domenica 10 gennaio 2016

Battesimo del Signore


Martedí scorso, dopo oltre due anni di totale silenzio, questo blog si è ridestato dal sonno. Era proprio necessario? La situazione ecclesiale rispetto a quando esso vide la luce (sette anni fa, ma sembra un secolo...) è profondamente mutata (e forse anche questo ha contribuito, insieme ad altri fattori, all’“assopimento” del blog). In questi anni sono accadute e continuano ad accadere tante cose su cui si potrebbe intervenire (e molti, lodevolmente, lo fanno), ma sulle quali si può tranquillamente anche glissare, concentrandosi sull’essenziale, che consiste nella fedeltà: «Sii fedele fino alla morte e ti darò la corona della vita» (Ap 2:10). Ma ci sono altre questioni su cui non si può far finta di nulla, perché toccano l’essenza della fede cristiana, che è il tesoro piú prezioso che abbiamo, e che dobbiamo mantenere integro per noi stessi (se vogliamo salvarci) e per le generazione a venire. Una di tali questioni è la mediazione salvifica universale, e quindi esclusiva, di Cristo. Beh, vedere che in un documento, ancorché non ufficiale, della Santa Sede si potesse in qualche modo mettere in discussione tale verità, mi ha direi quasi costretto a ridiscendere in campo. Non sono nessuno, ma ciò non significa che anche l’ultimo nella Chiesa non abbia il dovere di dare il suo piccolo contributo alla difesa della fede. Ora, siccome non vorrei che, dopo il brusco risveglio, il blog sprofondasse di nuovo nel sonno, ho pensato di tenerlo desto con la pubblicazione delle mie omelie domenicali. Non mi costa nulla, dal momento che, in ogni caso, devo preparare l’omelia per i miei pochi fedeli: ci vogliono cinque minuti per passarla dal file al blog. La mia piccola comunità è internazionale, per cui sono costretto a usare l’inglese; ma è un inglese elementare, accessibile a tutti. Anche questo è un modo per condividere con gli amici e con i fratelli di fede ciò che lo Spirito dice a questa povera comunità dell’estrema periferia della Chiesa.



Ulisse Sartini, Battesimo di Gesú, 1999 
(Kabul, Cappella dell’Ambasciata d'Italia)


Last Wednesday we were still contemplating the Infant Jesus visited and adored by the magi; and today, with a thirty-year jump, we find ourselves in front of an adult Jesus, who is starting his public ministry. This kind of temporal leaps, intolerable for a historian, are common in the liturgy. Why? Because, even though the events we are commemorating are different and far from each other, the mystery we are celebrating is the same, that is, the mystery of the manifestation of the Lord. The baptism at the Jordan is also a kind of “epiphany”: Jesus appears to us in his real identity.

Usually, when we talk of Jesus’ baptism, we focus on this specific event: Jesus who goes to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And then we are in trouble, because we do not understand why Jesus did so: he was sinless, and so he did nod need to be baptized. That is why we have to look for other explanations; and so we say: Jesus has himself baptized for us, not for himself; in a way, he takes all of us into the Jordan; he enters the waters shouldering our sins; he anticipates another “baptism”—his death—by which he will wash away the sins of the world.

All this is true: theologians, through the ages, have reflected upon this mystery, and the liturgy itself lingers over it. Just to give you an example, the antiphon at the Magnificat in the first Vespers of this feast says: “Our Savior came to be baptized, so that through the cleansing waters of baptism he might restore the old man to new life, heal our sinful nature, and clothe us with unfailing holiness.”

But it is not that the reason why we are celebrating today the baptism of the Lord. I do not know if you have noticed that today’s gospel does not stress the event of Jesus’ baptism. Luke first tells us that people were wondering whether John the Baptist might be the Messiah. And John gives his testimony: according to the fourth gospel, he says, “I am not the Messiah.” In today’s gospel, he just explains the meaning of his baptism: “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming … He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Then Luke mentions Jesus’ baptism in passing, without dwelling on the details: “After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized...” But he points out another detail: Jesus “was praying.” It means that this is a remarkable moment in Jesus’ life. In Luke’s gospel, when Jesus is doing something important, he prays. This is a turning point in Jesus’ life, because, after thirty years of hidden life, he is starting his public ministry.

Then Luke adds: “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 beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’” That is why we are celebrating today the baptism of the Lord: because, on that occasion, his divine nature was manifested to us. The whole Trinity moves to reveal to us who Jesus really is: the Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove; the Father testifies that he is his Son. Jesus is not a simple man: he is the Son of God. Somebody could think that Jesus becomes Son of God at that moment; but it is no deification, it is just a manifestation: Jesus has always been the Son of God, since the very first moment of his human conception; now his divine nature is shown publicly. He is the Son of God incarnate, that is, made man; not a man deified, that is, made God.


But this divine manifestation (“Theophany,” in Greek) of Jesus is also the announcement of our “deification”: through baptism we become children of God. When we are baptized, we are adopted by God as his children: we become, by adoption, what Jesus is by nature. And so we finally can understand the motive for the incarnation: the Son of God became man, so that we might become children of God!