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Gospel: Mark 1: 7-11
This is what John the Baptist proclaimed:
“One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open
and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens,
“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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The verb baptize literally means, “to plunge; dunk; or submerge.”
Christians borrowed the word from the Greeks to describe what John was doing at the Jordan River – literally plunging people into water as a sign of their repentance.
For this we call him, “John the Baptist,” but we could also call him, “John the Plunger!”
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The first instance scholars have found this verb – “baptize” – being used is from a pickle recipe.
The recipe states, “You must boil water. Add cucumbers. When they become tender, remove them from the water and baptize them in vinegar.”
If you simply dip a cucumber into vinegar and remove it, it isn’t a pickle. It’s more like a quickle. (A half-pickle).
If you want to turn a cucumber into a pickle, then you must baptize it, allowing it to soak in the vinegar before it becomes a fully-fledged pickle.
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In today’s Gospel, John says that Jesus will “baptize” us with the Holy Spirit. Most Christians receive this divine gift shortly after their birth – and anyone baptized at that age certainly has no recollection of it.
So, if we are to become fully “pickled” Christians, then we must remain in the Holy Spirit through prayer, worship, and charity.
A person who isn’t practicing their faith is like a quickle, a half-pickled Christian.
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How do I practice my faith? How do I remain soaked in the Lord?
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“I baptize you with water,” John says, “but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
If we’ve already received this divine gift, then our faith journey is all about churning that gift into an ever-greater sense faith, hope, and love.
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Image credits: (1) The Baptism of Christ, Andrea del Verrocchico (2) Jar of Pickles, Fine Art America (3) Cruciform Church of Christ