{"id":1211,"date":"2013-01-06T11:00:27","date_gmt":"2013-01-06T16:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/?p=1211"},"modified":"2013-01-06T11:00:27","modified_gmt":"2013-01-06T16:00:27","slug":"thesecondsign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/","title":{"rendered":"The Second Sign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>This is the season of lights, the season of signs, the season of epiphanies. \u00a0The Sundays are bright with showings in the dark of the year.<\/p>\n

After the Star which was high in the heavens, this second Epiphany light is still above us but much closer, shining upon Jesus and splashing him with a name, Beloved, as he stands wet and revealed in the Jordan.<\/p>\n

Each of these Sunday signs provokes some kind of struggle.\u00a0 This one does not end in a chaos of murdered bodies and a disappearance of the Child and the Kings.\u00a0 This one plunges Jesus into a wilderness of temptations, where he is surrounded by wild beasts, invaded by dreams, wooed by demons.\u00a0 He contends mightily.\u00a0 And he comes away whole.\u00a0\u00a0What doesn\u2019t kill you makes you stronger<\/em>.\u00a0 The old saying is now a hit song.\u00a0 And in the light of his survival of his baptismal struggle, Jesus is now stronger.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In the end even what does kill him will\u00a0make\u00a0him stronger.\u00a0 But in the meantime, in the world of church, baptism has become an occasion that is not about survival or strength.\u00a0\u00a0 Baptism has become its customs, once meant to celebrate its meaning, but now\u00a0the only meaning of the celebration:\u00a0\u00a0 a time for dressing the baby in something outlandish, an occasion of presents and promises and family.\u00a0\u00a0 And none of this has anything to do with profound and dangerous journeys of the spirit.\u00a0\u00a0 The danger of water and demons,\u00a0 the spirit journey, the profundity, have gotten lost in ritual huzzahs, so much so that most Christians, in their own profound journeys, do not think of them as part of their baptism.<\/p>\n

So the film, The Life of Pi<\/em><\/strong>, \u00a0is a huge gift.\u00a0 Ang Lee\u2019s film tells us, shows us, draws us, into the journey called baptism, in which the vast seas, the sky, the creatures of both, become one with the small boat in which the boy Pi struggles to survive.<\/p>\n

Pi \u00a0is a young man from Pondicherry, India.\u00a0 Brought up by a Hindu mother and a skeptical father who is a zookeeper, he was named for a swimming pool in Paris: Piscine Molitar, where his father\u2019s best friend, a victim of polio, had an ecstatic swim and an experience of salvation.\u00a0 Now in his late teens, Pi has survived a shipwreck.\u00a0 His \u00a0family were attempting to emigrate to Canada with their animals when the accident happened and all but Pi and a few animals were drowned.\u00a0 Pi spends 212 days on the open seas in a lifeboat, with a tiger.<\/p>\n

T. S. Eliot, in the poem Gerontion<\/em>, writes:<\/p>\n

Signs are taken for wonders.\u00a0 \u201cWe would see a sign\u201d:<\/em><\/p>\n

The word within a word, unable to speak a word,<\/em><\/p>\n

Swaddled with darkness.\u00a0 In the juvenescence of the year<\/em><\/p>\n

Comes Christ the tiger . . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pi and the Tiger, on the lifeboat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pi is tested, tempted, transformed, drowned and revived a number of times.\u00a0 Before he left Pondicherry he had befriended an Orthodox priest and had longed to be baptized.\u00a0\u00a0 The entire film is about his baptism.\u00a0\u00a0 In it, he is confirmed in his Hindu faith, that the spirit of God lives in all creation, and also in the\u00a0Moslem faith he saw practiced by his friends: salvation rests in submission to God.\u00a0 And Pi becomes Christian.\u00a0 The creatures of air and sea, the waters, sky and sun, the tempests,\u00a0are part of Pi\u2019s baptism, as they were for Christ.\u00a0 Most of all, the Tiger, who is the Word within a Word, unable to speak a word.\u00a0 As with Christ\u2019s temptations,\u00a0we are left with the question of Pi\u2019s, were they inner \u2013 or outer?<\/p>\n

Pi has to contend with profound fear.\u00a0 Learning not to drown in it is a great victory.\u00a0 Pi also has to contend with the Tiger.\u00a0 He has to learn that the Tiger cannot be tamed, no matter what.\u00a0 He has to learn that he can never be stronger than the Tiger, never control the Tiger.\u00a0 He has to learn the Tiger\u2019s need for food and his own need for food.\u00a0 He has to\u00a0respect the Tiger.\u00a0 And to\u00a0gain the Tiger\u2019s\u00a0respect, as a being.\u00a0 He has to learn the dignity of the Tiger, and discover his own dignity in this relationship.\u00a0 He has to learn to love this Tiger for its untameable nature.\u00a0 And because this is baptism, he has to learn empathy for the Tiger\u2019s suffering.\u00a0 Last of all, he has to let this Tiger, whom he dearly loves,\u00a0leave forever.\u00a0 It breaks his heart more than any of his other losses.<\/p>\n

