An Icon of the Baptism of Christ
Paul Walton
13 January 2004
Isaiah 43:1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17
St Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
On the first Sunday after Epiphany, the western Church celebrates the Baptism of Jesus; the Church of the East celebrates it on 6 January, the Theophany. Let us look for a while at the Baptism of Christ as Theophany, and allow the icon of the Baptism of Jesus to be our guide to reflection on this wonderful sacrament. The icon is not an ‘illustration’, or window-dressing; it’s not something that we can leave behind when we come to the ‘serious’ business of theology. Like all icons, this icon is a window through which we can see much, much further. Let’s find out what there is to see when we look through this window.
An icon ‘holds’ a moment. It doesn’t freeze the moment in time, as something from the past; rather, it ‘liberates’ it to serve as a portal to God’s eternity. The moment that is captured in this icon is when God the Father says, ‘This is my beloved Son,’ and the Spirit descends upon him like a dove.
The Orthodox Church emphasises the Baptism of Jesus as the first revealing of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit acting together in total unity. The Father declares Jesus to be the beloved Son, and the Spirit descends upon the Son. Here, we first see who God is—God is one, but not alone (Hilary of Poitiers)—and we see how God acts—God acts as a communion of ‘Persons’.
This revelation of the Holy Trinity is of such importance for the Orthodox Church that it names the whole celebration after it. It is the ‘Theophany’, the Revealing of God. The Orthodox Church celebrated the Baptism of Jesus last week, on 6 January; they do not have Epiphany, the Revealing, but Theophany. (For them, the magi come on Christmas Day, just like they do for most people in the West!)
This Theophany is of cosmic importance. The Song of Ascents in the current liturgy of Mustard Bush Faith Community uses an Orthodox Epiphany hymn which says,
Blessed are you, O God,
and blessed is the eternal Word,
at whose appearing in the body
the earth was sanctified,
the water blessed,
the heaven illumined,
and humankind delivered
from the bitter tyranny of the enemy.
We can only say these words because the unfolding of the life of Christ reveals the eternal Trinity. God becomes flesh, and so flesh—that is, all material creation—is transformed. Even the waters are cleansed as Christ enters them. And salvation is not just for individuals—not even primarily for individuals—but involves the whole creation.
In this moment in time held by the icon, this portal to eternity, the heavens are opened. It seems to me that would be a frightening thing to happen. The Greek word means that the heavens experience a schism, a split, a tear. Such a schism in the heavens might well cause a split in the waters themselves, or the very earth. As Psalm 29 shows, the voice of God can cause fear:
The voice of the Lord is powerful;And yet:
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.…
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;…
The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.…
The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;Look, though, at the face of Christ: it is full of serenity. In fact, all faces on icons have serene expressions. Fear has been cast out by perfect love (1 John 4:18). There is no need to fear even if the heavens split open, because ‘God is light and in God there is no darkness at all’ (1 John 1:5). Icons teach us the perfect love of God.
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless his people with peace!
The moment ‘held’ by this icon is eternally present to us. Christ is being baptised for us, beginning his immersion into the waters of death, and the transfiguration of creation. And his baptism provides the pattern for our own.
Our baptism—Christian baptism—is not a baptism of repentance, like John’s was. It is baptism into Christ. It makes us into ‘little Christs’. In baptism, God says to us, ’You are my beloved son … You are my beloved daughter.’ We are brought into the community of the Holy Spirit, the Church.
The Uniting Church’s new draft baptism service puts it like this:
Baptism is Christ’s gift.The baptism of Jesus opens up the way of salvation for us; it reveals God as Trinity for the first time; it begins the transfiguration of the whole creation. It is truly a Theophany. The icon of Christ’s baptism shows this clearly, to those who have eyes to see.
It is the sign by which the Spirit of God
joins people to Jesus Christ
and incorporates them into his body, the Church.In his own baptism in the Jordan by John,
Jesus identified himself with humanity
in its brokenness and sin;
that baptism was completed in his death and resurrection.
By God’s grace,
baptism plunges us into the faith of Jesus Christ,
so that whatever is his may be called ours.
By water and the Spirit we are claimed as God’s own
and set free from the power of sin and death.Thus, claimed by God
we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit
that we may live as witnesses to Jesus Christ,
share his ministry in the world and grow to maturity,
awaiting with hope the day of our Lord Jesus.
Amen.