4th century homily for epiphany
Water and Spirit
Jesus came to John and was baptized by him in the Jordan. What incredible wonderful events! The boundless river that delights the city of God, how is it washed in a little water? The incomprehensible source that brings forth life for all men and has no end has been covered by wretched, fleeting waters! He who is present everywhere, who is absent from nowhere, he who is incomprehensible to angels and invisible to men, comes to baptism because he has willed it. ~
And behold, the heavens opened for him , and a voice said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The Beloved begets love, and immaterial Light begets inaccessible light. ~
This man is the one called Joseph’s son, and he is “my only son” according to the divine essence: This is my beloved Son. He is hungry, and he feeds thousands; he toils, and he gives rest to those who toil; he has nowhere to lay his head, and he carries everything in his hand; he suffers, and he remedies suffering; he is bled, and he gives freedom to the world; his side is pierced, and he restores Adam’s side.
But please listen to me carefully: I want to go back to the source of life and contemplate the fount from which healings spring. The Father of immortality sent his immortal Son, his Word, into the world. He came to wash man in water and Spirit. He made him reborn to make his soul and body incorruptible; he awakened his breath of life in us, and clothed us in incorruptible armor. So if man has become immortal, he too will become God. And if he becomes God through water and the Holy Spirit after receiving the new birth in baptism, he will also be a co-heir with Christ in the resurrection from the dead.
So I proclaim: “Come, all the tribes of the nations to the bath of immortality!” ~ This water, united with the Spirit, is the water that waters Paradise, fertilizes the earth, makes plants grow and generates the living. In a word, it brings man to life by making him reborn, in whom Christ was baptized, upon whom the Spirit descended in the form of a dove. ~
Those who immerse themselves with faith in this bath of the new birth separate themselves from the devil and unite with Christ. He renounces the enemy and confesses that Christ is God. He rejects slavery and takes on the condition of an adopted son. He emerges from the bath, shining like the sun, radiant with righteousness. Above all, he emerges a son of God and co-heir with Christ.
To this, glory and power, together with the most holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.
Response
R/ One Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and Father.
Called to keep the unity of the Spirit
by the bond of peace,
we sing and we proclaim:
Called to form one Body
in one Spirit,
we sing and we proclaim:
Called to share one hope
in Christ,
we sing and we proclaim:
Oraison
Eternal God, it was in the reality of our flesh that your only-begotten Son appeared; since we recognize that his humanity was similar to ours, grant us to be transformed by him in the depths of our hearts. He who reigns.
