Feast of Theophany: The Baptism of Jesus

Today, January 6th, is celebrated as the Feast of Theophany by Byzantine and Orthodox Christians in the United States that use the Gregorian calendar. In much of the rest of the world these Eastern Christians still use the Julian Calendar; they will be celebrating Christmas on January 7th and will not celebrate Theophany until January 19th.   They will not be celebrating the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord (our Candlemas of February 2nd) until February 15th  Of course Ash Wednesday is on February 17th this year in the West.. Orthodox Lent this  year begins on Monday March 15th because their Easter is not celebrated until May 2nd!!!  I like the fact that Orthodox around the world are still celebrating the Christmas season for much of January, and I like to keep the pre-Vatican II extension of the Christmas season until February 2nd and their naming the Sundays as (after Epiphany) rather than Ordinary Time.

THEOPHANY

In the Byzantine Tradition (both Catholic and Orthodox) this is the celebration of the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus. It was in the Early Christianity one of primary days (along with Easter and Pentecost) for administering Baptism. It is not simply an historical event but one of great sacramental significance. It is accompanied by a Vigil that presents more than a dozen readings focused upon Baptism. At the end of the vigil the Great Blessing of Water takes place. Everything in the church is blessed with holy water and people take home blessed water to use in various ways. In many places after the Divine Liturgy today, the priest (or bishop) will go out to the nearest body of water (ocean, lake, and river) and bless its waters. Often some of the worshipers will swim in the water. 

Full text of the Litany and Blessing proceeded by only 3 of the twelve readings

The Great Blessing of Water in a parish church 

Great Water Blessing at the Sunset Lake, AB  How Canada does it outdoors with a hole in the ice.

GOSPEL OF MARK 

The Gospel of Mark is the one that I have studied the most, mainly from a literary and sociological viewpoint. So I thought I would share some of my study with  you this year.

Mark in Concentric Circles

In an oral culture, it is very helpful for a speaker to come back to his starting point to help define the sections of a speech, and it is also helpful to emphasize the most important point by putting it at the center of the speech section. In Mark 1-15 the central point is verse 8, I have baptized you with water, he will baptized you with the Spirit. Below I have designated this verse as verse "a" on the right then "lettered" verses outward on each side to we get to "h" which gives us the big picture of the GOSPEL. In the first verses the Good News is about John, in the last verses it is about Jesus. Within each section we are given both the great similarities and the great differences between the two. Think of this form of writing as the unrolling of a scroll. Every thing is  read in terms of what has come right before and what will come right after. Our modern day verses, chapters, and headings have been imposed on the text. In this form of writing while there is movement forward, their is also circling back to provide a deep picture in a few words

DRA	Mark 1: 1-15 THE BAPTISM OF JESUS
1      h	The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
2      g	As it is written in Isaias the prophet: "Behold, I am sending my angel before your face; who will prepare the way before you.
3      f	A voice of one crying in the desert: 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.'"
4      e	John was in the desert   baptizing, and preaching a baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins.
5      d	And there went out all the country of Judea  and all they of Jerusalem and  they were being baptized by him in the river of Jordan   confessing  their sins.
6      c	John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather girdle around his loins. He ate locusts and wild honey.
7      b	And he preached saying: "There will come after me one mightier than I.  the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.
8      a	I have baptized you with water; he shall baptize you with the holy Spirit."
9      b	And it came to pass in those days  Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
10    c	And forthwith coming up out of the water he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit, as a dove, descending and remaining upon him.
11    d	And there came a voice from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased."
12    e	At immediately the Spirit drove him out into the desert,
13    f	and he was in the desert  forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by Satan. He was with beasts, and the angels ministered to him.
14    g	And after  that John was delivered up, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the the gospelof the kingdom of God  : And saying The time is accomplished.
15    h	The kingdom of God is at hand   Repent, and believe the gospel."

Literary-Sociological Commentary

In this section the proclamation of the Good News of the Jesus and kingdom unfolds in the "desert".

The Greek word is eremos from which we get hermit, and eremitical. The word is usually translated as desert, but sometimes as wilderness. 

The real meaning is an uncultivated land which therefore has no culture or social structure. So this is far more than a description of the landscape. 

In the Scriptures the Good News often unfolds in the desert such as the revelations to Moses, the journey of Israel to the promised land, and the return of exiles from Babylonia. It is not just a process of hearing God's word but also of restructuring society and social values that can be done more easily because God's people are literally in a wild land that has no social structure 

This is, of course, why hermits went to desert places in Egypt, Palestine and elsewhere to begin anew both personally and socially.

In the text the people of Judea and Jerusalem did go out into the desert to hear what John was saying, they did confess their sins, and John did baptize them with a baptism of repentance. But unlike Jesus they did not spend forty days in the desert under the influence of the Holy Spirit. From the Q source in Matthew and Luke we hear that John questioned why many of them had even bothered to come out. To those in whom he saw some good will he gave advice the equivalent of what we often hear in church, .e.g. avoid the occasions of sin. 

On the other hand from the Q source in Matthew and Luke we find that Jesus under the influence of the Holy Spirt was debating with devil about how to use his spiritual gifts. Let me suggest that for we Christians who have received the Holy Spirit that is what the forty days of Lent should be about.  And it should be not just about what we do personally but also what we do collectively.

 

The forty days of Lent should be about what we, empowered by the Holy Spirt, should be doing personally, as families, as parishes, as a civic community, as a Church, as a Nation. 

We should place ourselves as individuals and groups in a psychological and sociological desert questioning what we have been doing personally and institutionally, and what we should be doing both personally and institutionally. Acknowledging all the things that are going wrong in all our relationships and social institutions is only the beginning, we should be making serious choices about the future. 

As Saint Ignatius says often the temptation of the devil is to choose a lesser good, e.g. just avoid sin, rather than choosing the greater glory of God. With Francis we need to risk making mistakes.

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