Baptism with the Holy Spirit (John 1)

“I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” From the Gospel for today, the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 31.

     In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Today’s Gospel reading can be separated into two readings, recounting events over two days. The first part introduces Jesus as the Lamb of God and describes him as “the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” In the second part, John again introduces Jesus as the Lamb of God. Two of his disciples join Jesus.
     John, in announcing that Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, is announcing that in eternity, so to speak, the victory over sin has already been won. Jesus, in coming into the world, is bringing that victory with him, to begin its actualization in earthly time. John’s announcement, then, is striking in its optimism, if I can use that word, its unambiguous proclamation that victory is already in sight. This before Jesus has begun his earthly ministry. John is proclaiming the triumphant conclusion of the story before it has begun, before we know what the story actually is.
     John the Baptist is undoing our usual way of thinking about time and the world. He announces the conclusion of a story before its beginning. The first section of today’s reading is an undoing of our usual way of thinking. And this undoing is a clue to the nature of our spiritual situation. The Baptist says, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” After is before and behind is ahead. Say again? This is not how we do things here on earth. On earth, hour succeeds hour and day follows day, and there’s no stopping or reversing this endless flow. And in our social arrangements, we definitely know who ranks ahead of whom, and whoever comes after shouldn’t go to the head of the line. But, along comes the Baptist and says, not so, it’s the other way around.
     "I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” Well, did the Baptist know him or not? He must have known something, enough to know that he has to reveal the Lamb of God to Israel. And what has baptizing got to do with this? The Baptist is aware of his time, his personal time, as one of preparation. In his prophetic awareness, he perceives the true nature of Jesus, a nature which he knows is different from his own. That is what the Baptist means when he says, “I myself did not know him.” The Baptist realizes that his ministry is one of preparation only, of introduction, to the ministry of Jesus. John’s prophetic ministry is one of calling people to repentance, and sealing that repentance with baptism in water.      Repentance, we remember, means changing our minds, changing our direction away from self-centered preoccupation, and toward God, toward living our lives in confidence that we will find our fulfilment in Him. This is why the Baptist carefully distinguishes his baptism in water from Jesus’s baptism with the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism is the beginning in time, a precondition, as it were, of the life in the Spirit which Jesus brings in his baptism. John’s baptism clears away the obstacles which get in the way of a clear perception of spiritual reality. And he points out that spiritual reality in the person of Jesus, when he says, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I myself have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” John is saying that Jesus is not a prophet like himself, but is someone entirely different, someone in whom prophecy is fulfilled, whose ministry is to include everyone in the life of God. Baptism in the Spirit is that inclusion, which Jesus has brought with him, as it were, from eternity into time. The Baptist offers baptism in water as preparation for baptism in the Spirit. We are able to hear his message, and to recognize Jesus in the way that John does, because John has proclaimed that this inclusion in the life of God has already been accomplished in eternity, and that Jesus is bringing it to us in the Spirit. It remains for John’s hearers, and for us, only to respond to it. We can hear it and respond to it because John has shaken up our usual perceptions of time and the world, and opened us up to the spiritual reality which he perceives.

     And how do we respond? We have the example of two of John’s disciples, who, when John again points out the Lamb of God, immediately follow Jesus. John’s prophetic ministry, his break in the flow of time, his shaking up of expectations, and his baptism had opened them up so that they can see Jesus as he is. And they do.
     Notice how Jesus reacts when they approach. He asks, “What are you looking for?” This question is the first thing that Jesus says in this Gospel. It is significant that Jesus begins his teaching in this Gospel with a question. All genuine spiritual life is a questioning one, questions by the spiritual seeker, careful questioning by the teacher, all questions aimed at revealing truth. Quest, question, same word, same concept.  Jesus wants to be sure that they are aware of what they are doing. He is testing their perception. He wants to know what they see, what they want. We don’t have the full conversation here, but the fact that Jesus allows the two to come with him indicates that they answered in such a way as to reveal their true nature, their true perception of Jesus. Jesus sees that they have truly set out on the path which John the Baptist opened up for them, when they accepted the baptism of repentance, the baptism of the return to God. They will continue their spiritual journey with Jesus.       
     “Come and see,” he says. They will see the full revelation which John the Baptist had seen and pointed to. This is an invitation, not only to the two disciples, but to everyone who approaches, to everyone who is ready to follow Jesus, to accept that participation in the life of God which he offers, which John the Baptist calls ‘baptism with the Holy Spirit.’ John, in shaking up our usual experience of time and the world, in announcing that we can share in Jesus’s victory over sin, that we can turn toward God and be confident that we can find our way to him in Jesus the Lamb of God, has, in a few brief words, opened up to us the whole plan of salvation.

     “I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

       In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     

    

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2)

“Where is the child who has been born King of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” From the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 2, verse 2.

     In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

     The more closely I read the story of the wise men, the astrologers from the East, the more interesting it becomes. It is worth careful study to bring out its meaning, below the surface, as it were, of the narrative of the journey of the wise men. Who are they? We must answer this question to reveal the message which this story  conveys.

      Our translation says that they are “wise men from the East.” “Wise men” here translate Magi, or Astrologers, men trained in the study of the stars and the interpretation of dreams. The people of the time of the story believed that the stars and planets influenced human affairs and earthly events, and they believed that dreams had meanings that could be discerned. Many people today believe these things, so the mentality of the astrologers from the East will not be foreign to us.

