Perhaps Jesus needed to be cleansed and forgiven of sins through baptism?
Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos
PERHAPS JESUS NEEDED TO BE PURIFIED AND FORGIVEN FROM SINS THROUGH BAPTISM?
Jesus' immersion in the Jordan is a sign that reveals what fate the Word made flesh shared: that of sinners. As Paul writes: «He who had known no sin, God dealt with it from sin in our favor, because we could become through him justice of God ".
Author
Hermit Monk
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A surprising episode, even embarrassing, that of the baptism of Jesus, who removes all doubts about his historicity.
Pietro Perugino Pala di Sant 'Agostino, Baptism of Jesus, 1512
Giovanni al Giordano gives a baptism of penance, According to what is written in LC 3,3. Jesus perhaps needed to be forgiven by sins? To try to answer, We follow the wire of the page of the evangelical story of this Sunday, in the Lucanian version.
"During that time, since the people were waiting and everyone, about Giovanni, they asked themselves in their hearts if he was not the Christ, Giovanni replied to everyone by saying: «I baptize you with water; but he comes the one who is stronger than me, to which I am not worthy of unrelating the laces of sandals. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and Fire ". And here, while all the people were baptized and Jesus, He also received the baptism, He was in prayer, The sky opened and descended the Holy Spirit over him in the body form, like a dove, and a voice came from heaven: «You are my son, the beloved: In you I placed my complacency " (LC 3,15-16.21-22).
In this evangelical song we notice some peculiarities. Only Luke tells us that Jesus received baptism in this way: "When all the people were baptized" (3,21). Lined up like the other Jesus is the last of a long procession. The expression "all the people" is typical of the evangelist Luca and is not a simple statement aimed at exaggerating reality to amplify it; instead has a theological thickness. The first use of this expression in the Bible is found in the book of Genesis, In the story of the sin of the inhabitants of Sodoma:
“Sodom's men gathered around the house [In Lot] From young people to old people, All the people in complete " (19,4).
This wording recalls the sinful condition of an entire group of men, the complicity in the sin of a specific multitude. Luca uses the expression "all the people" to affirm that the event of the baptism of Jesus in fact concerns all the people of Israel, How many have been touched by the testimony of Giovanni Battista and beyond. The immersion in the Jordanian waters was a sign of conversion and penance, The attitude to which everyone was called to welcome salvation. But San Luca also seems to look beyond the people of Israel and lets it leak that it is all humanity that is convened and embraced.
In the mystery of Christmas We meditated the incarnation of the Son of God, His coming as a man among men, assuming "in everything except sin" true human nature. Put in this way, Jesus' immersion in the Jordan is a sign that reveals what fate the Word made flesh shared: that of sinners. As Paul writes:
«He who had known no sin, God dealt with it from sin in our favor, because we could become through him justice of God " (2Color 5,21).
Rendered with greater loyalty to the Greek text, This passage of our song could be translated like this: “When all the people were immersed, Jesus was also immersed ", as if to mean that Jesus immerses himself in the immersion of the people. Not only is he a member of his people but immerses himself in his own condition and is with this act that he starts his public ministry, manifesting his profound solidarity with us humans, Even in our condition of sinners.
For the evangelist Luca, At that time, The episode of the Baptism of the Lord is of a fundamental theological function because Jesus, even before being attempted and then starting his ministry, starts from there. Although this aspect is more evident in the Gospel according to Matteo it is clear for the evangelist who in this mystery are summarized the various passages of the Jordan already accomplished in the history of salvation. From that of Israel fleeing from Egypt, To enter the promised land, Until the return of the same from Babylon after the exile. The Jordan also appears to be fundamental for Jesus; He crosses him to enter his mission, in a condition, at least outside, of penance. Everything will be clear to the other baptism that he has yet to receive (LC 12, 50: «I have a baptism in which I will be baptized, and how they are anguished until it is accomplished!»). From baptism in the waters of the Jordan to baptism in death and resurrection that is his Easter, The Lord has never ceased to immerse himself in the waters of our often sinful human condition, In the agitated waters of our existence. Comes to immerse yourself in our poor humanity to deposit the infinite love of the Father.
The other peculiarity of today's evangelical song It is represented by the fact that only Luke tells us that Jesus, received baptism, "He was in prayer". Just the third Gospel has particular attention to this aspect, Since the most decisive moments of the Ministry of Jesus are prepared or accompanied by a more intense prayer: his baptism, the choice of the twelve (LC 6,12), The question asked to the twelve about who is Jesus for people (9,18), the transfiguration (9,28) and passion (22,41-45). San Luca does not report any word of this prayer of Jesus and not even what God could have communicated to him. However, from the words got off the sky, We can understand that it is a branch prayer, An aspect the latter characteristic of the way of relating to Jesus to God as a Father, remarked here by Luca and above all from the fourth Gospel: "Dad, The time has come: glorifies your Son because the Son glorifies you ... all my things are yours, And yours are mine " (GV 17, 1. 10). The Father recognizes Jesus as his favorite son, with which it has a profound relationship that defines and distinguishes the personality of Jesus since childhood: «You didn't know that I have to deal with the things of my Father my Father?» (LC 2,49).
Finally the context of the evangelical scene Recalls the book of the prophet Isaiah and the vocation of the elect:
«Here is my servant that I support, my elected I take please. I placed my spirit about him; He will bring the right to nations " (Is 42,1).
The mission of the servant He begins with communion and communication with the Father and the gift of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit reaches the divinity of Jesus solemnly when he made, like any man, the penitential gesture, having subjected to John's baptism. During his earthly life, Jesus will never show himself as big as in the humility of gestures and words. An important lesson for us who see things so differently. Following Christ means taking this path of humility, that is, of truth. Christ, true God and true man, He teaches us the truth of our being. We too Christians have been given the grace of the Spirit and for us there is also a mission to do and a testimony to be given. We ask to know her, As Jesus knew his to the Jordan and to be able to live it. Why this happens, The gift of the Spirit must always be asked persistently:
«The behavior of Jesus who prays when the Spirit comes, must serve as an example to believers: The gift of the Holy Spirit is in fact the essential question of Christian prayer " (Gérard Rossé).
From the Hermitage, 12 January 2025
Baptism of the Lord
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Sant'Angelo Cave in Ripe (Civitella del Tronto)
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There is another hop that I believe must be taken into consideration and that emerges in particular in Matteo: Justice. I don't think so much that Jesus was baptized by John for a matter of humility, but rather of justice: As a member of the Jewish people he too was called to wait for the Messiah and to perform the purification rite. If he hadn't done so, Not all the people would have been baptized and would have been ready for the arrival of the Messiah. It is no coincidence that Luke underlines that only Jesus was missing to the appeal. Now the people in its entirety and globality was ready and the Messiah could manifest itself.
In the era in which the divine mercy is abused, making the Padreno pass like a goodist, I like to think that this song underlines how God also follows and always justice, the law, L/Law. Not so much an act of humility therefore, how much more completeness and fairness.