Session 3

Water coming from an unexpected place - John 4

"Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”...Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

The Old Testament Prophets often spoke of waters in a desert. Since the loss of the garden, Man has been making the most of a spiritual desert. The combination of spirit and water is decisively that life-giving water that comes from the Vine of Heaven (Christ). Christ's desert experience and our desert experience, lived more physically in lent, are revealed in a particular way upon the cross when Crist says, "I Thirst" and it resonates with "My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?" It testifies to the fact Christ is decisively with us in our agonies, and completely on the plane of our broken state, before He ascends to Heaven, the Vine "His right hand has planted" is in Heaven so that the waters of life may once again flow into our broken hearts and the garden may in some respect be stored by the presence of the whole spirit bestowed in Baptism.

Baptism in the Acts of the Apostles

1. 1:4-5 - The Promise of the Holy Spirit: While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

   1. NOTE: In scripture, sometimes there are apparently contrary verses. However, logically, God's plan cannot be self-contrary, and thus a singular interpretation may be derived, and the Church supports this. We know this from sayings, like "one understands scripture, with more scripture" and frankly the 

   2. It seems the efficacious Baptism interpretation still applies and is strengthened yet again by a direct quote from Christ. If we are to have a coherent idea of Baptism.

2. 1:22 - Mathias is chosen to replace Judas. It is said that Mathias accompanied the disciples since the beginning from Christ's ministry, since the baptism of John

3. 2:38 - Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

   1. Again, it would be erroneous to say that this Baptism is different from the one Christ referred to previously.

   2. Here we read that Baptism forgives sins and bestows the Holy Spirit

   3. CCC 1226 From the very day of Pentecost the Church has celebrated and administered holy Baptism. Indeed St. Peter declares to the crowd astounded by his preaching: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." The apostles and their collaborators offer Baptism to anyone who believed in Jesus: Jews, the God-fearing, pagans. 

   4. CCC 1262 The different effects of Baptism are signified by the perceptible elements of the sacramental rite. Immersion in water symbolizes not only death and purification, but also regeneration and renewal. Thus the two principal effects are purification from sins and new birth in the Holy Spirit.

      1. For the forgiveness of sins . . .

         1. CCC 1263 By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin.66 In those who have been reborn nothing remains that would impede their entry into the Kingdom of God, neither Adam's sin, nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is separation from God.

      2. "A new creature"

         1. CCC 1265 Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte "a new creature," an adopted son of God, who has become a "partaker of the divine nature," member of Christ and co-heir with him,70 and a temple of the Holy Spirit.

      3. Incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ

         1. CCC 1267 Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ: "Therefore . . . we are members one of another."72 Baptism incorporates us into the Church. From the baptismal fonts is born the one People of God of the New Covenant, which transcends all the natural or human limits of nations, cultures, races, and sexes: "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body."

      4. The sacramental bond of the unity of Christians

         1. CCC 1271"...For men who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in some, though imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church. Justified by faith in Baptism, [they] are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church..."

      5. An indelible spiritual mark . . .

         1. CCC 1272 Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation.83 Given once for all, Baptism cannot be repeated.

4. 2:41 - Describes the outcome of the latter verse. That day about three thousand persons were added. This is how many we ready to follow and as later seen in Acts, the Baptism of John prepared them for this.

5. The next mentions take us to chapter 8 of Acts:

   1. This is one of the first mentions of the to-be-apostle Saul of Tarsus persecuting the Church. However, Philip's preaching will be the focal point for us.

   2. Philip's preaching had a profound effect on the crowd of people listening, even converting a magician name Simon. Simon was baptized and followed Philip. later in the passage Simon, still interpreting things as magic, asks for the power to bestow the Holy Spirit with a bribe Peter calls him out on that. Peter instructs him to leave this interpretation of the sacrament behind and lists out the consequences.

