Canon Rob's Reflections

Today, the Sunday after Epiphany, is also the day when we celebrate Christ’s baptism and Psalm 47 is one of those to be recited at Evensong. As Verse 1 makes clear, it is a ‘hymn’ of praise and thanksgiving: of joy and celebration.“O clap your hands together, all you peoples: O sing to God with shouts of joy.” Verse 2 then tells us why: “For the Lord Most High is to be feared; he is the great King over all the earth.” Verse 8 reinforces this message: “God reigns over the nations; God has taken his seat upon his holy throne.” I read that members of the Jewish faith traditionally recite Psalm 47 as they celebrate New Year’s Day in their calendar. It is also one of those appointed for Ascension Day in the Christian calendar. For both, it recalls that God is the King of all nations and as you reflect upon the psalm, imagine a crowd of people cheering and clapping as their new king ascends his throne. [See 1 Samuel 10.17 – 27 which is about Saul being chosen as Israel’s first king.] Yet this psalm is about the Most High King, who is none other than God and at his baptism Jesus is proclaimed to be God’s own Son. “A voice came from heaven, ‘You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you.’” [Mark 1.11. See also Jesus’ baptism in Matthew and Luke.] St Ignatius, the 1st Century Bishop of Antioch, was among those who questioned why Jesus needed to be baptised. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, yet Jesus was without sin. So he had no need for repentance. Yet the voice from heaven made it clear that Jesus’ baptism was the moment when God chose to make known to the people who Jesus was. If Psalm 47 was written to celebrate Saul becoming the first king of Israel, for Christians it is a hymn of praise to God’s own Son, o Christ the King whose Kingdom shall have no end. “O sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King…..For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with all your skill.” [Verses 6 and 7.] This evening’s psalm may have been written for a coronation at a given time in Israel’s history but, as you continue to reflect upon its words, see it also as something prophetic, looking forward to another given time when God would make known who this man Jesus really was and is.

This evening’s psalm is very apt for today. The Baptism of Christ is, indeed, something to be celebrated and the readings set for both today’s Eucharist and Evensong remind us how special this celebration is. [E.g. the Gospel at the Eucharist is Luke 3.15-17, 21-22 and a key reading at Evensong is Romans 6.1-11.] The psalm is also apt because it tells us that God is King over all the earth. In verse 5 we are told that “God has gone up…” So soon after Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany, Jesus’ baptism marks the beginning of his Ministry, his words and work, a Ministry which would end in his death, resurrection and ascension. As we sang a little while ago in the Carol, Once in Royal David’s City, “He came down to earth from heaven, who is God and Lord of all…” [verse 2], but also as the last verse says, “And our eyes at last shall see him…for that child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven above.” Reflecting on Psalm 47, with the words of this Carol in mind, we are reminded that we are in a relationship with Jesus, a relationship which begins at our baptism. Through baptism we become, as the picture here shows, “Called by name to be a child of God.” Martin Thornton, in his book, “Christian Proficiency” says, “Becoming a Christian means being re-created by being incorporated into the glorified manhood of the ascended Christ, so that in the words of the Epistle to the Ephesians, we are raised up with him and made to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Jesus Christ.” Today is a double celebration: of Christ’s baptism but also of ours, which is a baptism into the death and new life of Christ, recalled each time we receive the Body and Blood of Christ at the Eucharist, or Holy Communion.