Year A. The Baptism of our Lord January 13, 2002
Title: “Jesus’ baptism is a model for understanding Christian Baptism.” Matthew 3: 13-17
John baptizes Jesus after objecting that Jesus should be baptizing John. Afterwards, the sky opens, the Spirit of God descends on Jesus and the Father declares him to be his beloved Son.
The first two chapters of Matthew, called “The Infancy Narratives,” are a complete unit in themselves, really the whole gospel message “in miniature.” They are not merely attached to the front of Matthew’s main body of work, but are so artfully woven that chapters one and two, are like a musical overture to a concerto, announcing, previewing, hinting at what is to follow. That having been said, it remains true that beginning with chapter three Matthew parallels Mark. In Mark Jesus comes upon the scene as a fully-grown adult. John the Baptist is the dominant religious figure until Jesus begins his own public preaching. However, Matthew fleshes out Mark by using other traditional source material not found in Mark. We, theologians, rather unimaginatively call these sources “Q” and “M”. This scene provides a good illustration of how differently the evangelists utilize the same traditional material.
All four evangelists treat of the baptism of Jesus. Mark, the first, simply has John baptizing Jesus without further comment, except to say that John’s baptism was “for the forgiveness of sin.” That must have sparked some questions. If Jesus was sinless what was he doing participating in a rite whose purpose was the forgiveness of sin? So, Matthew omits the point about forgiveness of sin, saying only that the bartizans “confessed their sins,” either during or after baptism, keeping it vague. He adds the dialogue between John and Jesus about who should be baptizing whom. John says, in effect, “I need your spirit-fire baptism. You do not need my water baptism.” Luke is even more vague. In chapter three verse twenty he tells us the Baptist is in prison, not in the desert. Then he says in the next verse, “After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized…” There is no mention of John’s name and Jesus baptism, in itself a “passive act,” is put in the passive voice! By the time John is written there is no mention at all of Jesus’ baptism. These variances, not contradictions, just variances, illustrate rather well how each evangelist kept within the tradition about Jesus but dealt with it in such a way as to highlight the point each wanted to make, or, more correctly, the point God inspired them to make. Thus, we must derive the “literal sense,” what the author intended to convey, before we can move on and derive from that the “fuller sense,” what is implied in that sense, which can be applied to one’s own present-day situation.
Matthew concentrates on Jesus, not the act of baptism and, once he has answered the objection why Jesus was baptized, he moves on to the meaning of the event for Jesus and for those who follow him. It marked the launching of his career by clearly identifying for him and others who and whose he was and what and how he was to do, what God sent him to do. He was simultaneously God’s Son and Servant. He was also David’s royal son, the long-expected Anointed One, Messiah. These are but some of the titles applied to Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus was a magnet for all the hopes of old and there was a title attached to each one of them—King, Priest, Prophet, Steward, Shepherd, Suffering Servant, Redeemer, Messiah, Lord, Lamb of God, Holy One, Coming One, Son of God, Son of Man, Son of David. A reflection on each of these “titles,” builds into Christology,” an organized explanation of who Christ is and what he does. That began for Matthew in chapters one and two, and continues throughout his gospel. Chapter three, leaves no doubt in the reader’s mind that this ordinary fellow, come to be baptized, is truly extraordinary, out-of-this-world, the divine Son of God. He will do his, Spirit-anointed, task in a humble servant way, just as the prophets, especially Isaiah, foretold.
In verse thirteen, “then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.” Jesus came…to be baptized by him: The Greek is clear. Jesus comes to John in order to be baptized. John’s message is to live a life of “repentance,” in the light of the imminent end of the world, judgment time. Although Jesus has nothing to repent about he does agree with what John is saying. Moreover, as the rest of Matthew will tell, Jesus so identifies with his people, the people he came to save, that he enters into their sinful condition, without himself sinning, as one of them and one with them. As the notion of corporate personality would explain it, Jesus takes on the sin of his people, whom he represents before God, in order to rid them of it, atone for their past sins, and restore them to the good graces of God. The act of repentance, symbolized by baptism here, and the life of repentance, demonstration of inner repentance, which John preached so closely paralleled what Jesus would preach that he undergoes baptism to indicate it. John represents the best and finest of Old Testament faith and faithfulness and Jesus enters into that, approves of that, takes that upon himself as well as the people’s need for repentance of sin and his own personal need to atone for their sin.
