First Sunday after Epiphany; The Baptism of our Lord; 9 January 2022; Epiphany 1C (RCL); Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalm 29; Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22.
Luke doesn’t actually narrate the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan. In fact, the verse that the Gospel reading skips over today tell us that Herod shuts John up in prison. So, narratively at least, John is in prison before Jesus is baptized! This fits with Luke’s three-fold division of history: the age of the prophets (up to and including John the Baptist); the age of Jesus; and the age of the Spirit and the Church. Luke will remove Jesus from the scene before the Spirit shows up, unlike John’s Gospel which has Jesus breathe the Spirit on the disciples.
Nevertheless, Luke packs a lot into these few short verses. We hear the last little bit of the preaching of John the Baptist, who makes two references to fire: The one coming will baptize with Holy Spirit and fire; and he will clear his threshing floor and burn the chaff with fire. The first reference looks forward to the gift of the Spirit on the Church, at which, according to Luke, tongues a fire appeared over each of the disciples present. The second reference looks backward to God’s fire of judgment, and particularly to the refiner’s fire referenced in Malachi (3:2-3). When Gabriel announces to Zechariah that Elizabeth with bear a son, Gabriel makes specific reference to Malachi, saying that John will have the spirit of Elijah, and turn the hearts of children toward the parents and parents toward their children (Malachi 4:5).
Malachi speaks of the fire of judgment purifying Israel. Luke neatly connects Malachi’s imagery to the imagery he uses for the gift of the Spirit to the Church. Baptism, then, initiates this purified people of God. Jesus is the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy. The Christian editors of the Old Testament have neatly arranged things so that Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament, so we can’t miss the reference.
The Isaiah passage comes from that part of the book that deals with the vocation of the Servant, as being a light to the nations. Just a few verses before this reading, we read “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations” (42:1). All the synoptic accounts of Jesus’ baptism quote this verse in the voice from heaven, as well as Psalm 22:7, thereby combining King with Suffering Servant.
The First Sunday after Epiphany is one of the five days in the year named by the Prayer Book as especially appropriate for baptisms, and if there are none, for the renewal of the baptismal covenant. Baptism grafts us into the human nature of Christ, and therefore joins us also with his divine nature, and elects us to the status of adopted children of God. But, like the servant in Isaiah, that election is not for our own sake (election to salvation), but election on behalf of the world. We are to be the priesthood for the restored humanity, just as humanity was to be the priesthood for the whole creation, offering the created order back to God with joy, and giving voice to the praise of creation.
Or, to say it another way, the same voice comes to us from heaven at our own baptisms, and with, the same identity and vocation.