RE: 01.08.15 - Readings for Sunday, January 11, 2015

Commentary – The Baptism of the Lord Year B
January 11, 2015

First Reading – Isaiah 42.1-4, 6-7
Thus says the LORD:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
a bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.
Commentary
The difficulty of this text lies in its richness! Like much of prophetic writing, it is very dense: many things are said in a few sentences. I'll try to break down the text.

To begin with, obviously, it has two parts: it is God who speaks from one end to the other, but in the first part, God talks about the one God calls his "servant" ("Here is my servant whom I uphold ... "), while in the second, God speaks directly to his servant (" I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand").

I will begin by focusing on the first part.  To begin with, the surprising repetition of the word "justice" which appears three times: "My servant shall bring forth justice to the nations;” “he will faithfully bring forth justice;” “He will not grow faint and be crushed until he establishes justice on the earth " There is nothing harsh about the establishment of this justice; it is full of gentleness and respect for all that is fragile: "bruised reed", "smoldering wick”, "not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street…a bruised reed he a shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench.”

Another feature of this justice is that it concerns the whole of humanity: two statements about the nations (i.e. the whole of humanity) frame all that is said here about justice. The first is: "he shall bring forth justice to the nations," and the second: "He will not grow faint and be crushed until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching.”

There is no better way to say that God's will is for salvation, for liberation, and that it concerns all humanity.  This means that when this text was written two things were already understood: first, that God’s justice is not to be feared for it is a word of salvation, of liberation (God is the "judge from whom we have nothing to fear" as our funeral liturgy says); and secondly, that God’s will for salvation concerns all of humanity.  A last but very important point in the context of the mission given to the servant - he is assured of God’s support: "Here is my servant, whom I uphold... upon whom I have put my spirit."

The second part of the text expands on these themes: it is God himself who explains to his servant the mission that he is given: “to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.” Here, not only is the mission not one of condemnation, it is a true release from prison, from the darkness of the dungeon: the prison cells of the time had no windows, so that when one came out of the darkness of the jail cell into the light of day, the experience was blinding.

The universal nature of the servant’s mission is also very clear. God says that the servant will be “a light to the nations." And there is a reminder of God’s support: "I, the Lord, have called you ... I grasped you by the hand. "

The question naturally arises: of whom is Isaiah speaking? The description given here - of a servant of God invested with a mission of salvation for God’s people and for all humanity, and upon whom rested God’s spirit – fit perfectly the definition of the Messiah that Israel was expecting. It was he who would build the kingdom of God on earth and bring happiness and freedom to all. However, Isaiah does not specify his identity. Who is the servant invested with such a mission? We find the answer in the translation that the Jews themselves made of this passage a few centuries after this text was written, when, around 250 BC  they translated the Bible into Greek from Hebrew (we call this translation the Septuagint). Here is the beginning of our text in the Septuagint: "Thus says the Lord: Behold my servant, Jacob, whom I uphold, my chosen, Israel, in whom I put all my joy." From this we can better understand the intention of the prophet when he preached these words to his contemporaries: the author (called Second Isaiah) lived and preached at the time of the Babylonian Exile in the sixth century BC. It was a particularly dramatic period and the people of Israel believed that they were doomed to disappear and no longer have a role to play in history. Therefore the prophet Isaiah has devoted all of his energies to restoring courage in his contemporaries, so much so that his work is called "The Book of the Consolation of Israel." A good way to boost the morale of the troops is to say: do not despair, God is still counting on you; you may be a small group, but as such you are called to be a privileged servant in God’s work of salvation in the world. Already the prophet Micah, in the eighth century had the intuition that the Messiah was not an individual but a collective being; and with the words of Isaiah in today’s text, the idea of a collective Messiah asserts itself once more.

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Addendum
- In our liturgical reading the first sentence says: "Thus says the Lord", probably to compensate for the removal of verse 5 in the middle of the text.
- Here is verse 5: "Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it." The second part of the book of Isaiah (the one called "The Book of the Consolation of Israel”) is rich in beautiful images of creation: it was under times of duress that the theme of God’s creative power and love for his creatures was developed; it is the best argument for holding on to hope: God’s creative power and loving faithfulness are the best guarantee of our liberation.

