13 January 2019
The Baptism of the Lord
One of my former students once made an interesting remark about the Biblical or Christian narrative. This young man said that the biblical story in particular and Christian stories in general has the same genre with the pagan or secular stories in terms of its finality. In Homer’s Odyssey, there is finality after Odysseus returns home from his wife’s suitors. In Harry Potter’s series, the finality comes after Voldemort’s defeat at the Battle of Hogwarts. Similarly, according to this young man, the biblical story reaches its finality when Jesus dies on the cross and says, “It is finished.” There is also finality, for instance, when a person has a profound conversion experience, decides to be baptized, and becomes Catholic.
This Sunday we celebrate the baptism of Jesus. Jesus’ baptism is just the beginning instead of the final ending. There are miles to go and many roads to walk before Jesus dies on the cross. The story also does not end with Jesus’ death and resurrection. There is the life of the Church.
Luke’s account of baptism is very Trinitarian because it reveals that Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. It also reveals the Father who is pleased with His beloved Son. Finally, there is the Holy Spirit who is descending upon Jesus in bodily form like a dove. The Church teaching on Trinity says that there is unity of operation in the trinity and there is identical essence in the three persons of Trinity. So when Jesus was baptized, he does so not only as a man but as God, who is one with the Father in sending the Spirit like a Dove. In other words, when Jesus is baptized, it is the Father who is baptized, and, Jesus is also baptized as the eternal love of Spirit. All baptized Christians must have intellectual curiosity to grasp the mystery of Trinity through speculative knowledge. At the same time, all Christians can start with their concrete, personal, affective relationship to God whom we encounter and know in the faith as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, there is no finality in both speculative and affective knowledge, because those modes of knowing take a life-time to acquire.
As we reflect on the baptism of the Lord, we may come to realize that our journey does not end when we are baptized or when we find Christ. Being baptized or finding Jesus Christ as the savior leads us into long journeys, which are often difficult and challenging. When we are baptized and find Christ, we start our journey with Jesus. In our prayer today, ask Jesus to give us courage to walk with him in this long pilgrimage.