Isaiah 42.1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10.34-43; Matthew 3.13-end
THE Baptism of Christ, taken with the Epiphany, sets the pattern for every latest yr of our discipleship. Last week, the identity of the Christ-child was made known to the Gentiles, who stand for “the entire world”. Thus, the Epiphany reveals the one who’s “King of the Jews” as “the nice king over all of the earth” (Psalm 47.2)
Now the Sonship of the King is disclosed, by Jesus’s baptism. This disclosure of family relationship is a primary step on our Christian journey to the fullness of revelation. We call that fullness of revelation “the Trinity”. Our God shouldn’t be a God of transcendent isolation, however the God of relationship. Or, to make use of the theological jargon, God perfectly “coinheres” (the Spirit belongs here, too, but is a theological bridge too far for this short reflection).
“Coinherence” is a word to resolve an issue, to define the indefinable. Augustine once had a conversation along with his son Adeodatus about teaching. In it, he remarked that it’s unattainable to make use of words as tools for understanding words.
Using words to debate words runs the danger of causing a tangle of confusion, as once we interlock fingers and rub them together, which makes it almost unattainable for anyone however the person doing the scratching to inform which fingers are itching and that are relieving the itch.
Putting together “co-” (meaning “with”), and “inhere” (meaning “stick together”) gives us a technical word with no backstory in each day speech. Now we are able to use that word as a fresh expression for something — a something for which all the opposite words we all know are inadequate.
But we are able to use it only once we are talking to others like ourselves. Outside the body of Christ, technical words similar to “coinherence” (or “Trinity”) are merely noise. If we would like to search out ways to talk in regards to the theological truth of how the Father and the Son relate to one another, we want to say it in words that everybody can understand. So, the voice comes from heaven. The Dove descends; the Father acknowledges his Son. The message is evident. The gospel has been proclaimed.
Saying that the Father and the Son “coinhere” doesn’t capture the character of their being, either singly or together. But it does allow us to say something that points towards that spiritual perception that we’ve got inherited: that each the Father and the Son are divine, and that every is mysteriously sure up with the opposite. It shouldn’t be the terminology of this undeniable fact that matters. It is the reality of the connection which changes us — changes the direction of our lives and turns hearers into disciples.
I just like the undeniable fact that Jesus tells John what’s “proper” (verse 15). That word (prepon in Greek) expresses greater than that something is “correct”. It suggests how the world should be; it indicates moral appropriateness; it acknowledges the truest state of all the weather of creation as they individually relate to at least one one other.
In the entire of Matthew’s Gospel, there are only two occasions when God the Father speaks directly. The baptism of Jesus (3.17) is one. The other is his transfiguration (17.5). It is straightforward to miss the undeniable fact that God’s own voice, speaking directly, personally, to humankind, is heard only twice in the entire Gospel. We hear so many messages from God coming by dreams and angels, and thru the words of God’s Son.
These two sentences, direct from the mouth of God, affirm who the person Jesus is. They authenticate his identity at the best level conceivable: not even angelic confirmation will do for such a message. If Jesus is to be a son, he needs a father, and his only true father is God, who can also be the heavenly Father of all humankind.
Both of God’s direct utterances first confirm the very fact of a relationship (“that is my Son”); then they each express the standard of that relationship: it’s a case of loving and being loved. Once we’ve got heard this Gospel, we all know enough of the reality to understand that this father-son relationship will probably be fundamental to all that follows within the lifetime of Jesus. But, if we read further (fairly than stick with the chosen highlights of a Sunday lectionary), we are going to hear the Father’s voice a second time, on the transfiguration, reaffirming Jesus as Son and as beloved. This time, though, the voice will include a commandment: “Listen to him!”
