Historical Setting, 626 C.E. The secular church near Annegray
Mater Doe tells me of her conversation with two men who came here asking about baptism. “They asked me particularly about the power of baptism as it is demanded for Christianizing Jews.”
“That is the concern these days?”
She continues, “We know it’s a king’s rule and an emperor’s edict that Jews must be baptized. And of course, I’m always glad to pour out the water with blessings and speak the words of Christian baptism for anyone who asks, even if it is only to keep them safe from the political persecution. And I will put their names in the book here.”
“Why is this a concern of the vintners on the river; are they not already Christian?” I asked.
“I was also wondering why they asked. I simply told them I know that baptism is an ‘outward and visible sign,’ but that only God knows the Spirit in each of us. And that seemed to be all they wanted to hear. When I explained baptism only affirms the change, it doesn’t create the change, they’d heard enough and they left. Now, it worries me that I didn’t know why that particular answer would be a resolution for them.”
“And you have second thoughts?”
“Oh, yes,” she explains, “Now, I realize they were looking for an excuse to distinguish between the spiritual nature of the Christian and the Jewish spirit. I wish I had said it differently. I wish I had said people are all of one Spirit in God. God loves all people, Christian, Jew, Pagan, whatever. It may not always be the Roman Rule, but it is what I teach here. I wish I had told them that distinctions between people deciding who is beloved and who is not, is a human flaw, not a judgment by the all-loving God. Drawing these artificial human distinctions only separates us from God.”
“Even if you had explained it to them, would they have listened?”
“Maybe not. I think they were just looking for an excuse to turn against the Jews. There are Jewish settlers coming into the lands near Trier making their homes across the river from these Christian vineyards. And the more I think about it, I have to wonder why they came all this way to ask me, when they could have taken this question to the priest in Trier. He is the one doing those baptisms.”
(Continues tomorrow)
Lazarus Ink 