By Randall Smith
Many readers have likely witnessed baptisms recently, especially if they attended the Easter Vigil Mass. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, it seems that this year we have been blessed with a good number of baptisms. Let us pray that this undeserved gift continues and grows like the proverbial mustard seed.
We must make that prayer for ourselves as well, of course, since our own baptism is like the weeding and preparation of the «good soil» in which the seeds of grace are planted. But we must cooperate with that grace so that the new growth can flourish. The purification of baptism is only a first step and, in an important sense, a first step toward the Cross. Baptism gives us the grace to carry the Cross.
There is a long tradition in the Church of connecting baptism and the Cross. As St. Paul writes in Romans 6, «all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death,» so that «just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.»
We must put to death the «old man,» says Paul in Ephesians 4—the «old man» with his pride, his greed, and his lust for dominion—and rise to clothe ourselves with the «new man,» recreated in the image of Christ. But Paul does not invent things on his own authority; he is proclaiming «what he himself had received.» Let me explain.
Pope Benedict, in his wonderful exposition on the baptism of Jesus in Jesus of Nazareth, poses the question that many have asked: if baptism is a confession of sins and a shedding of the old sinful life to receive a new one, is this something Jesus could do? If Jesus had no sin (and he didn’t), why does he get baptized? In fact, John the Baptist says: «I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?» But Jesus replies: «Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.»
«Seeing the events in the light of the Cross and the Resurrection—Benedict wrote—the Christian people realized what had happened: Jesus took upon his shoulders the burden of guilt of all humanity; he carried it down into the depths of the Jordan. He inaugurated his public activity by placing himself in the place of sinners. His inaugural gesture is an anticipation of the Cross.» He «fulfills all righteousness» with his total «yes» to the will of God, even to death on the Cross.
Pope Benedict points out three aspects of Jesus’ baptism.
The first is that, when Jesus comes up out of the water: «Heaven opens over Jesus. His communion of will with the Father, his fulfillment of ‘all righteousness,’ opens heaven, which is essentially the place where God’s will is perfectly fulfilled.»
The second aspect is «the proclamation of Jesus’ mission by God the Father: not only for what he does, but for who he is.» He is the «beloved Son» who does the Father’s will.
The third aspect of the scene, finally, is the descent of the Holy Spirit. With this, Benedict writes, we find that the mystery of the Triune God «begins to emerge.»
For some people, the doctrine of the Trinity is a confusing tangle. Why bother with «three persons in one Being»? Can’t we just talk about «God»? We can, and we do, but then we lose something of God’s inner dynamic character.
It is important to understand that God is a trinitarian communion of love shared from all eternity among the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That divine love has been extended to us through the Son, who assumes our humanity, «becomes flesh» and dwells among us. It is a transformative love so great that it can transcend even sin and death.
«It is better for you that I go away,» Jesus says to his disciples. How could that be better? Because if he doesn’t go, then everyone would constantly come to him asking for more bread, more healings, more miracles.
But then we would not be transformed. We must be the «members» of the Body of Christ in the world. We must now be the hands, feet, and eyes of Christ.
We don’t do it alone. Christ’s promise is that, when he has gone, he will send the Holy Spirit to «pour charity into our hearts,» so that we, like him, may «fulfill all righteousness»; we too can be instruments of God’s will and God’s love.
But we cannot be those instruments of love if we cling to the «old man» of selfishness, greed, and lust for dominion. Those things must be purged. And yet, if it were easy, everyone would do it. If it were easy, God wouldn’t have had to sacrifice himself on a Cross.
However, what happens with that surrender of our selfishness—taking upon ourselves that heavy burden of the Cross—is that, although at first we feel its weight, over time, the Cross we think we are carrying is actually the one that lifts us up.
That’s why, when you dip your finger in that holy water font as you enter the church, you remember that we are a baptized people, baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ.
Then you make the Sign of the Cross and say: «In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.» In doing so, whether you consciously think about it or not, you have proclaimed with that gesture the essence of the Christian faith—the baptism, the Cross, the Triune God—even before you have barely crossed the threshold of the church.
You have repeated the essentials; now you are ready to enter, listen, and fully integrate into that communion to which a God invites us whose love can reach even the depths of the most sinful soul.
About the author
Randall B. Smith is a professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. His latest book is From Here to Eternity: Reflections on Death, Immortality, and the Resurrection of the Body.