Tertia Pars
Lecture 94: Christ's Baptism in the Jordan and the Opening of Heaven

Transcript
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Thank you, God. Thank you, Guardian Angels. Thank you, Thomas Aquinas. Dios, gracias. God, our Enlightenment, Guardian Angels, strengthen the lights of our minds, or to illumine our images, and arouse us to consider more correctly. St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelic Doctor. Praise God. Help us to understand what you have to do. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So I guess we left off in question 39, article 4. Whether Christ ought to be baptized in the Jordan, huh? One thing about Thomas' way of writing there, scholastic way of writing there, it makes you kind of stop on each point, you know. Why most times you read things and it's kind of, it's all mishmash, you know. It's kind of a continuous thing, but not definite points. A stream of consciousness. Yeah. I decided I had to work on, you know, some classroom besides John, you know, so. I downloaded the container Oreo for Luke, you know, so that's when that was appropriate for Lent, you know. And so I'm working at one out there in El Paso. You know how you just do strange things? And for some reason, you know, all I was doing was going through each lexio and separating each thinker. So Chris is to him, what he said, and then, you know, rather have this one big block where it's kind of hard to read. And then it started, and I just pressed it, or return, and it would do that, right? You'd skip another thing. And then all of a sudden, a paragraph would appear in red, and then with lines to it. Now, how did it work? We wouldn't stop doing that. So how do you get rid of it, you know? And who I know to read these things is to copy it into another document, and then sometimes that crazy thing stops, right? So I said, maybe I was, you know, bringing in one big block, so maybe I'll just break into 24 documents, one for each chapter, right? So now it seems to be working okay again now, but it's just crazy things, you know, that it really does sometimes. Something like it was in English, spell correcting in Latin. Well, it was strange, because it would come out in red, and then with a line drawn through it. It's a formative, it's a formative, this is a problem with word processors. There's some command in there that you can't see, that whoever was maybe editing the text left in there, and it's, yeah. This is, I've gone through many, many chapters, right? No, it's missing here, is it? Yeah. I mean, now. This is what, this is what, this is what, the process is. Yeah. It's, it's, uh... Computers don't make life easier. Yeah. So, to the fourth one goes forward thus. It seems that Christ ought not to be baptized in the Jordan, where the truth ought to correspond to the figure, huh? But the figure of baptism proceeds in the going over of the Red Sea, right? Where the Egyptians were submerged, huh? Just as sins are washed out or taken out in baptism. Therefore, it seems that Christ ought to be baptized in the sea than in the river Jordan. Moreover, Jordan is interpreted descent. That's what the word means, I guess. But by baptism, someone more ascends than descends. Once, in Matthew chapter 3, it is said that being baptized, Christ at once ascended for the water. Therefore, it seems unsuitable that Christ would be baptized in the Jordan, huh? I know he's going to say, what's in a name? Like Shakespeare, what are you going to do? Moreover, the sons of Israel passing by are going across the waters of the Jordan were turned back, huh? As is read in Joshua chapter 4. And as is said in the 113th Psalm. But those who are baptized are not turned back, but they proceed forward, huh? Therefore, it is not suitable that Christ be baptized in the Jordan, huh? Against this is what is said in Mark chapter 1. That Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, huh? Thomas says down in the body of the article, I answer it should be said that the Jordan River, the River of Jordan, was that to which the sons of Israel entered into the land of the Promising. But this, the baptism of Christ, had in a special way before all their baptisms. That it leads us into the kingdom of God, which is signified by the land of Promising. Whence it is said in John chapter 3, verse 5, unless someone be reborn from water and the Holy Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. To which also pertains what that Elias divided the waters of the Jordan, which was what? Who was in the fiery chariot to be taken away up into heaven, as it is said in the fourth book of Kings. Because passing through the, what, was the baptism, through the fire of the Holy Spirit, there is entrance into, what, heaven. And therefore, it was suitable that Christ be, what, baptized in the Jordan, huh? Now what about the Red Sea? To the first, therefore, it should be said that the transition over the Sea, the Red Sea, or through