OT § 50

How great were the things done before! The Red Sea was crossed on foot, manna was given from heaven, fountains were broken open in the wilderness, the law was given through Moses, many signs and wonders were done in the wilderness, and nowhere is Jesus said to be "exalted." But where the Jordan is crossed, there it is said to Jesus: "on this day I begin to exalt you in the sight of the people." For Jesus is not "exalted" before the mystery of baptism, but his exaltation and "exaltation in the sight of the people" takes its beginning from there. For if "all who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized into his death," and the death of Jesus is fulfilled in the exaltation of the cross, then rightly for each of the faithful Jesus is first "exalted" then, when one arrives at the mystery of baptism, because thus also it is written that "God exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things heavenly and earthly and infernal."

And he commands the priests to go before the people with the ark of the covenant. It is then, too, that the mystery of the dispensation of the Father with the Son is manifested, since the Son is highly exalted by him who grants "that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."These matters are revealed through the following words which have been recorded in the book of Joshua: "And the Lord said to Jesus [Joshua], 'In this day I will begin to exalt you before the sons of Israel.' " We must also hear our Lord Jesus saying to the sons of Israel, "Come here and hear the Word of the Lord our God. In this you shall know that the living God is among you." For by being baptized into Jesus we will know that the living God is among us.

Yet the people is led on by the priests and makes its journey to the land of promise under the tutelage of the priests. And who today among the priests is so great and such a one that he would deserve to be enrolled in that order? For if there be any such, the streams of the Jordan will yield to him and the very elements will stand in awe of him; one part of the river's waters will spring back and be reined in behind, while another part will flee away with a swift gliding into the "salt sea." Yet even this I judge not to have been written apart from the meaning of a mystery — that "part of the waters of the Jordan is plunged into the sea" and flows off into bitterness, while another part continues in sweetness. For if all who are baptized were to guard the sweetness of the heavenly grace they had received, and none turned to the bitterness of sins, it would surely not have been written that a part of the river had been immersed in the whirlpools of the "salt sea." And therefore in these words there seems to me to be signified that variety among the baptized which we ourselves — a thing I recall with grief — often see come to pass: that those who obtain holy baptism, when they again give themselves over to the affairs of the age and the enticements of lusts, and when they drink the salt cup of avarice, are formed in that part of the waters which flows off into the sea and perishes in the salt waves; but that part which remains with steadfastness and keeps its sweetness signifies those who hold the received gift of God without swerving. And rightly there is one part of those who are saved, because there is also one "bread," "which came down from heaven and gives life to this world," and there is "one faith" and "one baptism" and "one spirit," of which all are given to drink in baptism, and "one God, the Father of all."

Then there are the deeds of Joshua, who was marked out with Christ's name; under his guidance the Jordan kept its stream stationary and its waters still as it recoiled from the countenance of the divine ark. A strange power divided the river. One section came to a halt, its stream flowing back, while another section hastened in its gliding course to the sea, leaving the river bed exposed. Where the current surged strongly from its source, it held back and piled high its waves, so that a threatening mountain of water hung poised in quivering formation and looked down to see human feet passing across the dry, deep bed, and grimy soles hastening over the congealed mud, dry-footed in mid-river.

Then there are the deeds of Joshua, who was marked out with Christ's name; under his guidance the Jordan kept its stream stationary and its waters still as it recoiled from the countenance of the divine ark. A strange power divided the river. One section came to a halt, its stream flowing back, while another section hastened in its gliding course to the sea, leaving the river bed exposed. Where the current surged strongly from its source, it held back and piled high its waves, so that a threatening mountain of water hung poised in quivering formation and looked down to see human feet passing across the dry, deep bed, and grimy soles hastening over the congealed mud, dry-footed in mid-river.