–St. Gregory of Nyssa: “Jesus enters the filthy (sinful) waters of the world and when He comes out, brings up (purifies) the entire world with Him.”–

In our meditation on Christ’s baptism, let us begin with a consideration of water itself. Alexander Schmemann notes three essential dimensions of water. Water is seen as:
1-Life. It is the primary matter of which the Spirit moves upon from the very beginning (Gen. 1:2), and from which He drew up the land and all creation.
2-Death and destruction. This is seen in the flood Noah was saved from, the submerging of the Egyptians in Exodus, etc.
3. Purification. This is witnessed in John’s baptism, and Christ’s own, and even in Old Testament washings for un-cleanliness and such.

In these three dimensions we then see creation, fall, and redemption, we see life, death, and resurrection. Interestingly, water is simultaneously a principle of life and death, just as the cross now is. Also interesting is that when Christ goes to the Jordan and to the Cross we see these activities as unfit for Him. John the Baptist sees that Christ is not in need of repentance or purification, and Pontius Pilate sees that Christ is not a criminal deserving punishment or death. Yet Jesus insists to John that baptizing Him must be done to fulfill all righteousness, and to Peter that He must be crucified and to prevent Him would be a work of Satan.

The feast celebrating Christ’s Baptism is called “Theophany,” or “Epiphany.” Both of these names refer to the revelation of God at Christ’s Baptism. We essentially look to the revelation of the Trinity there as Christ is in the river, the Father speaks, and the Spirit descends. What else is revealed? The other revelations I want to highlight have to do with the Spirit’s descending. We could note that this reveals further Christ (i.e., “anointed one”) as Messiah, Who is anointed with the Holy Spirit. But there are two parallels to the Old Testament here. First, why did the Holy Spirit descend in the form of a dove? Think of the dove that came to Noah (interestingly with a olive branch: the oil of anointing) after he and his family were “saved through water” (1 Pet. 3:20) and is the symbol of peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The dove form recalls the story of Noah, and St. Peter himself makes the parallel between Noah’s family being “saved through water” and baptism “which now saves us” (1 Pet. 3:20-21). God again is offering us peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The second parallel recalls Scripture a bit prior to Noah. Indeed the Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of Christ,” as the New Testament says, so, why reveal and emphasize His “resting” upon Christ at Baptism? Think again to the water. Here we see the Spirit again descend and “move upon the waters” as He did in the beginning (Gen. 1:2). This reveals that the new creation is upon us, and that it is in Christ that this restoration takes place. The cosmos is restored to what it was always meant to be: the life of man and the communion between God and man (Schmemann). Adam partook of the one thing not given for communion; he wanted the thing in itself, apart from God; but apart from God there is no life and thus Adam died. But, in the new Adam, all things are again given to us as gifts from God blessed to be partaken of (hence Peter’s dream of all foods being made pure and allowed for consumption). And in a very special sense, in the waters of Baptism, we commune with God, i.e., we “put on Christ.” Let us remember the similarities noted earlier between Christ’s Crucifixion and Christ’s Baptism. On the Cross Christ united death to Himself Who is Life, thus making death the very servant of life/Life. Death has lost its sting and is now our passage to life more fully (“to die is to gain”). One could say that on His Cross Christ united Himself with death, so that our death is no longer destruction but a passage into life/Life. In like fashion one could say that in His Baptism Christ united Himself with the waters so that our baptism is no longer merely baptism in water but a baptism in Him. Indeed this is why in baptism we “put on Christ.” And this is also why Baptism is our death. In this world Christ is crucified (Pascal). To live in Christ is to die with Him to “this world” (of sin and death). There is no other life revealed to us but that of taking up our cross daily. We live by offering up our life everyday; and by losing our life for His sake we find it. Let us take two similar lines from St. Paul:

“As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27).
“As many as have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death” (Rom. 6:3).

St. Paul tells us that entrance into Christ’s death is inextricably linked to putting on Christ; we have put on Christ Who is crucified, and thus our putting on Christ is our putting on crucifixion (so that we may be risen as Christ is in the new life in Christ).

Let us also look at Mt. 20:22-23: “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.” So he said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.”

Here Christ speaks of His upcoming death as a cup, for He drank it willingly, and as baptism, for He was immersed in it. Christ tells the Sons of Zebedee that they will be baptized with the baptism He is baptized with, which is death. St. Paul tells us that baptism into Christ is baptism into Christ’s death (which is Christ’s baptism, in Christ’s own words above). And just as Christ describes His death as baptism due to His immersion into it, so Paul describes the immersing action of baptism as our being “buried with [Christ] through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4-5). In Paul there is no such notion of symbol being distinct from reality. The immersion is not only a sign of our death, it is our death and burial in all actuality. The symbol truly reveals the reality, communicates the reality, is the reality, and fulfills the reality (Schmemann). The symbol and reality coincide as the purpose of one is precisely to be the other. This is because, as noted before, we are in the restored creation made new in Christ. Creation is restored to being what it was always meant to be: a means of communion with God. In baptism we see the first fruits of this newness of life.

Furthermore, Christ speaks to the Sons of Zebedee as to future martyrs. The Greek word for martyr is literally “witness.” As Fr. Schmemann writes: “The martyrs were witnesses: witnesses of the transformation of death . . . the first Christian martyr, Stephen, as he was dying, said: ‘I see heaven opening.’ He witnessed death becoming life. The ‘birthday’ of the martyrs are celebrated by the Church on their death days; on that day they were ‘born.’” The martyrs witness death becoming life, and we, the baptized, witness this. Baptism is our birth into that new life, the life in death. As Christ says, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). In baptism, our second birth (our being born again, or, literally, born from above) is our first death, and our first death is our birth to the new life in Christ, wherein, if we shall persevere to end in living crucified, in taking up our cross daily, in being ever dead to sin, we shall be ever alive to Christ and our second death will not be to our destruction or condemnation. “He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death” (Rev. 2:11). It is from this perspective that we can see martyrdom as the culmination of the life of the baptized.

Let us praise Christ Who restored creation, Who made death life, Who made the waters no longer a realm of death, destruction, or demons, but a place of meeting with God. Let us praise Christ who called fishermen out of the water that when they returned to water they saw the Lord calm the squalls of a storm and even walk upon the waves. Let us praise Christ who turned the water to wine and continues to turn water to our grave, to our life, to the waters of baptism.

MCO