The Greater Joshua

THE 2ND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

We live in a time of disjointed consciousness within a philosophical milieu challenged by abstractions and incoherence. Said another way, fewer and fewer aspects of life (of being and experience) seem to fit together; time itself seems to lose its coherence. I can't exactly put my finger on why the age we live in, with all of its advanced technologies, scientific discoveries, and an endless array of entertainments, is causing this: but surely it is. Evidenced by the number of people struggling with debilitating depression, boredom, or social anxiety. A splintered and incoherent existence, if it doesn't reintegrate and find continuity and wholeness, will lose its purpose, trajectory, and the goal at which it aims.

The great tradition of the Christian church understands this, which is why she retained the liturgical seasons God had set in motion for Israel through her feasts and fasts (you know, the Feast of Booths, Passover, First Fruits, etc.), a liturgical cycle integrated into time and nature. By connecting Israel's feasts with nature, God imposed a Divine logic upon spring and winter, summer and fall.

And surely it was in his rights to do so: for He created and ordered the world. He causes the rising of the sun and the setting of the same. Springtime brings rain for life and harvest, and in the winter, flowers grow dormant as frost covers the fields: nature itself reveals pattern, form, rhythmic cohesion, all based in the God of order and continuity. A logical world participating in the logical Lord.

From this context, we can better understand and appreciate the wisdom of the Christian liturgical year and its cycle of seasons that, year after year, retell the glorious story of redemption. And the lectionary found in our prayer books, the daily readings, and the scriptures appointed for each Sunday follow this same Divine logic. This is why it shouldn't surprise us to discover thematic, narrative, and theological continuity throughout these weeks of Epiphany-tide as the story of the incarnation continues to unfold.

First, Jesus is manifested as the promised King of Israel, born on Christmas day. Then, we encountered the Christ child as a young boy of twelve in the temple, in His Father's house, sitting among Israel's teachers. He is Divine wisdom itself in the flesh, and even as a boy, He is all about his Father's business. And in today's Gospel, taken from the first chapter of St. Mark, the boy whom Kings and parents sought for has now come seeking to be baptized in the Jordan River by his cousin John.

"The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." In just two lines, Mark has brought together the Old and the New, the last prophet of Israel and the coming of the Messiah, promised to usher in a new age of redemption for the people of God.

You see, he was born into history to deliver his people who were looking for and waiting on Messiah to come and lead them out from oppression and tyranny. In former times, especially in times of great distress, God sent words of hope through the prophets, the hope of a future exodus one greater than the first. This is exactly what God promised to the Israelites, who witnessed Jerusalem's destruction and were then carried off to Babylon. Through Zechariah, God promised a new exodus, to lead them back to himself, back to the Holy City, saying,

"Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof."

One day, God would return to lead his people out of captivity, a second exodus, to not only restore Jerusalem but restore joy, peace, safety, and gladness; boys and girls safely playing the streets. Old and young, men and women reunited to their God in the city of his dwelling. And now, the time has come. John has emerged from the wilderness crying out to any who would hear: the time is at hand; "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!"

John came preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, "saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose." His was a baptism of preparation designed for those moved to repentance, desiring pardon. Their baptism was their confession of sin, going into the waters a sign of turning back to God, showing forth the desire to receive the coming One of spoken of by Malachi and the prophets. And from Mark's account, people are coming out by the thousands to get ready for the Messiah.

"And it came to pass in those days, (as Israel awaited a new exodus) that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized of John in Jordan." What we are to see in this historical event is the coming of the greater Joshua, one who will cross over the Jordan to lead God's people into the promises of God. 'Joshua'- from the Hebrew Yehoshua, meaning "God is salvation."

In the first exodus, Joshua was chosen to bring Israel out from the wilderness, over the Jordan, and into the land promised to Abraham and Jacob to dispose of the wicked nations who had usurped their birthright. And now, one greater than Joshua has come, Jesus: 'God who saves' in the flesh. This is how we make sense of Jesus' Baptism. He didn't need to repent. He didn't need to be forgiven through the waters, and yet, he came forward to be baptized.

In his baptismal account, St. Matthew writes that Jesus came "from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him." You see, Jesus wants to be baptized. And when the Baptist objects to the Lord’s request, (“I'm not worthy to baptize you, in fact, you should baptize me!") Jesus pushes back, saying, "No, John. Let it be so now, for thus, it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."

