FINDINGS II


Epiphany I - A - January 9, 2011

Matthew 3: 13-17


Harry T. Cook



Matthew 3: 13-17

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, there to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent this, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?" But Jesus insisted, saying, "Let it be as I have asked. This is how we fulfill the mandate for righteousness." Then John agreed. And when Jesus had been baptized, immediately as he came up out of the water, behold: the heavens were opened to his eyes and he perceived a spirit of God alight on him, and a voice from the heavens saying, "This is my Son, the beloved one with whom I am well pleased."

(Translated and paraphrased by Harry T. Cook)

 


RUBRIC

 

The stories of Jesus' baptism - or referring to Jesus' baptism - are no problem for scripture scholars, but they are for theologians. For the latter, the stories become a cause for embarrassment, as in why should one who is proclaimed to be the Son of God need to be baptized "for the forgiveness of sins?" The infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke make clear their intention to portray Jesus as messiah. John's prologue goes further to say that Jesus embodied the creative intellect and power of God.

 

The Gospel of John never says directly that Jesus had been baptized, but it is hinted at in John 1: 32-34 - as if one could assemble a gospel narrative without mentioning it. Its inclusion despite the "embarrassment" factor is a kind of perverse attestation to its historical validity.

 


WORKSHOP

 

It seems clear that John the Baptizer did, in fact, exist and that he did conduct public baptisms or ritual washings along the lines of the purity rites of the Essenes. It seems further that the ritual washings were connected with John's apocalyptic vision of a world that was coming or being brought to an end, of which "the unquenchable fire" of Matthew 3: 12 was a clear sign. John's baptism, then, was intended by him to help people to prepare for and survive in some fashion the eschaton.

 

The speculation of many who deal with these texts is that Jesus was for a time a part of the Baptizer's following and would naturally have undergone the ritual baptism that seems to have distinguished John from other public figures of the time. It is not clear what caused Jesus to strike out on his own, or what split, if any, there was with John. As recently ago as Advent II we revisited Matthew at 11:2-11 and the guarded colloquy between John's followers and Jesus. The tenor of the question reiterated there ("Are you The Coming One, or do we look for another?") suggests that the two barely knew each other, save by reputation. Or perhaps Jesus had so distinguished himself that John had begun to think his one-time disciple was actually messiah himself.

 

That retrojected into the text at hand (Matthew 3: 13-17) may account for the controversy over who should be baptized by whom. Either way, by the time According to Matthew appeared, Jesus Jews had made up their minds about John and Jesus. They had chosen to follow Jesus and his ethical wisdom as the new Torah.

 

The resolution of the conflict over whether or not it was appropriate for John to baptize Jesus comes in Jesus' words: "Let it be as I have asked. This is how we fulfill the mandate for righteousness." There the Greek used is playrōsai (fulfill). Thus will Matthew at 5:17 depict Jesus as saying he had come not to abolish the law and the prophets (Torah and Haftarah) but to playrōsai (fulfill)them.


The text is vague, perhaps purposefully, about who saw and heard what on the occasion of Jesus' baptism. Matthew reports it obviously based on a received tradition that would have originated at some time earlier than the probable date of the Matthean gospel's appearance ca. 80-85 C.E. As I understand and have translated the text, the heavens were opened "to" Jesus, not necessarily to anyone else who may have been present, suggesting that the author was admitting of an internal vision having been reported by Jesus to his followers at an earlier date and passed on in the lore - or that the vision and the words that followed were later ornamentations of a simpler story. The words, "This is my Son, the beloved one with whom I am well pleased," are said to have come from the heavens, presumably the same heavens as were opened to the inner sight of Jesus, thus perhaps we are to think that they are part and parcel of some fantastic tale passed down.


 


HOMILETIC COMMENTARY

 

Many congregations, following the lead of the Revised Common Lectionary, provide for the celebration of baptism on the Sunday following the Feast of the Epiphany. Before the revision of the liturgies themselves, baptism was administered, at least to infants, for the forgiveness of so-called original sin. As more sophisticated understandings have come to dominate the discussion, baptism is being seen more as a rite of initiation. In former times, baptism was a semi-private action outside of the community gathering. Now it is generally part of the principal liturgy on a Sunday involving the entire congregation gathered.

 

In a way, that practice and understanding follows the idea that one, like Jesus, is baptized "to fulfill the mandate for righteousness." It becomes a statement of those who present the candidate. And the statement is something like: "For better or worse, we choose for the one whom we present the set of values that ideally institutional Christianity embodies and advocates, and we vow to inculcate in him or her such values by what we teach and how we live."

 

Let the homilist who draws duty on this Sunday ponder that idea. Let the participants in the study class ponder it as well. Baptism is a radical act and, if taken seriously, a radical commitment. Just for example, take a look at one of the promises required by the Episcopal Church of candidates' sponsors and by candidates themselves, if of appropriate age:

 

"Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?" The key words are "all," not "some," and "every" -- including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons; members of Taliban, al-Qaeda, the Tea Party and the Socialist Party; those neighbors who are rude and noisy; street people who smell; and your annoying in-laws.


� Copyright 2011, Harry T. Cook. All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced without proper credit.


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