THE BAPTISM OF FIRE First Sunday in the Time of the Resurrection

[Walter Coleman]

THE BAPTISM OF FIRE

First Sunday in the Time of the Resurrection

 

On Thursday night we prayed over the scripture about the Last supper. Jesus gathered with his disciples on the day of Passover, warned that one of them would betray him and gave them a way to keep his ministry alive with what we today call Holy Communion. He would go to the mount of Olives where he told Peter that Peter would deny him three times. Then he would go to the garden of Gethsemane to pray while the disciples slept – and where Judas led the police to arrest him.

On Friday, we celebrated the Way of the Cross in front of ICE. We marked the crucifixions of military service, mass incarceration and mass deportation. We marked the crucifixion of families, separated by ICE.  We marked the crucifixion of five million U.S. citizen children deprived of their parents or living in fear that they will be deported, the crucifixion of DACA eligible young people and the crucifixion of those murdered by police and those victims of gun violence in this nation and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. We marked the crucifixion of the people of Puerto Rico, abandoned by this government.

We also celebrated the courage and faith of Miguel Perez and Francisca Lino who have faced their crucifixions as Jesus did – with a Christ given innocence that exposed the hypocrisy of their oppressors. We celebrated that they are walking in the footsteps of Jesus and will, like Jesus, know the Resurrection!

When Jesus breathed his last on the cross it is said that the curtain in the temple was torn in two. That curtain covered a special place in the temple, the only place from which forgiveness could be granted by the Priests. With the coming of Jesus, a new ministry was established that did not depend on the corruption of the priests. Confession and Reconciliation were now practiced by ordinary people in communities of faith. The sacrament of communion that Jesus began at the last supper would now be a way for the people of God to celebrate and strengthen their faith apart from the temple – importantly in the diaspora communities to which they were dispersed by the Roman conquerors.

Easter brought forward a new faith that would spread throughout the world – especially in the Americas. It is the faith that we celebrate in this church, the faith that sustains us! Yet the crucifixion and resurrection, which Jesus predicted often during his ministry, he himself called “his baptism”, a baptism in fire. He asked his disciples – as he asks us today – Can you be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized!

When we baptize a child, we sprinkle water on their forehead to symbolize their being submerged in the water, dying to the world, and then arising from the water in new life. We do this baptism in front of the community asking them to take responsibility for this child and we celebrate the commitment of God parents. Baptism is not only an act of acknowledging God as first in our lives, it is an act of trust and communion with family and community, an act which renews the people of God.

John the Baptist said, “I baptize you with water, but one will come who will baptize you with fire.” The Baptism of Fire is not symbolic. The Baptism of Fire brings a person through real defeats and humiliation before it raises that person up in resurrection.

The arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus must have seemed like a terrible defeat. Only a few days before people had seen him march into Jerusalem and be greeted as a King.

We know about defeats. We have known the blows of deportation and incarceration, family separation, death at the hands of police and the culture of gun violence. We know the day to day defeats of losing jobs, of being denied health care.

We also know the defeat of betrayal. Jesus told the disciples that one of them would betray him and that the rest of them would deny him. Yet he placed his ministry in their hands and he told them, “As I have loved you now you must love each other.” He understood the baptism he was to go through and he understood what effect that would have not only on the disciples but on millions of people who also faced oppression and defeat.

When Mary and the women went to the tomb they went to honor their fallen hero in the traditional way. Instead, they found an empty tomb. Then they saw an angel that told Jesus Jesus was not there. Where had he gone?

Jesus had taught the people that he brought a seed. A seed is buried in the ground but breaks through into the sunlight. When the seed becomes the corn, you can no longer see the seed – it has become the corn. That is why we speak of the faithful as the body of Christ. Jesus was no longer in the tomb of death because he had been resurrected in the new life of the people of God.

That is our challenge today. We may not have trusted each other and committed ourselves to each other as we should. We may not have trusted God and embraced his purpose for us. We may have become discouraged by defeats. We may have turned away from each other and even betrayed each other, if only in our thoughts. Yet today, we begin the time of Resurrection, the time in which we are renewed as the people of God.

Just as Jesus provided the way of renewal, the way for the people of God to grow stronger, so we have those who have inspired us, who have walked in the footsteps of Jesus. The injustice done to Francisca, done to millions of families like hers, angers us – but it is the example of her faith and courage in sanctuary that renews our faith in the people of God. So it was for the people who loved Jesus.

