Epiphany 1C Holy Spirit and fire

Today’s gospel offers us three things to think about: John’s baptism, Jesus’ baptism, and out baptism in Jesus, a baptism “with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  First John’s baptism:  Every Jewish community has a ceremonial bath,  a mikvah, a pool just big enough for an adult to crouch and immerse the body. Going to the mikvah is a sign of commitment to obey the Law of God.  Orthodox women go to the mikvah after the blood shed in the menstrual period;   Orthodox men go after shedding blood and after a wet dream. Gentiles converting to Judaism go to the mikva as a sign of their commitment to obey the Law of God . John’s baptism was a sign of recommitment to obey the Law of God rightly understood as ethical and moral as well as ceremonial and liturgical law.  The people baptized by John were symbolically saying, “we have disobeyed God’s law; we have made ourselves like Gentiles; we repent and we come to God again as though we were Gentile converts.” 

Jesus’ baptism is also a sign of his commitment to obey the Law of God.  Jesus’ baptism begins his public ministry, his life of public teaching and witness to God. The gospel says that after his baptism he was praying. We can imagine him in communion with the Father, seeking and receiving direction for his public ministry. St. Luke tells us of the Father’s affirmation, “the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

We who are in Christ hear the same word, “You are my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” In this sin-filled world we don’t often feel God’s pleasure. We all know how far we have fallen short of God’s perfect will for our lives. We are all repentant and forgiven sinners, made right with God by the saving death of Jesus on the cross, made new in his resurrection. By faith we receive what Jesus offers us, new life in him, new opportunities to love and serve, new opportunities to hear again, “You are my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

John said, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Jesus has indeed “ baptized us with the Holy Spirit and fire.” In our baptism we have been made new people. Our sins have been washed away, and when we sin again, when we repent that effect of baptism is renewed. All our sins are again forgiven, both the sins we remember and repent of, and also the sins we have forgotten and the sins we are unaware of, all our sins are forgiven by Jesus’ death and resurrection. And in addition to our reconciliation with God, in addition to our justification, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of truth and power. In St. John’s Gospel we are told that “you shall know the truth” and the truth will set us free.  In Romans 8:11 St. Paul tells us that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we receive new life in the resurrection of Jesus. “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

How do we understand “baptism in fire?”  Fire is conversion of matter into energy. By fire the wax (or in our case the oil) of candles is converted by flame into gas – water vapor and carbon dioxide. The conversion produces both heat and light.  Evidence of controlled fire is dated about the same time as the earliest evidence of human beings. Making fire requires tools; fire allows for cooking, and control of fire requires social organization, someone to gather the wood and someone else to tend the fire and “keep the home fires burning.”  It requires a home place to keep the fire. No more wandering around gathering berries or hunting small animals to eat raw. With fire people can gather together to cook and eat stew, and make pots to cook it in and spoons to eat it with. Fire is transformative in human society.

The truth, the power, the fire of the Spirit brings us together today.  Fire has been associated with worship from the earliest times.  At least 50 countries maintain eternal flames as memorials – from Arlington at President Kennedy’s grave to Ground Zero the World Trade Center, at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, in Jerusalem at Yad Va Shem to remember the Holocaust – and so on. In ancient Rome the Vestal Virgins maintained a flame for 1000 years. Leviticus 6:13 commands an eternal fire at the altar of offering.  In some churches a candle burns before the tabernacle as a sign of the presence of the reserved sacrament, of the bread and wine which are the continued expression of Christ’s continued presence in, with, and under the elements of Holy Communion.  The baptism of fire burns within each of us. The light of Christ burns in our hearts to enlighten us to salvation, to show forth Christ’s glory until he comes again.

                 
Fire is the conversion of solid wood and wax and oil into a new form, into oxygen and carbon dioxide and into energy.  Christ converts us into his eternal presence in the world.  We are day by day being used up. Day by day we convert food into energy and waste. May the fire of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth and power, the Spirit of the Living Christ, daily convert us into his faithful servants, empowered to do God’s will in the world Jesus has redeemed.   Lord, we thank you for our baptism, for the baptism of water that washes away all sin, and for the converting baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. Amen.