In verse fourteen, 14John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" John tried to prevent him, Matthew inserts into Mark’s account a dialogue between Jesus and John that explains why Jesus underwent his ritual. After all, if Jesus was sinless, what was he doing submitting to a rite involving the confession of sins? Mark describes John as “preaching a baptism of repentance for, the purpose of which is, the forgiveness of sins according to Mark chapter one verse four.” Matthew avoids linking John’s baptism with forgiveness of sin. He does not use that phrase until Jesus utters it at the institution of the Eucharist in chapter twenty-six verse twenty-eight. There he intimately connects Jesus’ death and Christian Baptism into it, with the Eucharist and both Baptism and Eucharist with the “forgiveness of sins.” Still, there is the matter of “acknowledging their sins,” in Matthew chapter three verse six. How can the sinless one acknowledge his sins? He cannot; nor does he nor does the text say he does. He is acknowledging his solidarity with his sinful people, acknowledging their sins and willingly and more importantly publicly, taking responsibility for them upon himself. That is not to say he took their sins within himself by committing sin himself, not that he was guilty of sin, He became responsible for a debt he did not contract himself, but his family, his people, did. They were guilty; he became responsible, in his role as the next-of-kin, eldest son, first born of many brothers and sisters, to make amends-- by his own decision. Deciding to submit to John’s baptism was the demonstration of all that. Matthew simply notes that John recognized his inferior place and that of his baptism compared to that of Jesus without telling us how he came to that insight.
In verse fifteen, . But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented, “to fulfill all righteousness.” “Righteousness,” Greek dikaiosyne, occurs seven times throughout Matthew as against three times in the other three gospels combined. It occurs fifty seven times in Paul who uses the word in two senses. It means “right standing,” before God as saved by Christ and also “right conduct,” as befits one who is “right,” with God. The verb “fulfill,” gives us a clue as to the meaning. Matthew likes to use that verb when referring to prophecy, and he is especially fond of referring to the prophet Isaiah. It is part of Matthew’s thinking and writing style to have the Old Testament in the background of what he is saying, alluding to it by the images he uses and the way he expresses his thoughts. This phrase “to fulfill all righteousness,” is a good example of this. Isaiah 52:13-53:12, the “Fourth Suffering Servant Song’, is behind this text, most certainly one of Jesus’ favorite texts. In verse eleven. we read: “Through his suffering my, righteous, servant shall justify, make righteous, many and their guilt he shall bear.” Jesus will “fulfill,” this prophecy regarding righteousness. Jesus would not be up front standing with John or even baptizing him and calling on others to repent. Instead he is down there with the sinners, in solidarity with them, one with and of them in the process of “righteousness to salvation.” In the next verse in Isaiah 53, v. 12, we read, “he was numbered with the transgressors.” As the Suffering Servant Jesus represents his people and bears their sins.
In verse sixteen, and when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him, “after Jesus was baptized he came up from the water.” The baptism of Jesus is recounted in one word, a participle. Matthew is more interested in talking about the theophany that follows it. The Old Testament background is once again Isaiah, in this case 63:11--64:1. That passage deals with the themes of the exodus, the passage through the divided waters, the Spirit descending from the Lord onto the Israelites and with God as their Father- all ending in 64:1 with the plea: “O that you would rend the heavens and come down!” That is just what happened here. Matthew, and Jesus, saw this passage fulfilled in the baptism scene a new exodus, a new Moses.
The heavens were opened: Isaiah 64:1 is fulfilled. This opens a new possibility of communication between God and humans. Ezekiel’s inaugural vision, Ezekiel 1:1, also by a river, would also be in mind here.
He saw: That is, Jesus saw. It would be reading too much into the text, as many do, to take “he,” to mean “he and nobody else, only he.” In the next verse Matthew changes “You are my son…” to “This is my son…” Mathew understood this as a public event rather than an exclusively private revelation.
The Spirit of God descending like a dove: Matthew also changes Mark’s and Luke’s wording here. There is a shift from the Spirit himself “as, like, a dove,” to the Spirit’s descent as “dovelike.” He also uses the Greek word for “as if,” hosei instead of Mark’s and Luke’s “as,” Greek hos, thus scaling down the meaning even more. There is no written record of comparing the Spirit to a dove, power in gentleness?” in the Old Testament or extra-biblical sources. We just do not know where the idea came from. Some suggest Genius chapter one verse two, which speaks of the Spirit’s descent upon the waters of chaos but no dove appears there. Others suggest Genius chapter eight verses eight to twelve, where Noah sent out a dove but no Spirit appears there. The descent of the Spirit further expresses that communication between God and humans is opening up. The Spirit anoints Jesus from on high as Messiah, “The Anointed One,” to equip him for his task because a more-than-human power is needed to accomplish a more-than-human task. The sight of the opened heavens and the descent of the Spirit would have confirmed what Jesus thought and felt about himself and removed any human doubts he might have entertained regarding either his status before God or his mission from God. This scene is like the “calls,” of the prophets in the Old Testament, especially Isaiah chapter six and Jeremiah chapter one.