     The story doesn’t tell us where “East” is. Tradition and legend tell us that they come from Persia, and legend, not Scripture, has even given us their names: Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar. But we can’t be sure that there were only three of them; Scripture doesn’t say so. Some Christians believe that there were as many as twelve, but we assume that there were three, because they gave three gifts.    

     A clue to whom they are comes from the question they asked King Herod, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” Why would astrologers from Persia be interested in the king of the Jews? It is possible that they aren’t Persians at all, or Gentiles, or anyone from very far east of Jerusalem. It seems to me that only Jews would be interested in the prospective king of the Jews. But, people in bordering countries would have an interest in the question, to be sure, so it is possible that the wise men come from a neighboring territory. Neighboring countries would naturally have an interest in political events in Judea, King Herod’s kingdom. So the wise men could be Jewish astrologers, or astrologers from nearby, not necessarily Persia, which is far away. Unless, of course, the King of Persia has plans for Judea, and is scoping out the situation.

     Now what “wise men” in their right minds would walk up to a reigning king in his own country, and ask him in plain words where a possible claimant to his throne might be, so that they could find this claimant and acknowledge him as king? The question is absurdly naïve, at best, not the least bit “wise” in a worldly, political sense, but there it is. There is something very odd, innocent even, about the “wisdom” of these “wise men.” Herod, if he had his wits about him, would have arrested them immediately. But no, instead, “he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him.” Frightened? Plainly, Herod, and all Jerusalem with him, was intimidated by the reputation of the astrologers, in whose powers of divination they believed. King Herod believed the wise men without question. The king feared being supplanted by this mysterious new king, and the people, Jerusalem that is, feared the disorder that would result. This is a realistic fear, as we realize. Contemporary events, and much of history, are full of examples of this kind of thing, rulers hanging on to their power at any cost, fearful of potential rivals, and people fleeing in fear from inevitable conflict.  King Herod’s fear is very typical, and shows up again and again in history.

      The astrologers were wise enough, however, not to be fooled by Herod’s purported devotion to the newborn child. They managed to avoid revealing where the child was, and they found their way to him themselves. It is interesting that the Gospel says that “they saw the child with Mary his mother.” There is no mention of Joseph or anyone or anything else in the scene. Joseph shows up in Luke’s version of the story. Our Nativity scene combines Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts of the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the wise men.

      So far I’ve presented a worldly, political understanding of the story of Herod and the wise men. The wise men, the astrologers, avoided telling the king too much, and were able to find Jesus, the goal of their journey. The king, wily as he was, was not able to deceive the wise men about his true intentions. And we can read the story on this level, and not look any more deeply into it. But there is more going on here than that.

    Two realities are colliding here, the divine reality represented by the wise men, and the all-too-human reality represented by King Herod. But, the “East,” that mysterious location where the wise men come from, is not just a worldly location, but is that place, that desire, in our nature that seeks to find its meaning, and its goal. The wise men follow a star, a moving star, that is, a light, which we may think of as a real, material star, and which we may also think of as an interior light, the light of the soul, which guided the wise men to the goal of their journey. Their journey was the same as our journey, the journey of return to God. And they reached their goal.

     The supposed naivete of the wise men, in their direct approach to King Herod, asking him, of all people, where the child was, was really a sign of their confidence in their understanding of the spiritual influences working in the world. Their understanding was justified, since King Herod didn’t stop them right then and there in their quest. Their journey continued, and they reach their goal. And their goal revealed the true nature of the king they are seeking. It cannot be more unlike worldly kingship. They found a little child with his mother, innocent, and inspiring overwhelming joy. There is no wily king here, no scheming sneaky questions about where and when. There was only joy, and devotion, and the giving of gifts.

     “Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” These gifts represent the true nature of the wise men. They represent the true nature of all of us. We are, in our secret, innermost being, as wise as the wise men, even, especially, when we don’t think so. Gold is imperishable; it is a symbol of that unshakeable core of our being which is our real self, which we are unaware of most of the time. It represents ourselves as we are meant to be, as God made us to live in the world as he means it to be. Frankincense and myrrh are, as it were, fragrances which our true nature exudes in the presence of God. When we approach close to God, we are enabled to reveal our true nature, to present it as a gift to Him. In the presence of spiritual power, of divine innocence, so unlike worldly power and inaccessible to it, so like the child that Herod cannot reach, the best response, the only response, is to give Him the gift of ourselves, our gold, our frankincense and myrrh. 

     Everyone possesses the true nature which the gold of the story represents.  Everyone is equally valuable in God’s sight. Everyone has something to give to God. Everyone, therefore, is worthy of all the respect that we can show them, that we can show each other. In our society, in which we value people according to what they have, in which we sort people as more or less valuable according to their possessions, status, “skill sets”, and so on and on, it is necessary to say this over and over. I know that in some people their true nature is well hidden. But we must believe that it is there, real and imperishable. 

 

The story of the wise men shows us the nature of the journey that we are on, all of us, and we must do our best to bring our fellow creatures along with us. No matter what. King Herod does not get to have the last word. We have been warned, as the wise men were, not to return to Herod. Not to return to a very worldly way of thinking about each other. We are to leave for our own country, our destiny in God, by another road.

     “Where is the child who has been born King of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”

     In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.