In Pi\u2019s journey light and blessing come to him from sky and sea.\u00a0 It is land that cannot save him, land that holds death and\u00a0hidden dangers.\u00a0 Everyday afterwards, in his landward life, he prays so that he may survive, acknowledging the Tiger in love and awe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>St. Jerome, who first translated the gospels and letters of the early church from Greek and Hebrew into Latin, said that the name Mary, <\/em>which first appears in the New Testament, \u00a0derives from the word for sea:\u00a0 mer<\/em> in French, mar<\/em> in Spanish and Italian.\u00a0 Jesus, then, in Jerome\u2019s understanding, is born of the union of fire and water, of the Sea and the Fire Spirit of God in heaven.\u00a0 It is on land that he is endangered, from cradle to cross.\u00a0 Sea and sky sustain him, as he walks the earth among us.<\/p>\n

And so it is for those of us who are baptized in the waters of his journey.\u00a0 The Tiger is Christ in the boat of our days, holding our death and\u00a0the key to our salvation.\u00a0 Beloved is the name we are given for the Tiger, who is part of our earthly journey.<\/p>\n

That Pi survives is miracle.\u00a0 That he accepts the Tiger as part of his survival is a sign of the miracle.\u00a0 That only the Tiger knows what\u00a0Pi has been through\u00a0opens Pi\u2019s soul.\u00a0 That the Tiger is\u00a0Christ and\u00a0Pi\u2019s own Soul, is the final fathom of the fathomless sea.\u00a0 Pi survives, and lives on as Hindu, Christian, and Moslem, a man devoted to the God he has known\u00a0in signs and wonders, in terrible darkness, and\u00a0in a small boat on the great sea.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

Illustrations:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Baptism Icon<\/strong>,<\/em>\u00a0mid-12th c.\u00a0 Cappella Palatina di\u00a0Palermo.\u00a0Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Art in the Christian Tradition<\/p>\n

2. John Baptizes Jesus.<\/strong> <\/em>\u00a0Notke, Bernt, \u00a01483,\u00a0\u00a0Sankt-Annen-Museum, Lubek, Germany.\u00a0Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Art in the Christian Tradition<\/p>\n

3. Life of Pi,<\/strong><\/em> freeze frame for film poster.<\/p>\n

4. Baptism of Christ<\/strong><\/em>,\u00a0Fra Angelico, 1450, San Marco Church, Florence Italy.\u00a0Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Art in the Christian Tradition<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the season of lights, the season of signs, the season of epiphanies. \u00a0The Sundays are bright with showings in the dark of the year. After the Star which was high in the heavens, this second Epiphany light is still above us but much closer, shining upon Jesus and splashing him with a name, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2483,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bites"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Second Sign<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is the season of lights, the season of signs, the season of epiphanies. \u00a0The Sundays are bright with showings in the dark of the year. After the Star\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Second Sign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is the season of lights, the season of signs, the season of epiphanies. \u00a0The Sundays are bright with showings in the dark of the year. After the Star\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bite in the Apple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-06T16:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/files\/2012\/09\/Baptism-Icon-e1357446738647.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy Rockwell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nancy Rockwell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/\",\"name\":\"The Second Sign\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-06T16:00:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-06T16:00:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#\/schema\/person\/2155b9333c10f2c9427da1f8ca7b4bd7\"},\"description\":\"This is the season of lights, the season of signs, the season of epiphanies. \u00a0The Sundays are bright with showings in the dark of the year. After the Star\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Second Sign\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/\",\"name\":\"The Bite in the Apple\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#\/schema\/person\/2155b9333c10f2c9427da1f8ca7b4bd7\",\"name\":\"Nancy Rockwell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e380c224f4a2068ab523185d81008ef7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e380c224f4a2068ab523185d81008ef7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nancy Rockwell\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/author\/nrockwell\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Second Sign","description":"This is the season of lights, the season of signs, the season of epiphanies. \u00a0The Sundays are bright with showings in the dark of the year. After the Star","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Second Sign","og_description":"This is the season of lights, the season of signs, the season of epiphanies. \u00a0The Sundays are bright with showings in the dark of the year. After the Star","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/","og_site_name":"The Bite in the Apple","article_published_time":"2013-01-06T16:00:27+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/files\/2012\/09\/Baptism-Icon-e1357446738647.jpg"}],"author":"Nancy Rockwell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nancy Rockwell","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/","name":"The Second Sign","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-06T16:00:27+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-06T16:00:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#\/schema\/person\/2155b9333c10f2c9427da1f8ca7b4bd7"},"description":"This is the season of lights, the season of signs, the season of epiphanies. \u00a0The Sundays are bright with showings in the dark of the year. After the Star","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/thesecondsign\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Second Sign"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/","name":"The Bite in the Apple","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#\/schema\/person\/2155b9333c10f2c9427da1f8ca7b4bd7","name":"Nancy Rockwell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e380c224f4a2068ab523185d81008ef7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e380c224f4a2068ab523185d81008ef7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nancy Rockwell"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/author\/nrockwell\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2483"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}