In verse seventeen, “and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
“A voice from heaven said,” this is yet a further development of the opening of communication. Though it is the voice of God, the words come from the Word of God, Scripture. It was common practice among the teachers or rabbis, to quote from different parts of Scripture in the same sentence. Since there had been no prophets for over two hundred years the rabbis had to combine old Scripture quotes in new ways to develop the message and apply God’s word to the present situation. They called it “the daughter of the voice in Hebrew bat qol.” That is what is going on here.
This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased This is a combination of Psalm 2:7, “This is my son…” and Isaiah 42: 1, “my chosen beloved, special object of love, also only or only-begotten, one with whom I am pleased.” It goes on to say, “…upon whom I have put my spirit.” It identifies Jesus as both the royal Messiah and the suffering servant. Just as in the book of Isaiah, Matthew sees the kingly role, that of the Messiah, being fulfilled, worked out, in a servant modality. The Father is saying this Jesus is not only the royal son of David, but God’s Son. There is a play on words, here, evident in Hebrew but not so clear in Greek. The Hebrew `ebed means “servant.” That is the word in 42:1 The Hebrew word for “son is ‘eben. These two words are very close in Hebrew even to the point of confusing the final Hebrew
“n” with the Hebrew “d”. The Greek LXX translated “servant” as pais, a word which means both “child” or “son” and “servant.” Hence, sonship and servanthood are easily combined in both biblical languages. The point, of course, is more than semantic. Jesus combines in himself, in his one person, the many facets of God’s revelation in the Old Testament. In this very pregnant scene, we also have the first clear revelation of the Trinity.
Sermon
The “vision,” that Matthew describes, the opening of the heavens, voice of the Father and descent of the Spirit upon Jesus, interprets the “action” of Jesus’ baptism and John’s reaction to it. On the visible level an ordinary man is being baptized by an extraordinary one. Anyone could see that. However, to the eyes of faith, that would include Jesus himself, the Baptist, anyone there open to God’s word and, of course, subsequent Christian disciples of all ages, something else, something deeper is going on. The “vision,” tells us what that is. This was what all experiences are for Christians. It was both a public event, open to all to see and experience, and it was a private affair, the deeper meaning open only to those who are “in the know,” members of the kingdom of God.
John’s baptism was like water compared to the fire of Christian Baptism. Even John makes that clear. But, it is not to be taken lightly. Jesus makes that clear. John’s insistence on living a life of repentance, that is, consistent with the righteousness of God, will continue into the Christian era long after John has been silenced. The scene here is so artistically done it would be impossible in a short space to examine it all in detail. The main point of it is to say that Jesus’ baptism is a model for understanding Christian Baptism. Christians are baptized as a sign of entry into the kingdom of God, the eternal realm and vision, for the simple reason that Jesus commanded it. Just as John could object to the baptism of Jesus as being unnecessary, even meaningless,as far as sin is concerned, so someone could object to the rite of Christian Baptism as being unnecessary for salvation. In a word, we do it because Jesus said to do it, “to fulfill the demands of righteousness.” Both John and Jesus humbly submit to those “demands.” After John obeys, God will reveal to him why. God does not reveal everything to us beforehand, requiring our prior approval of his reasons.
And what a revelation it was! It was the first clear revelation of the Trinity. Father, the heaven-like voice, Spirit the dove-like descent and Son, also the human servant who will suffer, are all simultaneously present. The Triune God who said, “Let us make humankind…” now says, “Let us save humankind…” Matthew reveals to us what was going on under the surface of the water, symbolic of chaos, symbolic of Jesus’ death, after Jesus emerges, rises, from it. We have here an interpretation of the facts in vision form. At the end of Matthew Jesus himself will “demand” of his disciples that they baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them and us to observe all I have commanded you which are the demands of righteousness, and promising to be with his Church always; that promise extents to each and everyone who accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Jesus did not “receive,” God’s Spirit for the first time at his baptism any more than he became God’s Son at that time. He always was divine, always was Spirit, always was. This experience is a marker, a making explicit- first for the human Jesus, who like all of us could use the encouragement of God that his signs bestow, and then for all of us- just who Jesus is, what he does and how. The voice reveals that Jesus is God’s Son and so divine.
