we read Scripture, as in today's example, we are to understand all of these influences and variable possibilities of insight and interpretation as not simply informing us about how we are to receive and understand what we read, but also giving us insight into the very nature of Scripture itself.  We should also understand our own insight from reading Scripture in this same context, and why it is worthwhile studying Scripture every day of our lives.  Regardless of the time at which we read, and depending on the choices we need to make and insights we may receive, the same passage of Scripture can help to illuminate conditions quite varied in our lives, from youth to extremely experienced old age.  At every stage of life, we're called upon for spiritual growth.  We will always have spiritual demands to meet regarding the growth of our soul, at each stage of life, and in daily affairs.  Just as Scriptures insights may be varied in terms of how Scripture works to illuminate itself, one part to another, and in conjunction with the wide variety of materials in the Church such as theology and liturgy and prayer, so these facets of illumination work at varied stages of our lives.  It is the nature of the Holy Spirit, also called "the breath of God," who is also responsible for our Scripture, which is called inspired.  Let us remember this as we read, and the enormity of the gift we're given in so small a space for an infinite universe of understanding.