Responsorial Psalm – 29.1-2, 3-4, 9-10
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Give to the LORD, you sons of God,
give to the LORD glory and praise,
Give to the LORD the glory due his name;
adore the LORD in holy attire.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters,
the LORD, over vast waters.
The voice of the LORD is mighty;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The God of glory thunders,
and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
The LORD is enthroned above the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as king forever.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Commentary
In order to hear this psalm in full force, one must imagine the violence of a storm: the raging winds sweeping all of Palestine, Lebanon and Mt. Hermon in the north all the way down to the desert of Kadesh in the south. We already hear an echo of this image in the words, "The God of glory thunders;" however, this theme is found mainly in the middle verses of this psalm, which are not included here: "The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox (Sirion is another name for Mt. Hermon)... The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire… The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.... The voice of the Lord causes the deer to calf, and strips the forests bare... " (verses 5-8).

Where has God’s voice resounded in such dramatic fashion? At Sinai, of course. Remember the description in the book of Exodus when God offers his Covenant to Moses: "On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder. "(Ex 19: 16-19). As you may know, the Targum on Exodus compares the voice of God to flames of fire: each time God gave Moses one of the articles of the Commandments (Decalogue) it was like fire coming from the mouth of God. I will read a passage from the Targum: "The first commandment, when it left the mouth of the Saint - Blessed be His name! - it was like sparks, lightning and flaming torches, a lamp of fire on his right and a lamp of fire on his left. It flew and flew through the heavens ... Then it returned and was engraved on the tablets of the Covenant ... "

We note, in passing, the repeated use (I'm tempted to say "litany") of the name of God revealed at Sinai: the word "LORD" (the famous name made up of the four letters YHVH) appears in almost all the verses of this psalm (eighteen times in the entire psalm!)

Another parallel with Sinai in this psalm is the phrase "voice of the Lord"; here, it is repeated three times, but throughout the psalm, it is repeated seven times, which is not an insignificant number: we immediately think of the seven days of creation in the first chapter of Genesis with its seven-fold "God said ... and it was. " This is a way of saying that God’s Word is effective, and it alone; in other words, unlike God, idols are incapable of speaking or acting.

This brings us to another theme of this psalm: the kingdom of God. If I had to summarize this psalm, I would say that its main message is that God alone is king; all other kingships are usurped; God alone deserves homage and adoration. Soon all will recognize the One God and worship God alone: first God’s people, of course, but more importantly, so will the usurpers who dared to claim the glory that belongs to God alone." The anti-idolatrous message is clear: the image of the storm is often used in the Bible to describe the coming of the kingdom of God, the final judgment of God upon the world when the powers of evil will finally disappear and God’s universal dominion will finally be manifested, just as it was manifested over the raging waters of the Flood: "The voice of the LORD is over the waters, the Lord, over vast waters. The voice of the Lord is mighty…"

Where else, other than in the first Creation account and in the story of the Flood did God dominate bodies of water? During the Exodus from Egypt, of course, at the crossing of the Sea, when the people fled from Egypt, "the house of bondage."  This is their greatest claim to fame; now, the chosen people, freely liberated by God, are a witness before other nations, calling them to join in giving glory to God. Notice the emphasis on the word "glory" which comes up four times in the entire psalm.

Last remark: in the temple, the gathered believers already sing the glory of God, but for the rest of humanity, this is not yet the case! When the psalm says: "the Lord is enthroned as king forever," it is still in anticipation. But there is no doubt that the day will come when God will finally be recognized as king by all of God’s children.

We can now better understand the choice of this psalm for the feast of the Baptism of the Lord:  with Jesus, "the Reign of God has come near, it is already in our midst."

Second Reading – Acts 10.34-38
Peter proceeded to speak to those gathered
in the house of Cornelius, saying:
“In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him.
You know the word that he sent to the Israelites
as he proclaimed peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all,
what has happened all over Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached,
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good
and healing all those oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him.”
Commentary
It is unheard of: Peter is violating all decency, entering the home of the pagan Roman centurion, Cornelius. I must add that the Holy Spirit has forced Peter’s hand!
Let me remind you of the events that led up to the speech that Peter gives here: Imagine two houses 31 miles apart, one being the house of Cornelius in Caesarea, the other, that of Simon the tanner in Joppa (today, Jaffa or Tel Aviv). It is in Simon’s house that Peter, who has temporarily left Jerusalem for a missionary tour, is staying.