We all, each of us needs to hear that inner small voice say you are my beloved son or daughter in who, “I AM,” well pleased. At the same time he is also God’s servant and so human, a servant like that found in Isaiah, who would suffer innocently for the sins of his people and thereby make atonement for them and redeem them, re-acquire them for God, their original owner. The baptism of Jesus really tells us less “who,” Jesus is and more “whose,” Jesus is. This is also true of our own Baptism. The Spirit of God would equip him for his mission, just as God’s Spirit equips us to do more-than-human things. Baptism launches us on our mission in this world as Jesus’ baptism launched his public ministry. As he went public about his beliefs, so do we. As he is God’s Son, so are we his children through our identity with him. There is no difference between Jesus’ “being,” God and his “doing,” the demands of righteousness.” The same is or can be or should be true of every Christian. As we listen to what God says about us in his heavenly, small inner voice, and the Scripture, “Word,” we are to become what he declares us to be, making the invisible Triune God visible and audible by our actions, humble, submissive-to-his-will actions. We submerge our own interests and preferences so that his may emerge. As John would put it in John chapter three verse thirty.” “He must increase. I must decrease.”
Jesus did everything humans need to do in order to “fulfill all righteousness,” including being baptized.
“Fulfilling all righteousness,” means doing, thinking and saying everything that is consistent with being in a right relationship with God.
Baptism reveals that we are God’s “beloved” children.
God is pleased with his children when they behave in ways consistent with whose they are, when their “doing,” matches their “being.”
Righteousness: Being righteous does not mean being self-righteous. Much of Jesus’ disagreements with the Pharisees was over this difference. They thought they earned the right to be proud of their behavior and thereby to look down on those who did not behave like them. Jesus taught and showed by example, by his behavior and attitudes, that righteousness itself is a gift, a bestowal, from God, given because he is who he is, not because of what we do. God bestows his “being,” upon us so that our “doing,” will be consistent with his “being.” This “righteousness,” this bestowal, puts us in a “right,” relationship with God, our Creator, our Father, a relationship estranged by sin, restored by salvation, by Christ, God’s only, unsinning, Son, who himself is God in human form, in both human being and human doing. This makes us his “adopted,” sons and daughters, his children not by nature but by grace. Everyone is God’s child by nature, but it requires two things to be God’s child by grace. One is grace itself, namely Christ. The other is our acquiescence to that grace. In this baptism scene Christ himself is showing us the need for our acceptance of God on God’s terms, that is, to fulfill all righteousness. If the objection that one does not need baptism ever applied to anyone, it applied to Christ, the sinless one, the sinless son. Christ did not listen to human objections to baptism, even from the Baptist himself, “ among those born of woman there is none greater than he.” So, he underwent the ceremony that signified God’s gracious gift and his acceptance of that gift on the giver’s terms. He did so for the same reason he did all things, namely, because we needed it, not because he needed it. When we are consciously aware that we are in a right relationship with God, thanks to grace, thanks to Christ, we are constantly thankful ourselves. All we do is done as a response to grace, because we have been forgiven, not in order to be forgiven or saved.
God’s Affirmation: Everyone needs to be affirmed and as a human being. So did Jesus. Baptism is not merely a one-time affirmation that melts away over time. It is an “all time,” affirmation that grows over time. It changes our being, not just our temporary self-image. It restores us to our original image, the very image of God, God’s children. Changed “being,” results in changed “doing.” As a result of Baptism’s grace we are empowered to do things we otherwise neither could nor would do, things like forgiving, giving, interrupting our own schedule to help someone else, spending our energies on others rather than on ourselves, healing through loving, loving despite not liking, being able to sense, scent, bask in and enjoy the otherwise hidden and unbidden presence of the eternal dimension, God himself, in every experience and every moment. Without that affirmation, that assurance from an infallible, all-knowing, all-loving source, we would be nothing and would do nothing worthwhile. With that affirmation we know that “who,” we are is really “whose we are,” God’s children, and what we do is less important than why we do it.
Moment of Insight: Whenever we have an experience like the one Jesus had at the Jordan, that is, whenever we have a clear insight into reality as it really is, whenever the clouds are rolled back and we really see, whenever the noise stops and we really hear, we are experiencing our Baptism all over again. It is these moments of insight that motivate us to become what we are, what and whose we are in God’s estimation. These moments of clarity are jolts of grace, like bolts of lightning, electrifying us to send that power onto and into the earth for its restoration and redemption. Moments of insight are always charges to mission, to complete his work on earth by behaving like he, God as Christ, behaves. Amen.
