Psalm
25:4-6,7-9
Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:18-22
Gospel: Mark 1:12-15
In the first reading, God makes a covenant with every mortal
being on earth through Noah: “Never again shall all creatures
be destroyed by the waters of a flood.” (Genesis
9:11) In the second reading, St. Peter tells us this flood “prefigured” the
sacrament of Baptism, “not as a cleansing of dirt from the body, but as an eperōtēma
of a good conscience to God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1
Peter 3:21)
The meaning of eperōtēma is uncertain. The Vulgate,
following St. Jerome, translates it as interrogatio — a question, an interrogation, a cross-examination, perhaps even an argument or syllogism. The New American Bible,
Revised Edition notes that it could also be rendered as pledge; “that is, a promise on the part of Christians to live with a good conscience before God, or a pledge from God of forgiveness and therefore a good conscience for us.” And Thayer’s Lexicon argues that “As the terms of inquiry and demand often include the idea of desire, the word thus gets the signification of earnest seeking, i.e. a craving, an intense desire ….”
So what did St. Peter mean by calling Baptism an eperōtēma? It helps us to step backwards, not only in the epistle, but also in Genesis.
