The new creation
God prepared our home: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (1. Mose 1,1-2).
As the Creator God, he created Adam and Eve and brought them to the beautiful Garden of Eden. Satan seduced these first people and they succumbed to his temptation. God drove them out of paradise, where they started to rule the world in their own way.
As we know, this experiment of doing everything humanly caused great expense for all of us, for creation and also for God. To restore the divine order, God sent His Son Jesus to our dark world.
"At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, saying, 'You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.'" (Mk 1,9-11).
When Jesus came to John to be baptized, it was like a trumpet call announcing the second Adam, Jesus, and the coming of a new creation. Echoing the beginning of the world as described in Genesis, Jesus descended to earth and was then covered by water. As he rose from the water (baptism), the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. This is a reminder of the time when he hovered over the depths of the water, and the dove at the end of the Flood brought back a green olive branch to Noah, heralding the new world. God declared his first creation good, but our sin has corrupted it.
At Jesus' baptism, one voice from heaven proclaimed God's words and testified to Jesus as his son. The father made it clear that he was enthusiastic about Jesus. He is the one who totally rejected Satan and did the Father's will without wincing at the expense. He trusted him until death on the cross and until the second creation and kingdom of God, after the promise, will come true. Immediately after his baptism, the Holy Spirit led Jesus to confront the devil in the desert. Unlike Adam and Eve, Jesus defeated the prince of this world.
The ephemeral creation sighs and hopes for the full arrival of the new creation. God is actually at work. His reign came into our world through the Incarnation of Jesus, his death and resurrection. In and through Jesus you are already part of this new creation and will remain so forever!
from Hilary Buck