the Red Sea, prefigures baptism in this respect that baptism takes away sins, right? But the transition of the Jordan prefigures, right, baptism, that it opens the door of the celestial kingdom, huh? It's like, I think I was a little baby, you know, the gates of heaven opened up for her, you know, today, right? He's baptized. Which is the, what? More. More principal effect of baptism. That's interesting, isn't it? Yeah, it is, yeah. I'm surprised he says that, because usually we do speak of what the water is, signifying the washing away of sin, huh? Is that in a sense that it becomes the end? Yeah, I suppose it's affirmative, right? I mean, if someone asked you about the Sacrament of Confession, is it more to wash away one's sin or to give one grace? What would you say? I mean, I'd say, the sin is not taken away by our free will, but chiefly through grace, but not without our free will. Yeah, but I mean, is, we're not given grace through our sin being taken away, but our sin is taken away through grace being given. Yeah, so grace seems to be more principled, right? And even when they define a sacrament, at least in the old catechism, an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace, so it kind of says that's a principle effect of it, huh? Yeah. And the sacrament of sacraments, the Eucharist, you know, one explanation of the words Eucharistic, right, if you take it not as thanksgiving, but you meaning well, and caris meaning grace, and bona gratis sometimes, translate in Latin there, because you have an excess of what? Grace, huh? You know, like Thomas says in the one that, the prayers that, for the Eucharist there, or sacrum convivium, and co-christus, so many to record to more. Men's in pletere gratis, right? If there's a fullness of grace in the Eucharist, and not in, as compared to other sacraments, right? So, maybe you'd have to say this, well, principle, huh? But it's a philosophy, you know, is to remove error, or to teach you the truth, right? Which is a principle thing, huh? Yeah. In a way, you exclude error by that, right? But, anyway. And to Christ alone is it fulfilled. And therefore, it is more suitable that Christ be baptized in the Jordan than in the, what? Yeah. Yeah. Now, how's that figured in the baptism of John's? Because there is an opening up in heaven, or some? To the second it should be said that in baptism there is an ascent through the proceeding of progress in grace, right? Which requires a descent of humility. According to that of James 4 he gives what? Grace to the what? Humble. And to such a descent is referred the name of the Jordan. That's a nice way he has to explain that, isn't it? This comes out for, I was mentioning earlier to someone here that I'd seen this little thing at EWTN, kind of a life of Sister Faustina, you know? I just saw part of it after my class last night. But this is very specific to the site of humility, right? As well as the mercy of God, huh? But in our part, the humility is very, very necessary, huh? Of course, when it's struck in the Magnificat, that the mention is there of humility rather than of her, what? Charity, right, huh? Because he humbles himself, should be exalted. And then one way of dividing the six mysteries of the humanity of Christ, you have the three articles of, what, descent, and then the three articles of ascent. But the three articles of descent come, what, first, right? Now what about this idea that water's going back? To the third, it should be said, as Augustine says in the Sermon on the Epiphany, just as, what, before the waters turned back, right? They were, what? Returned. Yeah, so, now, Christ being baptized, sins are, what? Turned back. Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of strange. Oh, so now. That's what it means. Yeah. So now. That's kind of a double signification there, water then, right? Yeah. And a lot of times in Scripture, you know, when the saint or the soul is spoken of being flooded, right? It's, what, with EO, or with something that's contrary to it, right? So, you've got to be careful about figures like metaphors, right? Mm-hmm. You know, the line of the tribe of Judah, and then the devil's like a line going around who you can devour, right? Yeah. So the same thing can be, or fire can be a metaphor for the cubisence or for charity and so on. So, one and the same thing. It can be a metaphor for something very good and for something bad, right? Or it can also, through this, be signified against the descent of the waters that the, what? River of the name. It goes up, right? So, if you back up the river, it's going up. Yeah, right? Okay, well, that's got about that, huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the most interesting thing, though, is that comparison between the Jordan and the Red Sea, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And why one is more appropriate. Yeah. Even more principled, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I