Jesus is concerned with fulfilling righteousness, and as an Israelite, it's only fitting that He would hear the voice of Israel's prophet through whom God is calling his people to be baptized, and then do it! We have to understand what our Lord understands righteousness to be. To fulfill all righteousness means to accept the entirety of God's will, a willingness to bear the full "yoke of God's kingdom" by fulfilling every Divine command, and thus, fulfill all righteousness.

So in a sense, for our Lord to be sinless and full of righteousness, he to come to the waters as the Father has commanded all of Israel. He is compelled to do all that His Father asks Him. In light of this, we find in Jesus' baptism a powerful expression of his unrestricted "yes" to God's will: "not my will, but yours be done."

Now, one might ask, doesn't Jesus' act of descending into the waters of this baptism imply a confession of guilt and a plea for forgiveness? For sinners, yes, but for Jesus, the descent into the waters was his "yes" to identify himself with an entire world marked by sin; His "yes" as an expression of his solidarity with every single person stained by sin and shackled by guilt. Remember, He came to save sinners.

In baptism, sinners go down into the water, praying and seeking to be absolved from sins. But what of Jesus? What did he do when he went down into the waters? St. Luke's portrait tells us that our Lord was praying while he received baptism (3:21). By stepping into the waters, Jesus shows his willingness to identify himself with sinners; in a sense, he loads the burden of all mankind's guilt upon his shoulders and bares it down into the depths of the Jordan. You see, the descent into the waters signified his death on the Cross by which he would accomplish the forgiveness of sins.

Now, take a look at the cover of today's bulletin. In much of the church's iconography, you will find icons of Jesus' Baptism depicting the water as a liquid tomb in the form of a downward cavern, signifying hades, or the place of the dead  Jesus Christ, our Lord, is shown standing, in the middle of the Jordan River, as in a "flowing tomb" which engulfs Him on all sides, emphasizing that He was immersed as a sign of His burial, because baptism signifies the Lord's death as St. Paul tells us, writing, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (Rom 6:3). Think of his baptism through the lens of the Cross: in full obedience to his Father's will, he comes to bear a sinner’s burden and descends into a watery tomb.

Is the picture getting clearer? Beloved, Jesus' baptism was His acceptance of death, to suffer and die on behalf of sinners like us. This is why, in scripture, our Lord himself referred to his death as a baptism. Remember when the Apostles boldly declare to follow Jesus into whatever turmoil lies ahead, and He says, "Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" (Mk 10:38) He's speaking of his crucifixion and death, And again, in speaking of his imminent death, says, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!" (Lk 12:50).

Having made the connection between his baptism and death, Mark tells us that "as Jesus was coming up out of the water," the heavens were torn open, and a voice from heaven called out, saying, "This is my beloved Son." With the Cross as our backdrop, we now see that the voice of affirmation which cries down from heaven is anticipating the resurrection of our Lord whom God the Father rose on the third day, vindicating his son and by bringing him back from the dead, affirmed his Divine sonship: "this is my beloved Son."

The God who saves has come, Jesus. One Greater than Solomon has come, the greater Joshua has crossed over the Jordan to lead God's people into the promised land. The Greater Moses, who by his passion, death, and resurrection, has accomplished the great exodus of captive humanity from the bondage of Sin and Death by his death. He has opened the gates of heaven to all who believe. The greater Joshua, the greater Moses: for his name is greater than any other name in heaven or on the earth: for he is called Son.

Like Isaac before Him, Jesus obeyed the will of his Father, gladly laying down upon the sacrificial wood. But unlike Isaac, who escaped by the appearance of a ram, Jesus appeared as the lamb sacrificed in our place. The Son of God, beloved of the Father, sent into the world to die in place of poor miserable sinners: "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!" My dear friends, we have been bought with a price. We have been caught up in this great salvific exodus, membered among the redeemed; made sons and daughters through faith in the Son of God made man, Jesus Christ, who is the faithful and obedient son.

Of his own will, Jesus came to be baptized by John. Without fear or self-regard, he identified himself with sinners, even carried their burdens down into the water with him. And when he arose, he saw into heaven and heard the affirming voice of his Father. As it was with him, may it be with us as well. May we be ever attentive to our Father's will, striving by grace to fulfill all righteousness, so that at the last, when the trumpet sounds and the angel shouts, we too shall see the heavens torn open and our Lord returning to gather us into his arms and remain with us forever. Amen+

*I rely on many helpful insights on Jesus’ Baptism from Ratzinger and other writings from the Nouvelle Theologians.