In both houses, strange and quite unexpected things are happening - it begins in Caesarea. Cornelius is an officer of the Roman Empire (today we would say that he is Italian) stationed at Caesarea Maritima, that is to say, on the Mediterranean coast of the country of the Jews. To the Jews, Cornelius is a worthy man - pious, one of the so-called "God-fearing". This means that he has almost converted to Judaism, or at least he is very sympathetic towards Judaism, but without having been circumcised. He is also known for his generosity and gives alms to the synagogue of Caesarea.

Cornelius is in his house. One day, about three o'clock in the afternoon, he has a vision. He sees an angel of God coming to him and saying, "Cornelius!" He answers, trembling, "What is it, Lord?" The angel says to him, " Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea" (Acts 10, 4-6). Barely had the angel left, that Cornelius chooses two trusted men and sends them to Joppa, a good day’s walk, escorted by a soldier.

The next day, shortly before they arrive at their destination, strange things happen in Joppa: around noon, Peter climbs up to the roof top terrace to pray. Being almost lunchtime he becomes hungry, and now he too has a vision: from the sky falls a kind of sheet filled with all kinds of animals, and a voice says, "Get up, Peter, kill and eat! " It is impossible for a good Jew to obey such a command! First, he would have to carefully distinguish which of these animals are pure and which are not; so Peter instinctively answers, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean." But the voice says to him again," What God has made clean, you must not call profane! " (see Acts 10, 9-16)

In other words, who is he to decide what is pure or impure? Later, Paul, in the letter to the Romans, says, "I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself" (Rom 14: 14).

Peter certainly has difficulty coming to that same conclusion, since Luke states that this same scene was repeated three times. And he adds that Peter still did not understand, even after the vision disappeared. As you might suspect, it is precisely at this moment that Cornelius’ messengers knock at the door, on the ground floor, while upstairs on the terrace, the Holy Spirit says to Peter, "Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation, for I have sent them" (10, 19). You can guess the rest of the story: Peter comes down, meets Cornelius’s messengers, asks why they have come, and then offers them hospitality; the next day, he goes to Joppa. I note in passing that he does not go alone, he takes some Christians with him; he suspects that something important is at hand because the Holy Spirit is involved, and if there are decisions to be made, it is always wiser to consult with others. Another day’s journey takes place, this time in the opposite direction - to Caesarea where they arrive the next day.

The arrival at Cornelius’s house is splendid. Cornelius has called family and friends to join him, and when Peter arrives, Cornelius falls at his feet; but Peter responds with the wonderful words: "Arise, I too am only a man." Then, in front of everyone, he gives the meaning of the vision at Joppa, as he has now come to understand it: "God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean."  In other words, I, Peter, a Jew, had believed until now that I was being faithful to God's covenant by avoiding all contact with Gentiles. But I now understand that, in the eyes of God, no one is to be avoided. And that is why, for the first time in my life, I authorize myself, a Jew, to cross the threshold of the house of a Gentile. Then Cornelius explains why he asked for Peter, following the command of the angel of God. It is at this time that Peter begins the speech that we read: "In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.”
Israel’s election is not in question: "You know the word that he (God) sent to the Israelites, " but now all have access to faith in Jesus Christ.

You know the rest: Peter was perhaps ready to make a long speech, as on the morning of Pentecost, but the Holy Spirit, once again, is ahead of him: "While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter (that is, the Jews who had become Christians) were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God" (10, 44-46). Then Peter draws the obvious conclusion and does what he would never have thought to do without the Holy Spirit’s many interventions - he baptizes them. "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (10, 47)

That which Jesus assigned to his apostles on the day of his Ascension is being fulfilled. He had told them: "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1: 8). 

