Baptism of our Lord
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”
Dave Zelenka’s 2005 rendition of the Baptism of Christ is unique in how utterly enveloped Christ is in the waters: indeed, the waters rise up to envelop even the Baptizer as he prays over Jesus. And yet, even as Jesus is immersed in the waters, the waters part for him, and for the Spirit descending, and for the light that shines both from within and from above.
The impulse in most of the traditional iconography of this scene is precisely the opposite. Christ in fact stands above the waters, even as he is immersed in them; the waters — indeed — flee from him (Ps 77:16). Christ is over the waters, symbolizing his resurrection; symbolizing the final defeat of God in Christ over chaos and death — and indicating his full divinity. The artistic trope, indeed, follows most closely from this last point, as Arian depictions of the Baptism, like that at the especially ancient baptistry of Ravenna, depict Christ as entering the waters to indicate his subjection to creaturely status — and his corresponding inferiority to the Father.
Divorced from the Arian connotations, however, the image of Christ immersed in the waters has a certain profundity and poignancy in our age. Even as Jesus Christ is fully God, God in Jesus Christ has entered fully into humanity, taking on and taking into himself the fullness of human experience, with all of its ambiguities, anxieties, and uncertainties. Jesus has entered fully into the turbulent waters of our troublesome fears and the deep anxieties spawned by our unsettled age. He is with us in the storm and in the chaos, in the unthinkable challenges of our day.
You have subdued Rahab of the deep, and destroyed her; you have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
—Ethan the Ezrahite (Psalm 89:10)
First Sunday after Epiphany (Baptism of our Lord)
Texts for this Week
Prayer
Eternal Father, at the baptism of Jesus you revealed him to be your Son, and your Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove: Grant that we, who are born again by water and the Spirit, may be faithful as your adopted children; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Hail to the Lord’s Anointed!
Drawn from the imagery of Ps 72, this 19th C Christmas hymn of James Montgomery calls to mind the implications of the coming of Christ and of his triumph for social order. This video offers a contemporary interpretation by Indelible Grace, feat. Sandra McCracken, although it is traditionally rendered with the German folk tune, Es flog ein kleins Waldvögelein, as intoned by this virtual choir from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The version done by the New Scottish Hymns band might be my favorite contemporary rendition, but the visual with the stream is timely for the feast.
