Luminous Mysteries, pt. 1

I am beginning a new series on the contemplation of Jesus' life and mission through the mysteries of the Holy Rosary: 

The Luminous Mysteries 

1. Baptism in the Jordan 

Why does Jesus go to John to be baptized? This is the Son of God, entirely sinless yet seeking the baptism of repentance. John is amazed, "I would be baptized by you, but you come to me?" Jesus answers, "Let it be so for now, for we must fulfill all righteousness." This is an action of faith, which we are meant to emulate, and faith is righteousness in God's book. When God's people recognize their sinfulness and repent, coming to seek forgiveness, we are trusting God to grant, not only forgiveness, but the grace to choose Him first, rather than selfishness. The key here is trust, and trust is faith. This is what God wants. 

But there is more going on here. Remember the rainbow? God repented for trying to destroy all of humanity in a flood. He had lost patience with us, and acted in anger. But God's disappointment with us goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. When we doubted, and didn't trust Him, He was angry, and cursed us, removing the grace that allowed us to always follow our conscience. But now, having seen the results of that, God regretted having left us prone to the Devil's temptations. Trusting is difficult when you've been listening to a liar, and Satan is the greatest of all liars.

So God, in the person of his Son, is coming down to the Jordan river to receive the baptism of repentance. His humanity is declaring his intent to trust, implicitly and totally, in God's plan, even when Jesus can't yet see how it's going to play out. He knows the strategy, from the Scriptures, but not the tactics. This is God, repenting for his rashness in condemning all of humanity without individually discerning who would keep faith with Him. This time, He is calling us, individually, to listen to the Gospel and believe. 

Here, God  is humbling Himself to accept the baptism of repentance, to remind Himself to be merciful, because humans are too broken to be capable of righteousness. He sees that we are only barely able to have faith, inasmuch as we need to see God here, working beside us and living as we live. God repented his angry and overwhelming justice, replacing it with infinite mercy, asking only that we believe in Him and dedicate ourselves to love and follow Him. He is asking us to trust Him, despite the trouble caused by the Devil, and if we will do that He accounts it to us for righteousness. 

2. The Wedding at Cana 

When we look closely at this episode, and the miracle of changing water into wine, we see layers of meaning. First, we hear that the party has run out of wine, and we reflect on the recent history of Judaea. There hasn't been a prophet in 400 years. People feel like God has abandoned them, because of their sins. It's a disaster to ruin the joy of being the chosen people. If a wedding runs out of wine, it reflects badly on the family of the bride. But Jesus saves the day, and does something generous. He replenishes the supply with abundance. 

Moreover, this is a metaphor to reveal the Gospel. Just as John the Baptist said, Jesus is here to give us the Holy Spirit. And when we look deeper, we see even more, that Jesus has replaced the rituals of purity, the washing of hands, with an abundance of joy - really, an intoxication of happiness in the Spirit. No longer are we to be filled with merely ritual observance, but we are filled with the Presence of God. 

At yet another level, we look at the wider context. This is a wedding feast. How many times did Jesus give us parables about this? We know that the Gospel is an open invitation to a celebration of love, but who is the chosen bride? Jesus spoke plainly, saying that the Gospel was to be taken first to the Children of Israel. The Jews have always been the chosen people, so they are the beloved bride. The Song of Solomon tells us about God's longing for His people. And yet, a wedding is a shared event. All of our friends are invited, and if the budget is grand enough, the whole town is welcome to attend. 

Jesus transformed the whole supply of cleansing water into wine, six huge 30 gallon jars of it, way more than any ordinary wedding would need. At 16 cups per gallon, once again we have an uncounted number close to seventy times seven. The Bible generalizes the number of the gentiles as being seventy nations, so we have a prefigure of all the nations, everyone, to be included in the great feast, with abundance for all. How many days was the feast supposed to last anyway? A week? Every day we can drink this wine! There were six jars, after all.

3. Proclaiming the Kingdom 

4. Transfiguration 

5. The First Eucharist 

I hope to be able to discuss all of the mysteries of the Rosary in future posts.