Translated with permission by Simone Baryliuk, from: Commentaires de Marie Noëlle Thabut, dimanche 12 janvier, 2014
http://www.eglise.catholique.fr/foi-et-vie-chretienne/commentaires-de-marie-noelle-thabut.html

Gospel- Mark 1.7-11
This is what John the Baptist proclaimed:
“One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open
and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens,
“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Commentary
THE SPIRIT DESCENDED LIKE A DOVE
Jesus’ baptism is his first public appearance, and it serves as the occasion for the revelation of his identity. It seems that John the Baptist is himself unsure of whom he is dealing with; when he speaks of the coming Messiah to the crowds, he uses language familiar to everyone but he is not yet aware that it applies to Jesus of Nazareth. He says: "I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit"; which means: "I have immersed you in water; he will immerse you in the Holy Spirit" (“to baptize" means "to immerse").  Everyone understood that he was speaking of the Messiah because everyone knew the promise of the prophet Joel: "In those days, (i.e. when the Messiah comes), I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh" (Joel 3.1). The prophet Isaiah had also spoken several times of the Messiah on whom the Spirit would rest: "The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD"(Is 11.2). Isaiah goes on to describe the Messiah’s vocation: "The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; He has sent me to bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, release to the prisoners... "(Is 61.1).

The rest of the scene is familiar to us: "On coming up out of the water he (Jesus) saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” "You are my Son" is a messianic title; it was the title conferred on each new king in Jerusalem on the day of his coronation; Jesus is the Messiah-King; this means that his baptism is truly a royal investiture. However, the formula used for kings did not include the word "beloved" (“You are my beloved son”). Perhaps this is an allusion to Abraham’s dearly beloved son Isaac, freely offered ... As for the final formula, "with you I am well pleased", it is also taken from Isaiah in reference to the Messiah:" Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased. Upon him I have put my spirit"(Is 42.1).

JESUS’ SOLIDARITY WITH US
Much later, after Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection, this baptismal scene was contemplated and its depth better understood. For example, the question arose: "Why did Jesus ask for baptism although he was not a sinner?" The first possible answer was that he wanted to be part of his people’s journey and therefore chose to show solidarity with sinners. What is striking is that it is precisely at this moment that he is declared "Son"! A second possible answer is that it proves that the true focus of baptism is not sin ... it is a story of love; no wonder that baptism is an immersion in the Holy Spirit! It places the baptized person in a filial position vis-à-vis the Father and in solidarity with one’s sisters and brothers. We tend to see baptism in terms of purification, but it seems that for God it is about filial and fraternal love! When baptism immerses us in the Holy Spirit it immerses us in God’s love; when God says to Jesus, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased," through him God is proposing this to all humankind; we simply need to accept that God’s love dwells in us.

THE HEAVENS ARE TORN OPEN
Now we understand why the heavens are torn open, as was Isaiah’s wish: "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you as when brushwood is set ablaze, or fire makes the water boil. Then your name would be made known... "(Isaiah 63.19). To rend the heavens open signifies that there is no more separation between heaven and earth: the universe is no longer the prison in which humanity has locked itself in hiding ever since it became afraid of God, ever since the suspicion that overcame it in Eden; communication between God and God’s children is finally restored; humanity can finally know God as God is and not according to the caricatures it has invented over time.

Jesus has taken the helm of this new humanity, the one that lives by the Spirit of God; as St Paul says, “Jesus is the firstborn amongst many brothers and sisters"(Rom 8.29). Now the image of the dove makes sense: "(Jesus) saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him." Just like the breath of God hovered over the waters at the first creation, so too God’s Spirit hovers over this man who is the first of the new creation. Jesus’ baptism is the first manifestation of the Trinity.

Note that this is happening at the Jordan, the same river that the chosen people had passed through on dry ground under the leadership of Joshua in order to enter the Promised Land; now, like Joshua, Jesus emerges from the Jordan, leading the new people of God towards the true Promised Land, the one where all will be brothers and sisters.

Translated with permission by Simone Baryliuk, from: Commentaires de Marie Noëlle Thabut, 11 janvier, 2015
http://www.eglise.catholique.fr/foi-et-vie-chretienne/commentaires-de-marie-noelle-thabut.html