You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased

 

 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 lectionary reading, we were given the beginning verses of St. Luke's Gospel from chapter 1:  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 word 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.  Then, the lectionary skipped to chapter 3:  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 places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"  In John 1:23, St. John the Baptist ascribes to himself the role of "the voice of one crying in the wilderness." 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 comments that fire in this context has the primary meaning of the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This is given to the world at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).  Moreover, it declares the judgment of Christ, in which the faithless will burn (see 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10; 2:8).  My study Bible asks us to note that this fire is one.  It is the same Power and the same Spirit which both enlivens the faithful and destroys the faithless. 

 

 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 the tetrarch (also known as Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee) had divorced his own wife and married Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, while his brother was still living.  Herod's dynasty ruled for Rome, but portrayed themselves as Jews.  St. John the Baptist had publicly denounced this marriage as unlawful according to Mosaic law (Leviticus 18:16).   She, moreover, had initiated her divorce from Philip in the Roman style, but a wife unilaterally initiating divorce was not recognized under Jewish law.

 

 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, He accomplished several things:  First, it is an affirmation of St. John the Baptist's ministry.  Moreover, Christ is revealed by the Father and the Holy Spirit to be the Christ, God's beloved Son.  In addition, He identified with His people by descending into the waters with them.  This baptism also prefigures His own death, and thus He gives baptism its ultimate meaning.  Also, by entering the waters, Jesus sanctifies the water itself for future Holy Baptism.  He, in fact, fulfills the many types given in the Old Testament, such as when Moses led the people from 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, Jesus opened heaven to a world separated from God through sin.

 

 The baptism of St. John the Baptist was meant to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah.  Thus, the text tells us that the people were in expectation; it is the expectation of the Messiah that is indicated here.  But the Baptist's preparation of the people also carries with it the preparation for Holy Baptism, which is instituted through Christ.  In Holy Baptism, we are not simply baptized for repentance, but we are also chrismated.  We are baptized with water and the Spirit (John 3:5).  In the stories of the Holy Bible, we are given a constant stream of one story fulfilling another.  It is these stories which prefigure the story of Jesus Christ that are called types.  My study Bible noted all the ways in which Christ's Baptism in today's reading fulfilled a number of those types, such as that of the Israelites crossing the Jordan out of slavery and toward the Promised Land.  When we read of a prophecy fulfilled by Christ, it is a similar process, but based in the fulfillment of the word of God, rather than historical type.  The stories and prophecies of the Bible do not simply repeat themselves, but we understand them as being fulfilled.  That is, they are leading us to a more full truth, toward the perfection of the fullness of the revelation of Christ and what it means that He gave Himself "for the life of the world."  Each fulfillment brings more deeply the realization of a greater truth, a deeper reality of the spiritual life, the life of God for us.  And in so doing, Christ brings the kingdom of heaven more fully into the world for us, so that we in turn may participate in that life, even in this world.  Without Christ's Baptism, we ourselves would not have Holy Baptism, and we would not have the understanding of what it is to be cleansed in the fullest sense of this spiritual renewal made possible by Christ.  For it is He who can release us from sin; it is through Him we have received the Holy Spirit, and the fire that both purifies and revivifies.  When we are "born again," or "born from above" (as the Greek literally means in John 3:3), then a new pattern is set for us in Christ, and for our participation in the life of Christ which He offers to us.  We die to the old, and are born into the new.  But as my study Bible says, Christ's Baptism also prefigures the Cross, and in so doing we find Baptism's ultimate meaning (see Romans 6:3-5). For we also may live a daily story of birth and renewal, of death to something we need to discard, and a type of resurrection God holds for us.  It is Jesus who told us to take up our crosses daily (Luke 9:23), and so our stories may also be in fulfillment of His, just as St. Paul also testified:  "I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31; see 1 Corinthians 15:20-31).  As the stories unfold in St. Luke's Gospel, let us consider how we, too, must live our faith.