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January 3, 2019Water and the Spirit
“On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.” Only two days ago, we celebrated the divine maternity of Mary, that marriage of Spirit and flesh by which God became man, that man might become God. Today, the Gospel reading sets the scene for our own participation in this great mystery through water and the Spirit: the Baptism of the Lord. Transported to the banks of the Jordan River, we encounter John, who, eyes opened by the Spirit of God, awakens to the identity of the One who now approaches.
John identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God, the One who takes away the sin of the world. What the Father and the Spirit reveal to John about Jesus will forever transform the significance of the water bath John was sent to administer to God’s repentant children. When Jesus submits to baptism, the very waters into which he is plunged will be themselves forever changed. Remade anew by his descent, the waters of creation become the living sign by which the Spirit grants us a share in Jesus’ Christhood. God’s outrageous generosity is thereby sealed with an eternal promise: on whomever the Spirit comes down through the regenerating waters of Baptism, the Spirit will remain; for in Jesus’ own descent into those waters, we have seen - and the Spirit has testified - that we too are made sons and daughters of God.
