Today's first reading is from the Book of Isaiah, beginning at the 42nd Chapter, and the 1st Verse:
Behold 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. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not fail or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.
I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.
Today's Epistle is written in the Book of Acts, beginning at the 10th Chapter, and the 34th Verse:
And Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the word which he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), the word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
+ A Reading from the Gospel of Mark, Beginning at the 1st Chapter, and the 7th Verse:
And John the Baptist preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased."
In this Jubilee year, we celebrate the themes of opening -- opening the Doors of Faith, the doors of Justice, the doors of Compassion, and the doors of Perception. I have set myself the task of creating a sermon for every Sunday (and some Feasts) of the year 2,000, talking about the theme of Opening Doors in terms of the readings specified for the day in the Roman Catholic Lectionary, Year B.
Taking up the challenge thrown out by +Elijah at Sursum Corda! last year, I have been (and will be) reading in Byzantine and Oriental Orthodox Theology, most especially about theosis -- their perception of the process of Salvation -- becoming more God-like, up to the capabilities of the human soul. The message I want to get across is that our Faith is not only a code of ethics , a culture, a communal love-fest, or a convenient excuse for social action, but also a transcendental and mind-blowing experience.
So much for the commercial -- Selah.
Every journey begins with a first step, with the opening of a door, and stepping out onto a new path. The Christian life begins with Baptism -- which is a rebirth into a new life in Christ, as a member of His Mystical Body, the Church.
The Gospel talks about being "...born again, of Water and the Holy Spirit...", and much of the literature of Baptism talks about dying to the world, and being re-born through the Baptismal Font to a new life. Each of these is a new beginning, a stepping out onto a new path.
Jesus himself chose to start His public ministry with a Baptism -- that of his cousin, John the Baptist. Although "Very God of Very God", as the Nicene Creed has it, He was true man as well, and well understood the power of example.
He therefore went down to the Jordan, took off His shoes, and cloak, and went into the water like any ordinary man, subjecting Himself in humility to the authority of the world, as He would in His last days to the authority of Pontius Pilate. By stepping down into the Jordan, as He stepped down into the world in the Incarnation, he affirmed the reality and the meaningfulness of the world -- it is not just something useless and evil, appended to the spiritual, but a thing lovingly crafted by God's hands.
The Incarnation is not just some strange thing that the incomprehensible Godhead decided to do, but the product of a vast plan, and a loving foresight. By coming into this imperfect world, God, in His Triune majesty, plans to sweep us -- and all things -- "back" into His loving bosom.
In today's Old Testament Reading, from Isaiah, we see both the prophecy of Jesus' coming, but the recipe for how He would come -- not as a great and terrible ruler, overawing mankind with His majesty, but as an ordinary and humble man. The first sentence shows God choosing:
"Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
Our Father in Heaven is essentially a loving God -- although beyond the understanding and grasp of human imagination, He is yet passionately involved with us. He is involved with us as a people, and as individual. He sends His Son, His servant to us, as he says:
"I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations."
Our Lord is come to us, with the Glory of His Almighty Father -- wrapped in the Power of the Holy Spirit -- to transform the world. He is God of God, but yet a humble man, come to transform the world -- as he has done by His Word & example these last 2,000 years -- But quietly and meekly, since:
"He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;"
Yet this meek one has transformed the world -- this Earth of ours is a very different place than it was before his message was proclaimed, and would be a very different (and less pleasant one) if that message had not been spread to all the world. We can see this in the places where the Word has not penetrated, or where it has been forgotten -- examples of cruelty and injustice abound.
But where His Word has penetrated, and where His message has been heard and understood:
"...he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not fail or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law. "
We are assured, then, that He (and His Father, not to mention the Spirit) are working to bring forth Justice, to complete the process of theosis, where the earth and "...all that in it is..." will be brought back to the Father, swept into that loving bosom, made holy, made shining with the Glory of the Transcendent Godhead.
The next few lines:
"I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. "
. . . speak not only of Jesus' mission in the world, but of the mission of the Church, and of each one of us. It is to transform the world by bringing through the Love and Righteousness of the Lord -- not a sour, dour, snobbish self-righteousness, as some would have it -- but the loving, transforming Righteousness of the Lord!
And the first step on the journey to righteousness, the door that we must pass through, is Baptism -- the rebirth, with Water and the Spirit, that Our Lord showed us by His example in the Jordan.
St. Peter talks about this mission, this commission, which God gave to Jesus the man -- to preach the good news of Peace and Justice, starting from His Baptism "...which John preached." He says that "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power" -- and so He anoints us with the Spirit and with the Power to transform the world by our love and our passion for justice.
In today's Gospel, John the Baptist answers the lawyers and taunters who asked who and what he was by saying of Jesus, the Messiah who was just then approaching the Jordan to be baptized:
"After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
The Forerunner announces that the Door of Salvation is about to be opened -- and indeed in just a short time, his prophecy is fulfilled, for:
"In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan."
And the heavens opened to Him -- as they do now to us -- and:
"...when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, 'Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.'"
In this new Year, this new Century, this new Millennium, we need to focus on transforming ourselves, and the world, by spreading that message that Jesus brought -- the message of Love and Justice and Transformation that He (and Francis of Assisi, and Mother Theresa of Calcutta) brought so quietly and strongly into the world. We have passed through the terrors and the craziness of the millenial frenzy, to find a new age dawning before us -- let us bury the hate and fear that misguided and sadistic people sowed, and go forth to do the work of the Lord.
In the Name of The Father + And of the Son And of the Holy Spirit Amen. Previous Sermons