2025/12/29
228. The Gospel of John and the Priesthood of the New Covenant: The Bride of the Holy Spirit
John the Baptist said, "I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God" (Jn 1:33-34). In these words, the priesthood of the New Covenant, which Jesus would later give to the Apostles, was manifested through the images of baptism, confirmation, and ordination. However, John the Baptist testifies not to the words that "he who sent me" said, but that "this is the Son of God". He must not have been able to capture the words "he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." He could not bring out words he did not remember, but his intuition saw that Jesus, upon whom the Holy Spirit descended and remained, was the Son of God.
The situation above becomes clearer when we compare it with the words of the Apostle Peter in the Gospel of Matthew, which we discussed last time, to which Jesus testified that they were the words revealed by his heavenly Father. When Jesus asked, "But who do you say that I am?" (Mt 16:15), Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (16:16). John the Baptist also suggested that Jesus was the "Messiah" when he first saw him, saying, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn 1:29). He then testified that Jesus was the Son of God. John the Baptist had understood correctly who Jesus was. He did not realise at the time that the words which were "given him from heaven," "he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit," did not testify to Jesus, but to what Jesus had borne from the Father, the priesthood of the New Covenant.
At the beginning of chapter 4 of John's Gospel, an explanatory note is added: "although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples" (Jn 4:2). The note clearly shows that Jesus, the God who brought the priesthood of the New Covenant, does not baptize people. It was Jesus' disciples who were baptizing. As intuitive fishermen, they believed in Jesus when they witnessed His signs, and they accepted Him as they were with Him. Eventually, at Jesus' last table, the words of His eucharistic institution and the actions He performed, together with His command to "Do this in remembrance of me" (Lk 22:19), would be united and placed in their memory as the priesthood of the New Covenant.
Thus, after Pentecost, the priesthood of the New Covenant, placed in the memory of the Apostles by Jesus, unites with the Holy Spirit sent in Jesus' name to give birth to the Eucharist on the altar of the Mass liturgy. That altar has a nuptial meaning in the Holy Spirit and the priesthood of the New Covenant. Hence, the Apostles taste the prophecy of John the Baptist as their own in front of the altar: "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn 3:29-30). The priesthood of the New Covenant is drawn from their memory. They become selfless, with their memory decreasing, and cooperate with the Holy Spirit. In their selflessness, they listen to the voice that comes from within them as the voice of the Holy Spirit, who breathes life into the Word, and when they hear it, they rejoice greatly and are filled with joy.
The "bride" in the Book of Revelation alludes to that very thing. The "bride" described as "Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready" (Rev 19:7) is the priesthood of the New Covenant that Jesus brought to earth and is united with the Holy Spirit on the altar of the Mass liturgy. That is because the Lamb in Revelation is the Holy Spirit sent in the name of Jesus, as described: "And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth" (5:6).
Revelation continues, "It was granted her [the bride] to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure" -- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints" (Rev 19:8). These words express the action of the priest who, listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, who breathes life into the words and works of the priesthood of the New Covenant, celebrates the Mass in collaboration with the Holy Spirit in a state of selflessness. So, Revelation says: "And the angel said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are true words of God.'" (Rev 19:9).
In the New Testament, the following two could fall under the phrase "These are true words of God": the words "this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit" that God gave to John the Baptist to manifest the priesthood of the New Covenant that Jesus had brought, and the words "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" that Heavenly Father revealed to the Apostle Peter to testify to Jesus. The Eucharist is there, first of all, to prepare the way for the believer, who is qualified to be a child of God, to have a true experience of union with God and to become a child of God. Then, just as Jesus died and descended into Hades to save the dead, and in order to save the evil spirits, whom He did nothing but cast out while He was alive as a man, so the Eucharist is eaten by the believers and dies again and again.
A man who has been given the priesthood of the New Covenant asks, and the God who says "I AM" is born as the Eucharist and is eaten by believers to death. That is so that God may serve the life of the man who is desired by God and is born of a woman. That is as Jesus said, "For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mk 10:45).
Maria K. M.
