First Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 9th January 2022
Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 43 v1-7; Psalm 29; Acts 8 v14-17; Luke 3 v15-17, 21-22.
Symbols of God’s presence.
In response to the crowd’s speculation that he might be ‘the Messiah’, John the Baptist said, “I am baptizing with water. But someone more powerful is going to come….. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3 v16).
What do you make of the use of the word ‘fire’ in this context? Do you equate it with giving you ‘passion’ ‘enthusiasm’ or ‘zeal’ for doing God’s will? Or do you think of it as suggesting a means of ‘refining’ as in ‘purging impurities’? Or do you gloss over the reference to ‘fire’ and concentrate solely on the ‘Holy Spirit’ element?
The Collins Bible dictionary offers up the following definition:
Fire. In addition to its ordinary domestic uses, fire is often associated with punishment, both literally and as eternal fire (Leviticus 20v14; Revelation 20 v10). However, it is also frequently used as a symbol of God’s presence, especially in relation to his holiness and purity (Hebrews 12 v29). Prayers answered by fire are special signs of the power of God. (Leviticus 9 v23-4).
‘Holiness’ and ‘purity’ are signs of God’s presence. Are we expected to display the same qualities in our daily lives? Well maybe, but not by relying on our own resources, but on God’s gift to believers.
In today’s passage from the Book of Acts, we read that;
‘The apostles in Jerusalem heard that some people in Samaria had accepted God’s message, and they sent Peter and John. When the apostles arrived, they prayed that the people would be given the Holy Spirit’. Peter and John then placed their hands on everyone who had faith in the Lord, and they were given the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8 v14.15,17).
This was at a time when many Jewish people considered the Samaritans as hostile towards them, (see Luke 9 v51-55 and Luke 10 v25-37). The disciples were beginning to realise that God was working in a new way, and that the ‘good news’ of what God had done for us, in and through Jesus, was for all people, not just for the Jews. Peter and John were well aware of their own dependence upon God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. Their prayer for believers in Samaria to be granted the same gift was answered by God.
In an echo of God’s words relayed to the people of Israel by the prophet Isaiah, those blessed by the Holy Spirit (apostles and disciples included) came to acknowledge that God had called them by name, that they belonged to God and were indeed loved by God. (see Isaiah 43 v1b, 4a).
They also recognised that the blessing came with a challenge, to be agents of God’s love in the world. (see Matthew 28 v19,20).
The hymn writer Marty Haugen writes: (from Singing the Faith No 413, v3 and chorus)
Call us to answer oppression, teach us the fire of your truth;
give us righteous souls, till your justice rolls,
make us burn with the fire of your truth.
Send down the fire of your justice, send down the rains of your love;
breathe life in your people, and we shall be people of God.
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English version.