220. John the Baptist
220. JOHN THE BAPTIST
Why did God arrange for John the Baptist to baptize before Christ came?
And why did Christ want to be baptized by him? It seemed quite right for John to protest, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Mt 3:14).
It was fitting for John to baptize for four reasons:
First, it was necessary for Christ to be baptized by John in order that He might sanctify Baptism. . . .
Second, that Christ might be manifested. . .
Thirdly, that by his baptism he might accustom men to the Baptism of Christ. . . .
Fourthly, that by persuading men to do penance, he might prepare men to receive worthily the Baptism of Christ. . . .
John was not only a prophet but more than a prophet, as stated in Matthew 11:9; for he was the term (end) of the Law and the beginning of the Gospel (III,38,1).
St. Thomas’ first point is the most fundamental one. Christ by His Baptism transformed the spiritual power of water in Baptism. John’s baptism did not have the power to give grace or salvation; but Baptism into Christ does. (See Mt 3:11, Acts 10:46-48, and 1 Pet 3:21). Christ “sanctified” Baptism when He was baptized: He charged it with the power to actually sanctify, to give “sanctifying grace”. Before Christ, the water of Baptism could not give us any new power or righteousness, but could only express our spiritual intention of repentance. But Christ gave the water a new power rather than the water giving Him any new power: the power to communicate His grace, His salvation. He baptized the water rather than the water baptizing Him.
The second reason was to make public and visible an invisible spiritual reality. This is the purpose of all the sacraments. Indeed, it is the fundamental purpose of matter itself. It is why God created matter, most of all the human body, which has the greatest power to make spirit visible. (Thus the philosopher Wittgenstein, asked what a human soul could possibly look like, answered, “Like a human body.”)
The third reason was to be a preparation, a kind of fertilizer.
The fourth was to focus on repentance as a necessary part of salvation.
A fifth reason could be given: Baptism signifies death, and thus Christ’s death. Going down into the water, which is symbolically the most complete and perfect form of Baptism, signifies death by drowning. Christ would descend first and most completely into death for us, for (1) He suffered the most agonizing death; (2) He truly and literally died physically; (3) He died spiritually in being totally forsaken by His Father, thus experiencing not only the physical agony of being crucified but also the spiritual agony of Hell; (4) He was buried; and (5) He descended into the realm of the dead (1 Pet 3:18-20) to liberate the righteous souls who had been waiting there.
John’s privilege among prophets is somewhat analogous to Mary’s privilege among women. No prophet is closer to Christ than John. Christ did not call him the greatest of all the prophets and more than a prophet (Mt 11:9) because he was more complete in his eloquence, his wisdom, or even his sanctity, than any other prophet, but because he completed the whole era of prophets, the Old Law, or Old Covenant, in introducing Christ to the world. As Mary’s womb gave Christ to the world ontologically, John’s baptism gave Christ to the world epistemologically. John was the first of Christ’s paparazzi.