MATTHEW 3: 13-17 

Matthew in the Margins…Baptism of Our Lord / Epiphany 1…Revised for 2020 

John is right to refuse Jesus baptism, & Jesus knows it. By insisting He demonstrates there's more going on here than meets the human eye. In the end, JB defers to Jesus. He knows, or is at least pretty sure, Who this really is, & has met his match! There is a pastoral question here: When do we dig in about something, & when let go for the sake of God's longer term plan for us?

At the outset of Jesus' ministry MT foreshadows what an enigma He’s going to be, & not only for JB. Is Jesus as Messiah still an enigma to some of us? What of those we are called to minister to who can’t get their head, let alone their heart, round Jesus any more than JB can at this point? Can we open people up to all the Jesus possibilities by being more open to them, & to Him? 

MT tells us Jesus sees the Spirit coming upon Himself after the heavens open. MK uses the term ‘torn open’, as MT does later of the Temple veil. How can we help our people grasp Christian Faith is no spectator sport. It’s a Spirited participation in the things of God, even the uncomfortable bits! Have we yet found our own personal point of entry to become a participant rather than a spectator?

In GN, the Divine Wind hovers over the waters as the Word calls Creation into being. Now, the same Word, but in flesh this time, calls into being a new chapter of God's eternal, ongoing plan for the restoration of a ‘fallen’ people. How can we ‘dust off’ the ‘old, old story’ & tell it on a stage further through our responses. When we stop telling it out in our own lives, the story stops with us. Stops short!

The voice of God acknowledges Jesus as ‘Beloved Son’ [PS 2:7], & ‘Servant’ [IS 42:1, etc.] as He accepts the role of the Anointed One. As beloved daughters & sons of God, we, too, are also to be servants, even suffering ones if necessary. Anointed in our own Baptism. God’s approval today is still “I'm delighted!” How well are we responding to God's loving delight in us?’ A relationship with Jesus that lacks enthusiasm is to damn Him with faint praise - or praise him with faint damns. Is there a hymn in there somewhere?

For all his greatness, JB is an enigma. He points to Jesus but doesn’t follow Him. So far as we know, JB never goes any further, comes any closer, than his enquiry, “Are You the One who is to come?” Are some of us, & some of those to whom we minister enigmas, too? 

Brian

Afterthought: Maybe JB is too individual a character to function within a group he himself doesn’t lead? Think of any group we belong to, church or otherwise: how is our ‘participation rate’?