Skip to main content

The Water, the Spirit and the Voice (cf. Mt. 3:16-17)

This Sunday, the church celebrates the Baptism of the Lord. In St. Matthew’s brief account of the baptism of the Lord, there are three terms used which practically summarize the events described. First, there is the WATER in which the Lord was baptized. Second, there is the SPIRIT which descended like a dove on Jesus. Third, there is the VOICE which declared Jesus as the beloved Son of God. 

Each of these terms is theologically charged. In the Old Testament, Water was the first sign of deliverance. The most significant act of Salvation in Israel was the Exodus event. Moses led the people of Israel dry-shod through the waters of the Red Sea (Ex. 14). This act of going through the waters of the Red Sea became also a symbol of what Christians went through in baptism as they also were immersed in water (cf. 1 Cor. 10:1-4). That is why baptism remains for every Christian, the gateway to the life of Grace. As Christ says, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:5).

The second element is the Spirit. The Spirit is also associated with deliverance. When Israel entered the promise land, they were surrounded by hostile nations. Whenever Israel cried out to YHWH, he would cause his Spirit to descend mightily on some ordinary man, who invested with power would deliver Israel from their enemies (Jdg. 2:18). It is this same Spirit that enabled Gideon, Jephthah, Deborah and Samson to rise up and deliver Israel. Going through the water made a person part of God’s saved people, but it was the Spirit that gave them the power to rise up and do great deeds for God.

The third element is the Voice. The voice is the vehicle which carries the Word. It is this Word which was given to the prophets and which they proclaimed to Israel. John the Baptist identifies himself in this same tradition as a prophetic voice. But he is only the voice proclaiming the Word. It is the Word of God which saves. That Word is Christ who is revealed at his baptism and offers the fullness of Salvation. In Christ we receive a deliverance more powerful than that which was given to Israel through Moses at the Red Sea. In Christ, we have a saviour more powerful than Samson or Gideon or any other Judge. And in Christ, we have more than a prophetic voice. We encounter the Word himself. For if in former times, God spoke through prophets, he has spoken most definitely today to us, through his beloved Son (cf. Heb 1:1).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rev. Fr. Michael Mensah, SSD Fr. Michael Kodzo Mensah is a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, Ghana. He is a Biblical Exegete and holds a Doctorate in Sacred Scriptures from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome, Italy. He is currently a Formator and Academic Dean of St. Paul’s Catholic Seminary, Sowutuom in Accra, Ghana.
Post a Comment
Read more

THE BOOK IS HERE!

Breaking The Word (Year A) is the first in the series of a three-volume work dedicated to the explanation of scripture readings for Sundays and Feast days, according to the Catholic Liturgical Calendar. The author leads the reader to discover new insights into these passages of Holy Scripture by returning to the original texts in Hebrew and Greek as the basis for the interpretation of these passages.  The book is thus the perfect study manual for both preacher and student not only in terms of content but also in terms of the exegetical methods which the author employs on every page of this work. It is also the perfect companion for everyone of Christ’s faithful who feels that restless desire to go deeper below the surface of the Word of God proclaimed on Sundays and Feast days.
1 comment
Read more

Swords into Ploughshares! (Isa 2:4)

Have you ever wondered what it means the prophecy of Isaiah which reads “they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks? Well, it simply means that a situation of war will be turned into a situation of peace. But why swords and ploughshares? The sword in the bible was an instrument of war. But not just war. It was a symbol of violence. The first story of violence in the Bible was that of Cain and Abel (Gen 4), when an elder brother killed his own younger brother. The ploughshare was a farming implement. The first farmer was Adam, the father of Cain and Abel, whom YHWH commanded to till the garden of Eden and care for it (Gen 2:15). The prophecy of Isaiah is thus a vision of a return from violence to what God originally intended – the peace of Eden. This is what God intends for us this week. May God banish from your heart every violence and return   you to the peace in which you were created.
4 comments
Read more