checked all three of the synoptic gospels. I didn't actually look at John. All three of the synoptic gospels. Yeah. But now it's coming to the next article, so we'll see. To the fifth one goes forward thus, it seems that Christ being baptized, the heavens ought not to have been, what, good in time. That takes place with the first martyr, doesn't it, too, kind of? Yeah. And he sees the heavens open up and Christ at his right hand. Yeah, and it's a curious detail there, because he said he saw him standing at the right hand. Yeah. We often, even our liturgy, mixes that up on Jesus and St. Stephen said he saw him sitting at the right hand. St. Stephen said he saw him standing at the right hand. Yeah. And the father is interpreted because he's there to assist the martyrs. That's why he's standing. And he said, oh. Sitting signifies, oh, you know, the man sitting becomes wise, as no teacher used to say. Homo sedens fit sapiens. Well, he translated it, the man sitting makes wisdom. His Latin is even worse than mine. To that one ought the heavens to be opened, who needs to get into heaven, right, huh? Who is existing outside of heaven, huh? But Christ always was in heaven, according to that of John chapter 3. The son of man who is, what, in heaven, huh? Therefore it seems that there ought not to be opened up to him the, what, heavens, huh? Well, maybe his body is not glorified yet, huh? We'll see what Thomas says. Moreover, the opening of the heavens is either to be understood in a bodily way or in a, what, spiritual way. But it cannot be understood in a bodily way because the celestial bodies are impassable and unbreakable, huh? According to that of Job chapter 37, huh? You perhaps, huh? Have, what, made the heavens, which are, what, most solid, huh? As, what, fused by air? But likewise it cannot be understood spiritually because before the eyes of the Son of God God, the heavens were not closed, huh? Before. Therefore, unsuitably, it seems that Christ being baptized, the heavens were, what, opened, huh? Moreover, for the faithful, the heaven is opened through the passion of Christ, huh? According to that of Hebrews chapter 10, having confidence or hope in the entry of the saints in the blood of Christ. Whence neither those, by the baptism of Christ, who deceased before his passion, right, were able to enter the, what, heavens. Therefore, the heavens ought to have been opened more, Christ's suffering, than Christ, what, baptized. That's an interesting objection. I don't think I have any account of that in the passion that the heavens are opened. I don't think I have earthquakes and tearing to the, the thing and so on. Yeah. Yeah. What? Toms were opened. Yeah. The hill was cut, you know. It was, well, but it says in Luke chapter 3 there, 21, that Jesus baptized and praying, and the heaven was opened. I answer, it should be said, this has been said, huh? Christ wanted to be baptized so that by his own baptism, huh, he might consecrate or make holy, I guess, the baptism by which we were going to be, what, baptized. And therefore, in the baptism of Christ, those things ought to be shown, which pertain to the efficacy of our baptism, about which three things should be, what, considered. First, the chief power from which baptism has efficacy, which is the power of heaven, right? And therefore, Christ being baptized, opened is the heaven, that it might show that a heavenly power sanctifies, what, baptism, right? It's like you were saying about that first martyr, too, right? Something about the heavenly power is going to be given to him, right? That undergo his what? His martyrdom, right? The first, okay. Secondly, it works for the efficacy of baptism, the faith of the church, right? And of one who is baptized. Whence the baptized professes, what, the faith. And baptism is said to be the sacrament of the faith. But by faith, we look upon celestial things, which exceed both sense and human reason. And to signifying this, Christ being baptized, the heavens are what? That's an interesting argument, huh? It's like a revelation. You pull back the heavens, right? Revealed, right? Third, because through the baptism of Christ, in a special way is open to us, or an entry to the, what, heavenly kingdom, which for the first man was cut off, right? Or through his, what, sin, right? Whence Christ being baptized, the heavens are open to show that to the baptized is clear now the road to heaven. So those are three very good reasons, aren't they? So the third reason is that through baptism, the road to heaven is now opened up to this little one, right? But the connection between baptism and faith, which is the second reason he gives, huh? That by faith, you have access to things in heaven that sense and reason alone could not lead you into, right? And the first reason in terms of the, what, power of God, right? And that's why we compare it to the martyr, right? Christ standing rather than sitting, right, huh? Sitting is for