Just as Jesus provided a way of renewal through his baptism, so Miguel Perez has exposed by his resistance the injustice of the crucifixions he faced: the crucifixion of the military which uses and then throws away its soldiers; the crucifixion of mass incarceration which responds to the problems of addiction by arrests and long incarceration; the crucifixion of mass deportation, aimed at making America White Again, and finally the crucifixion of separation from his own family.

Both Francisca and Miguel grew stronger in their faith and their conviction as they faced crucifixion. They drew people to them in love and admiration and solidarity. Their resistance renewed us as a people of God!

          In these next weeks we will read together about the appearance of the resurrected Jesus to his disciples - and to the people. In each appearance we will find a lesson that Jesus had taught in his ministry. We will see that Jesus was preparing a people to maintain their faith in the diaspora to which they would soon be dispersed. You see, Jesus had predicted that the Romans would destroy Jerusalem, destroy the temple and send the people to other countries in the empire. Some would come to live in Rome itself. They would be illegal, without rights. They would be labeled as criminals and a threat to the empire. They would be persecuted, and many would be killed. Their faith would be suppressed. Yet he prepared them to gather together in communities of faith and resistance and he gave them the ways to worship and struggle in these Kingdom communities which would allow them to survive and grow.

          Each year we celebrate these weeks of resurrection because they speak to us in our situation. Each year we renew and discover more deeply the way of resurrection. This way of resurrection for centuries has made it possible for a people to survive the invasion and conquest of Latin America by the Europeans. The people of Latin America and the Caribbean have suffered five hundred years of the Way of the Cross – survived and grown! The ministry that Jesus brought had been turned upside down by the Europeans and they carried it upside down to the Americas. There a faithful people turned it right side up. There the peopleof Guadalupe turned it right side up!

The way of resurrection has made it possible for those who have been driven from their homelands to survive and grow even here in this country – has it made it possible for the early Christians to survive and grow even in Rome itself! Each year we renew our faith and face new realities.

Will you join in the Resurrection this year?

During the crucifixion the sky turned dark. On the morning of the resurrection the sun rose in the sky. The cold of winter is giving way to the warmth of spring! When the prophets spoke of the promise of the Lord to the people of God, they said God would make his people to be fruitful and multiply. Look around you! A new generation has taken to the streets in the millions. A new generation has led the fight against police abuse proclaiming that Black and Brown lives matter. A new generation surrounded the politicians in Washington DC to demand DACA and to refuse to let themselves be used in a compromise to deport their parents. Right here, among us, Familia Latina Unida has given birth to La FuerZa Juventud!

The Resurrection grows like a new crop of corn. Let it grow in you. Receive it! Where there was distrust, dare to trust. Where there was doubt, dare to believe. Where there was distance in your family and your friendships, dare to embrace each other. For those who have grown tired in the struggle, dare to keep on in the assurance that a new generation will take up the cross. For the next generation, dare to take your place NOW in the struggle of our people!

Those who have been deported will return in time – because we will never abandon them! Miguel will win his right to stay in this land. Francisca will win her right to be here with her family. We are in stormy times in this country now, but our faith provides a bridge over troubled water until the storm of racism and white supremacy passes.

A new movement arises now, a movement that fuses together the people of many causes. Your struggle has made your place in that movement ‘ which will be victorious!

Remember today the blind man who told Jesus “I want to see.” Dare to see the Kingdom of God come alive in the people of God. Remember today the man who told Jesus, “I believe, increase my faith.” The path through the season of Resurrection offers the way to increase and grow strong in our faith. Walk the path with us. Walk the path in these next weeks so you will be ready for the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit will fill you.

In the name of Jesus who was crucified, dead and buried but rose again from the dead to give life to the people of God, in His name you are baptized again this year!

It’s Resurrection Time! Christ Lives! Cristo Vive! Cristo Vive!

 

The Holy Scriptures for the first Sunday in the Resurrection

 

Mark 15:21-32 The Crucifixion of Jesus

²¹ A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. ²² They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ²³ Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴ And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. ²⁵ It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶ The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews.  They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. ^{[28] [a] 29} Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰ come down from the cross and save yourself!”³¹ In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! ³² Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

Mark 15:33-36 The Death of Jesus

³³ At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ³⁴ And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). ³⁵ When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.” ³⁶ Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said. ³⁷ With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. ³⁸ The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹ And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died,^[c] he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Mark 16:1-8 Jesus Has Risen

16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. ² Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb ³ and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. ⁵ As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ⁶ “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” ⁸ Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.