Weekly Bible Reflection
Matthew's Communities of Justice

The Second Sunday of Epiphany

Matthew 3:13-17 : Joining God’s Revolution!

Begin by using the Method as outlined

Sharing together

What can you remember about your own baptism or, if you were too young, your confirmation or act of adult Christian commitment? How were you aware of God’s presence and affirmation at the time? How significant was that moment in your life?

Reflection on the text

The baptism of Jesus is one of very few events recorded in all four gospels. In Matthew, Jesus' ministry opens with his baptism and closes with him commissioning his disciples to baptize all nations (28v19). By shaping his gospel this way, the author of Matthew reveals the importance of baptism to his household communities. It was foundational to establishing who Jesus was and the identity of his followers.

John’s challenging ministry in the wilderness, on the edge of society, was well established. He had a large following (3v5) and his own disciples (John 1:35). He and Jesus would have known about each other, though it’s possible they may never have met before (John 1:31).

When they meet, there is an immediate deference, one to the other: Jesus asks John for baptism; John replies that he is the one who needs to be baptised, by Jesus. What are we to make of that? John’s baptism was a symbolic mark of repentance (v11-12), while that of Jesus would be an even greater life-changing experience - with totally unexpected consequences!

Jesus submits to John’s baptism to "fulfil all justice" (v15) He identifies fully with God’s saving action in the world. There is a social as well as personal aspect to this. God is committed to righting all wrongs. All who are baptised in Jesus’ name identify themselves publicly with his justice-making mission.

However we choose to interpret the Spirit descending like a dove (v17) or the voice from heaven (v18), the author of Matthew wants his readers to understand that something supernatural occurred, leaving no doubt that God had spoken, through the Holy Spirit: “This is my Son.” But it also points to the much-needed gift of empowerment to carry out the mission.

Application

To what extent is baptism in your Christian community like an initiation ceremony for those joining a revolution?

What distinctive lifestyle and values does your Christian community affirm that might attract someone seeking new meaning for their life? Do you need to change anything? In what ways do these reflect the values and lifestyle of God’s kingdom?

Are there ways in which your community might want to change the way it brings people to baptism? What extras might you add to the liturgy of baptism in order to fill it with greater meaning?

Praying Together

Before praying, arrange your chairs in a circle with a wide gap at one point. Place some tea lights on the floor in the gap and further away from the circle, towards the door.

Pray first for your community, that the radical values of God’s Kingdom and justice may be lived out more visibly through you collectively and individually.

Then, in silence, give space for each person to light one or more tea lights to: - (i) represent the people you wish to draw to baptism (ii) represent the things that you would like to see change in your community of faith.

More background information

1. The values that John the Baptist had espoused might well have been attractive to Jesus. The historian, Josephus, records that there were three sects of Jewish Philosophy at the time: Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. John is thought to have been associated with the Essenes, who used a form of baptism. Certainly his ascetic lifestyle might connect him with that movement because the Essenes were known for not swearing oaths or offering sacrifices, for a communal, monastic lifestyle, for non-aggression and non-violence, for eschewing slavery and trading - all facets of Jesus’ later teaching and ministry.
   
   The words of Matthew 3:17 appear to be a conflation of Psalm 2:7, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father’, and Isaiah 42:1, ‘Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight’. Jesus is addressed as the chosen Son of God who is also to be the spirit-empowered servant of Yahweh. His mission is to bring God’s justice to the world (Isaiah 42:1-6) and to be a light to open the eyes of the Gentiles - a universal mission. We are reminded of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), called to be the founder of a new nation and a blessing to all peoples on earth. Israel had failed, but Jesus is designated the true servant who will perfectly fulfil God’s mission.
   
   This is summed up in Isaiah 42:6, and again in Isaiah 61:1-2 which Jesus reads in Nazareth synagogue and claims to be fulfilled in his own ministry
   
   ‘He has sent me to open the eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness’. (Luke 4:18-19)
   
   This seems to be what Jesus meant by the Kingdom of heaven (or reign of God).
   
   (See other references to the suffering servant, in Isaiah chapters 42-53.
   
   
2. We are familiar with the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit; perhaps it is more than that. It may be signifying, ‘here is true Israel - endued with the Spirit of God’, Jesus being the one who perfectly sums up all that God’s true ‘servant-Israel’ is called to be.
   
   
3. The Hebrew word Jonah (or Yonah) means ‘dove’ and the book of Jonah is a ’missionary tract’ warning that God requires Israel (represented by Jonah) to fulfil its missionary purpose (to be a light to the nations) to the Gentile world (represented by Nineveh) which Israel hitherto had manifestly failed to do.
   
   
4. So the descent of the spirit in the form of a dove, taken in conjunction with the voice, may mean ‘here is my true spirit-anointed servant, and the corporate identity of the servant has narrowed down to this one individual – Jesus’.
   
   
5. Further study of Isaiah 42 – 53, including the ‘servant songs’, reveals a person who encapsulates what the true servant Israel was called to be and to do. The cost of faithfulness to God’s mission is rejection, culminating in the death of the servant.
   
   
6. John conducts his baptism by immersion in the wilderness. This is deeply symbolic and carries subversive connotations. Most revolutionaries of the time led their followers into the wilderness. The message is clear, God’s true power will arise from the margins of the society. The Greek word for repentance, metanoia, means a complete change of mindset and way of life, a complete turn around. No one can enter into an experience of God’s kingdom without it. John’s baptism and fiery preaching are a revolutionary declaration about a whole new world order of justice, love and peace where God will set right all that human rulers have wrecked. By submitting to John’s baptism, Jesus proclaims his readiness for the revolution!
   
   
7. However we may choose to interpret the event of Jesus' baptism as it is recorded by the author of Matthew, with the Spirit descending as a
   dove and a voice from heaven, it is clear that he wanted his readers to understand that what happened made the participants aware that God the
   Father had spoken and that God the Spirit had descended to affirm God the Son. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see God the Holy Trinity
   manifested in that moment.