contemplating, right? But standing is to do something, right? Action or passion. Yeah. And then even also, there's also that sense of judgment. So I know in the, at least in the Roman right, they make a big deal about the priest sits for confession, hearing confessions. Yeah. It's a sense of a judgment. So it's almost like the choir, you know, there's exceptions, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's, I remember that in the life of Isabella of Spain, her confessor, Cardinal Cisneros, I think, she was once, she was, since she was a queen, she was in charge of her, but she had a little hesitation about kneeling down. And he says, no, here, you kneel. I said, you kneel. He had to make a point of it. It's actually interesting, too, because the pictures, we have this picture book of a current Holy Father, and they show, and all these different heads of state are meeting him after he was elected. Sure. And he's sitting. And he sits, and they come up to his throne, and they actually kneel down. Yeah, they have to kind of bend over, because he's... Yeah, they always, it's very traditional for the Pope to be on what they call a deus. Yeah. He's always elevated, his chair is always elevated above everybody else, always. So no matter where he is, you'll see he's on a little platform. And so that's, I've seen this too, yeah. But all the heads of state greet him in the Basilica, and they all have to come up. And the Catholic ones, of course, will kneel down and they'll kiss him in the ring or something. Yeah, he has to greet them seated, he's a sovereign. In the old days, they used to have to come in and kiss his toe. He used to wear slippers and he had his foot on a cushion, they would come up and they would kiss his toe. They don't do that anymore. What about the statue? The statue of Peter, don't they? Yeah, they can do that. Everybody kisses the toe. And so, if they've worn it down, they'd replace it as well. Okay, now after this three-fold signification there, right? What baptism might do for us, right? Christ wanted to do that. After baptism, however, Thomas is in the body of the article still, it is necessary for a man, I guess, what, daily prayer? Continual prayer. To this, that he might enter, what, heaven, right? Because although through baptism, sins are forgiven, right? There remains, nevertheless, the fumes, I couldn't translate that in English, of sin, fighting us in an inward way, right? And also the world and demons who attack from the outside. And therefore, it is significantly said in Luke 3, that Jesus being baptized and praying, that's the two, the heaven is open, right? Because for the faithful it's necessary to have prayer after baptism. It's interesting how Augustine and Thomas will tie prayer up with hope in particular, right? And here they tied baptism up with what? Faith, you know, so faith and hope, right? Yeah, yeah. Or from this it is given to be understood, that this very fact that through baptism, heaven is open to those believing, is by virtue of the prayer of Christ, huh? When significantly it is said in Matthew 3, verse 16, that was open to him in the heavens, that is to all on account of what? Him. Just as the emperor to someone petitioning him, right, says, behold, I give this benefit to him, but to you, that is an account of you to them. Yeah, that's what it says, if an emperor to someone for another, someone asking for another, he gives something. That's what the former Cardinal Ratzinger made this connection, the only one I'd remember ever seeing. He said, in Luke's gospel, it's the only place where at the baptism and at the transfiguration, in both those places, the heavens were open while Christ was praying. This is this kind of revelation of what his prayer is, and certainly also what it does for us, and it opens the heavens and manifests the glory. Now, the first objection is saying, well, Christ doesn't have to have the heavens open up to him, right? Right. To the first, therefore, it should be said, as Christendom says upon the Gospel of Matthew, just as Christ, according to a human dispensation, was baptized, right, huh? Although for himself he did not, what? Lead baptism. So also, according to a human dispensation, the heavens opened to him, according to our divine nature, he was always, what? In the heavens. So, perfectly stated that. It goes back to what he's saying about the article, that this is to instruct us, yeah. Not for his body, like I was suggesting. Now, what about, is this understood bodily or spiritually and so on? To the second it should be said, that as Jerome says upon Matthew, that the heavens were open to Christ baptize, not by a, what, separation of the elements, is it? By what? Unfolding. Unseal. Yeah. But to spiritualize, right? Just as Ezekiel, in the beginning of the volume, commemorates the heavens being opened, right? That means that something's being revealed to him, right? That's what it means. It's being understood in maybe