WATER AND THE SPIRIT
SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON MAY 11th, 2008
1 Corinthians 12:13 "By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - and all were made to drink of one Spirit."
In my previous parish in Melbourne, Australia, we had a day centre for street people - which used to receive about 100 street people a day for various reasons. In those days I received a lot of publicity because of our work with street people, and I was a familiar face in the media. These days when I return to Melbourne, I'm content with just being a face in a crowd at a football match than a well-known figure!
Thus it was that when I was in Melbourne recently it was a public holiday - the equivalent of Memorial Day here - and the city was like a morgue. All the offices and shops were closed, and there weren't many people around. So I thought I would take a quiet walk around my former city and enjoy it without the crowds. As I'm walking along around the corner comes one of the clients of my former welfare centre. He says: "Hello Father - where are you now?" I said: "Oh I'm in America now". He said "That's nice. Now don't get me wrong Father - but you wouldn't have 50 cents would you?" In the pocket of his coat I noticed a half drunken bottle of alcohol.
Alcohol is one of the first images of the Holy Spirit on the Feast of Pentecost. Acts 2.12-13: "And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another 'what does this mean?' But others mocking said 'they are filled with new wine". Yes, they thought that surely the apostles were drunk. This extraordinary scene of the apostles rushing out, babbling along. Saint Peter goes on to remind them that it's only the morning, and they could hardly be drunk. Well my street friend in Melbourne was contrary to that!
Of course we don't associate the Holy Spirit with being drunk. We associate the Holy Spirit with fire. So the liturgical color for today is red, and the bishop's miter that he wears is meant to be a replica of the tongues of fire. That's why it's got that funny shape - because in Confirmation we receive the seven gifts of the Spirit. So we associate the Holy Spirit with fire.
This day is often called the birthday of the Church. Today, therefore, is a very good day for the baptism of Jake Edward Matson, as he is received into Christ’s Holy Catholic Church.
In looking at the Scriptures, however, we can see that the day of Pentecost was not the first time the Holy Spirit had been poured out. Indeed all through the Old Testament there are references to the Holy Spirit.
In today's Gospel, which is fifty days before Pentecost, the night of Easter Day, Jesus gives the eleven apostles the Holy Spirit for the first time. Though we think of Pentecost in this way, it's actually not the first time the Spirit was given to the Church. Indeed the more we look at the Gospel we see a stark contrast. There is no fiery display on Easter night, no speaking in tongues - but the gentle breathing of Jesus. And with the gentle breath of Jesus, two gentle words: "Peace be with you" and also "Whose sins you forgive they are forgiven".
This is a wonderful contrast to Pentecost, this quietness of the breath of Jesus. The breathing of Jesus is just like the Sacrament of Baptism. When Jesus breathes it symbolizes the life of himself, and as he breathes he is giving his life to the apostles. Breath is life. As well as being a symbol of the life of Jesus, when he breaths he conveys that very life.
It is like a Sacrament: the symbol actually conveys what it symbolizes. In baptism the water is a symbol of new life - and the water conveys new life. Here we see the establishment of what is called the Sacramental principal. That is, that God is able to use material things to convey his grace. Through the water of baptism, to the bread and wine of the Eucharist, through the oil of holy unction, etc. And the thing that symbolizes it actually conveys it.
Breath is a symbol of life. The breath of Jesus conveys spiritual life to the apostles.
Furthermore, the breathing of Jesus has two significant implications.
+ If Jesus was just a good man - even a good man who founded a religion, a religious and spiritual person - even if all that was true, his breath would just be human breath. But if Jesus is the Son of God, the Divine Son, then his breath imparts the things of God, and particularly eternal life.
Secondly, the breathing of Jesus connects with the Old Testament. In the Old Testament the Jewish word for God's Spirit is "Ruach". This is the same word which means "Breath". So when Jesus breathes on the apostles on Easter night, it is a symbol that what He gives is the same thing that was given when the Spirit of God hovered in the Old Testament.
Here the Word of God imparts the breath of God. The Son gives the Spirit - and suddenly we see how the Holy Trinity is a complete unity, for the Word of the Father gives the breath of the Father. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is about the unity of the Church. The Spirit wasn't given to separate the apostles, it was to bring them into a unity - just like the Trinity is a unity.
That was the problem with the Corinthian Christians that Saint Paul had to deal with. They were so taken with the gifts of the Spirit that they thought that was the most important thing. Indeed, they thought that if you had certain gifts you were better than other Christians. It's still a problem in churches that emphasize the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
When we search Scriptures we see something even more astounding. We see that Jesus spoke of another symbol of the Holy Spirit. Not a symbol of fire, not even a symbol of breath.
Now you may accuse me of literally pouring cold water on the fire of fire of Pentecost - but the symbol Jesus uses is water. In Saint John 3:5, during that wonderful encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus, Jesus says: "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God". Here the Holy Spirit and water are intrinsically linked together providing a basis for baptism, as the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In baptism we are born of water and the Spirit.
Jesus takes this association with water a step further in John 4:14. This is the interaction between Jesus and the women at the well. He says to her: "The water that I shall give will become in him a spring welling up to eternal life". Here Jesus gives an image of the Spirit as a spring of water within us - and it is connected directly with the giving of the Holy Spirit in baptism.
But it is in John 7:38-39 which establishes the real truth of what Jesus is saying: "Out of his heart shall flow living water. Now he said this about the Spirit - which those who believed in him were to receive".
You see how Jesus develops his theme - teaching his disciples about the gift of the Holy Spirit in the image of water which all could easily understand. The Holy Spirit may have appeared in an exciting and fiery way at Pentecost - but Jesus taught about the Holy Spirit with the image of water.
Why did Jesus call the grace of the Holy Spirit water?
Firstly, because the world depends on water - without it the world will literally become shriveled up.
Secondly, water produces life and sustains life.
Thirdly, like the Spirit at Pentecost, water comes down from heaven in the form of rain. It comes down as the same thing, but its effects are many and varied. Different trees and plants produce different forms of liquid. Grapes, for instance produce wine, cactus produces a different form of liquid.
Water is in all things, for without it we die. Although the rain doesn’t change, it adapts itself to the things that receive it.
This is exactly the same as the Holy Spirit. All these things about water apply directly to the Spirit of God. Above all the Holy Spirit, like the soft rain, is gentle.
So on this day, give thanks to God for the Holy Spirit in your life.
And if you can't be on fire with the Holy Spirit, or possessed by gifts of the Holy Spirit, or speak boldly about God in a new tongue - just rejoice in Saint Paul's declaration about the unity of the Church:
"By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - and all were made to drink of one Spirit".