Water is such an invigorating element. Biology tells us it is the main ingredient necessary to generate and sustain life; it is, therefore, a telling symbol, as Jesus so beautifully indicated. It was into the waters of primeval chaos that God spoke and brought forth natural life.
In the Old Testament area, between the horned altar of sacrifice and the entrance to the sanctuary, stood what Protestants would call a baptistry, Catholics a baptismal font. In the Scriptures it is called a “laver,” from the word for wash; we get the word lavatory from the same root.
Ordered as part of the tabernacle equipment, it was made of copper (“bronze”), a symbol of judgment (Exodus 30). Of two parts, “the bowl and its foot,” it was shaped something like a birdbath, and made from the polished mirrors of chaste women who served at the entrance of the tabernacle.
The laver was constantly refilled, probably from the stricken rock, which was the only available water source in the desert. “It was no motionless rock which followed the people” ( S, Ambrose, de Sacramentis, lib. v. c. 1). Tertullian called this water-rock their “companion” and said, “This is the water which flowed from the rock which accompanied the people” (de Baptismo, c. ix.). This water-giving rock followed them miraculously through the desert as a type of life-giving Christ (1 Cor. 10:1-4). The sacrifices and priests were ritually cleansed in the laver of water.
The Forerunner of New Testament Baptism
The word for wash (laver) in Greek is baptism –the only two New Testament occurrences of the word laver are in Ephesians 5:26, “…that He might cleanse her (the Church) by the washing (laver, baptism) of water with the word,” and Titus 3:5, “he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing (laver, baptism) of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit.”
These verses are an echo of what Christ said to Nicodemus: “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). He emphasizes His meaning is spiritual, a spiritual rebirth that must be generated by water and the Holy Spirit. St. Peter re-emphasizes this point, saying baptism saves us (1 Peter 3:21).
The Ephesians passage indicates that it is the Rite of Baptism, the water and the words spoken (as always, the words of Jesus), that accomplish the cleansing. The Titus passage clarifies that the action of grace performed by the Holy Spirit makes the water and words efficacious. The necessity of faith not disputed, taken altogether these verses indicate that Baptism does indeed generate new life.
As always, however, the complete meaning of this laver/baptism was unknown until Christ. His first miracle was to change the water used for ritual cleansing in Judaism into the wine blood of the New Covenant under Mary’s direction, a fulfillment of the prophets’ use of water as a symbol of the New Covenant that revealed how cleansing, baptismal waters would soon also create new life. Then He shows us what New Testament baptism would mean.
Just before His Passion, Jesus takes up the priestly girdle in a towel of menial service; he washes the disciples’ feet, Judas included, speaking of the importance of baptism, sacrificial service, repentance and forgiveness, and then He reveals the crowning glory of what baptism means: “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized,” he said, and proceeded to walk the terrorizing hill of Golgotha to be crucified.
Jesus was our example in all things, reminding the Church that she must also take up her cross daily, and be crucified with Him at the hands of others and in service to them. It is the Law of the New Covenant, and the Holy Spirit’s fountain of living water (John 4), our refreshment and restoration, rushing, flowing, moving, springing, redeeming, musical, quenching water.
Enter the Lenten desert unafraid, for you will find there the Living Water.
