Dungeon

Would you rather be stuck in a dungeon or confined in a prison? 

The correct answer is neither. But let’s be honest, a prison, as bad as it sounds, is not as terrible as a dungeon.

In today’s reading, the prophet Isaiah describes the Lord as a liberator who rescues the captive from blinding darkness of a dungeon. This messianic mission of liberation extends to the Church—the Lumen Gentium or "Light of the Nations"—which is what Isaiah calls us. We are called to participate in the rescue of lost, blind, dungeon dwelling souls  primarily through the sacraments as Christ shows us in his own baptism. 

I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

The Hebrew word for "dungeon" in Isaiah 42:7 is mas·ger, from a root meaning "to shut or close," symbolizing release from spiritual darkness or literally from Babylonian exile, and it's often translated as "prison," "dungeon," or "confinement". 

Those bible translators who turn the original Hebrew into modern English went with the word dungeon rather than prison. This is worth noting because a dungeon is an apt description of someone who is in the clutches of hell and whose existence is not only subterranean but sub-real, seemingly sub-human. The walls of the muddy pit are steep and slick. The light at the top of the submerged tower breaks through the cracks but only to remind you of what you can never have.  Escape is impossible and screaming is futile. 

Those who forced this on you are at the deepest level of evil, the imaginative kind, where envious demons conspire prideful plots and plans to be ever more sinister. They aren’t just holding you back from being free, they seek to transform you into a sub-human, blind servant of Satan like them wallowing in worm-like despair.

You hear the shadowy demons laughing and mocking as they repeat an incessant chant.  You gather enough courage to wimper, ‘But you said I would be like God”. They respond with a thunderous and monotonous chorus,  “You are just like us. You are just like us”. Their mockery echoes off the mossy bricks that tower above and encircle you. 

Sounds really terrible right?

That's why Baptism is necessary and urgent. Baptism not only sets us free from the legal claim that the devil has over us but it gives us a new life and a new identity as adopted sons and daughters of God.

Like Jesus as he emerged from the waters of the Jordan, we too are confirmed by the words of the Father, “You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. You don’t belong in a dungeon. You belong to me. You are now fully alive". 

Early Church Fathers frequently described baptism as a moment of profound spiritual liberation where the devil is compelled to "let go" of the soul. This transition was viewed as a literal transfer from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of God.

Cyprian of Carthage (3rd Century): He taught that the devil’s "obstinate wickedness" prevails right up to the water, but in baptism, he "loses all the poison of his wickedness". Cyprian used the metaphor of scorpions and serpents, stating that just as these creatures cannot retain their venom when cast into water, wicked spirits cannot remain in a person once the Holy Spirit begins to dwell within them.

Tertullian (2nd–3rd Century): He emphasized the necessity of the candidate's active role. Just before entering the water, a person must "solemnly profess that we disown the devil, and his pomp, and his angels". This renunciation was seen as the breaking of a former allegiance to Satan.

Hippolytus (3rd Century): In the Apostolic Tradition, he recorded the instruction for a presbyter to hold the candidate and command them to renounce Satan, his servants, and his works. He described the baptized person as rising from the water "brilliant as the sun," having "put off the bondage" of the enemy.

Cyril of Jerusalem (4th Century): In his Catechetical Lectures, Cyril instructed candidates that as they stood facing the West (the direction of darkness), they were to renounce Satan as if he were present, breaking their "ancient covenant with hell" to make a new one with Christ.

Gregory of Nyssa (4th Century): He characterized baptism as a "release from bondage" and the "purging out" of sin from both soul and body, effectively putting to shame the one (the devil) who had previously cast man down. 

It was Pope Leo the Great who challenged us to stay out of the mire of sin and remember our identity in the great gift of Baptism. He said, “Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s kingdom”.