The Baptism of the Lord
We continue the theme of Epiphany which is the
manifestation of Christ to the world. We celebrate today the manifestation
of Christ through our Lord's baptism by John in the Jordan. Our Lord is made
manifest as the Christ, for Christ means “anointed”. And this manifestation of
Christ is a Trinitarian manifestation, as Christ is anointed by the Father with
the Holy Spirit. The Father is the anointer, Christ is the anointed, and the
Holy Spirit is the ointment.
This manifestation is not just a manifestation of names – it
is a manifestation of our salvation. Christ does not need Baptism. Christ does
not need anointing. Christ does not need salvation. BUT WE DO!
Our Lord is made manifest as the Christ precisely at the Jordan,
where sinful humanity came to John for repentance. Christ enters into the place
where humanity was asking for forgiveness. And Christ is made manifest to
sanctify the baptismal waters for the forgiveness of sins. He reveals His
saving nature by bringing sanctification to humankind. He doesn't need
sanctification, He doesn't need the Holy Spirit for Himself as it were (He is
already one with the Holy Spirit), but at the Jordan He is anointed by the Holy
Spirit for OUR sanctification. We need the Holy Spirit.
The uniting of the human nature and the divine nature in
Christ provides a pathway for our salvation – this pathway is sanctification.
Where Christ is there the Spirit operates, though the Holy Spirit remains His
own person. Christ opens up the pathway for the Spirit – as Christ walks, makes
human steps, so He unites human life with the Holy Spirit, from Baptism to
death. When the risen Christ Ascends, the Person of the Holy Spirit descends
again on the Apostles. The Holy Spirit descends on the Body of Christ (for the
Apostles are the beginnings of the Church) and the Church is brought to birth
and made manifest to all the representatives of the nations in Jerusalem at
that time. By baptism the church is enlarged, and by the anointing of the Holy
Spirit, the new members of the body of Christ are equipped with what is needed
for the mission of the Church to be completed.
So as we can see there is a necessary partnership between
baptism and confirmation/anointing of the Holy Spirit. And these are partnered
in the teaching of the church. [The Ordinariate with the blessing of the Pope
has restored the ancient sequence of Baptism, then Confirmation, then Holy
Communion.] By baptism we are made by adoption sons and daughters of God;
confirmation anoints us with the Holy Spirit so we can be effective in the
mission of the Church; and Holy Communion is the divinely given nourishment
needed in our journey of sanctification and missionary work.
In the 20th century we have seen various efforts
by Christians to start doing things in the power of man. This is a great
temptation in an age of technology when man appears to have very great power to
change things. But man's power (however great) cannot save. Thus experiments in
ecclesial governance, or of democratisation, bring not greater sanctification
but greater worldliness. The Church must
work by Apostolic ways of governance, because that is of the Holy Spirit and
from Christ. Only God can save.
At the Baptism at Jordan, Christ went to the place where
sinful humanity gathered, to sanctify the waters of baptism. In this Epiphany
at the Jordan, when Christ was anointed by the Father with the Holy Spirit and
was revealed truly as the Christ – so for our salvation the Holy Spirit was
revealed as the close partner of Christ. All Christ's ministry was a ministry
in the Holy Spirit, so that after the risen Christ ascended to the Father, the
ministry of the Church would continue to be the ministry of the Holy Spirit
founded and rooted in the Apostles (and not the ministry of man). Yes the Holy
Spirit uses us frail human beings, but the ministry and mission of the Church
is of the Holy Spirit. - or to use the words of a collect: we have no power
of ourselves to help ourselves. Amen.