   3. CCC 1229-1230 From the time of the apostles, becoming a Christian has been accomplished by a journey and initiation in several stages. This journey can be covered rapidly or slowly, but certain essential elements will always have to be present: proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing conversion, profession of faith, Baptism itself, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and admission to Eucharistic communion. This initiation has varied greatly through the centuries according to circumstances. In the first centuries of the Church, Christian initiation saw considerable development. A long period of catechumenate included a series of preparatory rites, which were liturgical landmarks along the path of catechumenal preparation and culminated in the celebration of the sacraments of Christian initiation.

   4. Next, we see, the story of the Ethiopian.

      1. There was a man of Ethiopia that was reading the prophet Isaiah. It is interesting that both an angel and the Holy Spirit moved Philip to intercept. 

      2. Philip explains how what Isaiah says relates to Christ. Moreover, Philip would likely have told him about the significance of Baptism, because at the next sight of water, the new believer says, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?". Immediately, Philip baptizes him, and then goes on preaching. It seems two things are true, it was urgent and sufficent grace to live the Christian life. Clearly, Philip, as prompted by the Holy Spirit, trusted the whatever instruction was given to the Ethiopian and the grace from the sacrament was/would be materially sufficient for living and continually living better the Christian life.

      3. CCC 1253 Baptism is the sacrament of faith. But faith needs the community of believers. It is only within the faith of the Church that each of the faithful can believe. The faith required for Baptism is not a perfect and mature faith, but a beginning that is called to develop. The catechumen or the godparent is asked: "What do you ask of God's Church?" The response is: "Faith!"

      4. CCC 1254 For all the baptized, children or adults, faith must grow after Baptism. For this reason the Church celebrates each year at the Easter Vigil the renewal of baptismal promises. Preparation for Baptism leads only to the threshold of new life. Baptism is the source of that new life in Christ from which the entire Christian life springs forth.

      5. CCC 1255 For the grace of Baptism to unfold, the parents' help is important. So too is the role of the godfather and godmother, who must be firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized - child or adult on the road of Christian life.55 Their task is a truly ecclesial function (officium).56 The whole ecclesial community bears some responsibility for the development and safeguarding of the grace given at Baptism.

      6. CCC 1231 Where infant Baptism has become the form in which this sacrament is usually celebrated, it has become a single act encapsulating the preparatory stages of Christian initiation in a very abridged way. By its very nature infant Baptism requires a post-baptismal catechumenate. Not only is there a need for instruction after Baptism, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth. The catechism has its proper place here.

6. Chapter 9 recounts Saul's conversion to become Paul the Apostle and after his sight is restored and converted, He is baptized.

7. Chapter 16: Paul recommends the jailer's family be baptized immediately

   1. CCC 1226... Always, Baptism is seen as connected with faith: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household," St. Paul declared to his jailer in Philippi. And the narrative continues, the jailer "was baptized at once, with all his family."

8. 18:25 & 19:3-4: In these verses, it is clear that the symbolic baptism of repentance by John the Baptist was not sufficient for the Christian life.

Meaning and Takeaways

• Christ describes his Baptism as one of suffering, this would be consistent with the spiritual landscape He entered into through His Baptism which commissioned Him for His divine mission which the Whole Trinity witnesses to in the scene of Christ's Baptism, and John foretold.

• We connected the water coming from an unexpected place in the Old Testament to Christ's definition of "living Water" in the New Testament.

• We see that the Apostles took Christ's command to Baptize all nation very seriously, and moreover that they did not believe there was a distinction from sacramental life and the meaning of the scriptures.

• We see how the Apostles did not hesitate to bring someone a step forward in faith nor to baptize when someone believed and resolved to change their life.

• The nature of Christ's Baptism is not symbolic as John's was, it is deeper and more efficacious. Even as far as John was concerned a heart of repentance was necessary and those that lack it cannot understand Christ. It is thus that Christ "fulfilled all righteousness".

• Interpreting the Scripture in light of Early Church traditions, the Church teaches that Baptism makes us a member of the Church, changes our soul, makes us a creature born a new, and forgives sins. Once one comes to believe and enters the ordinary process