the spiritual sense. Heavens are being opened to him because something's being revealed, unveiled. And this criticism proves upon the Gospel of Matthew, saying that if, what, the creature itself of the heavens was, what, ruptured, he would not have said, we're open to him because what is bodily opened is open to what? To all, right? So that's what Christ is arguing there, right? When Mark 1, chapter, verse 10, it is expressly said that Jesus at once, coming up out of the water, saw the heavens open, as if he saw them, right, huh? Did the other see it? Maybe not, huh? Because that opening of the heavens refers to the, what, vision or sight of Christ, huh? But that some refer to a, what, a bodily vision, right, huh? Saying that there was such splendor about the, what, Christ baptized in his baptism that the heavens seemed to be, what, opened, huh? Through, in which way, Ezekiel sees the heavens open, right, huh? For there is form from the divine power and will such a vision of reason, right, in the imagination of Christ to signifying that through baptism there's entry into heaven open for men, yeah. It can also refer to, what, intellectual vision insofar as Christ saw baptism being now sanctified that heaven was open to, what, to man. Which nevertheless he saw before was going to come about. And now it's actual, right? Now the water has that power in this. What about this of the passion of Christ, right? To the third, it should be said that by the passion of Christ heaven is open to men as through a, what, common cause, huh? Of the opening of the heavens. But it's necessary, nevertheless, for this cause to be applied to, what, each one in particular in order that they might enter heaven, right? Which comes about through baptism, right? According to that of Romans 6, 3. Whoever are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized in his, what, death, huh? So all the sacraments get efficacy from the death of Christ, huh? But this is applied to others through the sacraments, huh? This is it. And therefore, more proper, is it, huh? Pussies. Mention is made of the opening of the heavens in baptism than in the passion because that's where this effect is. Mention is made of the heavens. Mention is made of the heavens. Mention is made of the heavens. Mention is made of the heavens. Mention is made of the heavens. Mention is made of the heavens. Or as Christendom says upon Matthew, that Christ being baptized, the heavens were what? Only open? After he overcame the, I suppose, the tyrant, right? Through the cross, I mean, the devil, I suppose. Because the gates were not, what? The angels say, open the gates. Take away the gates. The which is given to be understood, Christendom gets us to understand, that the obstacles, right, by which first blocked yet, were totally taken away through the passion. But in baptism of Christ, our open, as it were, made known, the road through which men would be able to, what? Enter into heaven. He's saying there that there were more fully taken away the gates through the passion, right? But already through the baptism, there was an opening of the gates. The first argument maybe is easier to see. It's a little bit like the rewards there, you know, the virtues. Should the elevation, say, of Mary be attributed to charity or to humility? See, I'm going to pause a little bit. I'm going to say, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God and my Savior. Because he has regard, not the charity or the love, but humility, right? The holiness. By the way, what Thomas will say is that, something like he says in the first solution here in the third objection, that charity is the common cause, right? But then, by reason of this particular virtue that is informed by charity and commanded by charity, right? Any special connection between that virtue and what the reward is, right? So, because he who humbles himself will be exalted, right? That it's attributed to, what, humility as the proximate cause of the one that's peculiar to this exaltation that's taking place, right? But the common cause for all of this promotion is, what, charity, right? Wasn't Thomas supposed to have been given kind of a gift of chastity, right? So he would not be bothered in his studies by these temptations, you know? So, St. Benedict had to jump into the bramble bush, you know, to make the temptations subside, you know? Yeah, that would do it, I guess. This would probably be the first time of his thinking if he landed in the bramble bush, right? So, I mean, is he being rewarded for charity or for chastity, you see? Well, charity in the sense of the common root of all merit, really, you know? You can't be a merit without charity, I don't think. But yet, this particular gift of chastity or being preserved from the common lot of us is a reward, right? For his, you know, chasing the woman out and his being strong, right? Okay, we're up to Article 6. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.