TBR Bible study -- Matthew 3

Matthew 3

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 3This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

"A voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.' (Isaiah 40:3)"
​

4John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." The Baptism of Jesus

13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"


15Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
16As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

 

John the Baptist

John's story is told in much greater detail in the gospel of Luke. It's there that we find out that John and Jesus are distant relatives through their mothers. John was prophesied to be a herald of sorts for Jesus, and particularly for the start of His ministry.

The word 'baptize' we see in modern English translations of the Bible was transliterated (translated letter by letter instead of as a whole word) from the ancient Greek word, baptizo (bap-tid-zoh), which literally means to immerse or submerge.

At some point, baptism became an alternative to burnt offerings and sacrifices as 'payment' for sins. So John was baptizing people in the Jordan river by submerging them completely underwater as a symbolic cleansing or purification after having repented of their sins beforehand. It was meant to be an iconic picture of God's cleansing the world from sin with Noah's flood, just on a personal level.

This being the case, John was totally confused as to why Jesus would ask to be baptized. John knew He had nothing to repent for, first of all, and second, John knew who Jesus really was and felt ridiculously unworthy to perform such a service to Him anyway. But Jesus reminded him that the baptism had to take place to fulfill another prophecy, which is why John consented.

What John didn't know is that through His own baptism, Jesus changed the symbolism of baptism itself. Jesus wasn't being cleansed for any sins He committed; He was foreshadowing His death, burial, and resurrection. As John lowered Him into the water, He was foreshadowing His death and burial. When He rose back up out of the water, He was foreshadowing His resurrection. That's why there was such a strong reaction from heaven when Jesus rose from the water.

 

Good stuff HB!! I always wondered why John was baptising before Christ came.

 

I recently heard a Hebrew scholar talk about how Jewish fathers referred to their male sons. He said that they would say "This is my child" until the child was 30 yrs old. and then there was a ceremony called "the placing of a son" and after that he was refered to as "My Son". After this, the son would then have full authority to do business on the father's behalf. The point the guy was making was that everyone who heard this (both here and on the mount of transfiguration) knew exactly what the signifigance of it meant.

 

That would fit. Most sources I've read suggest Jesus was 30 when this event took place which kicked off His ministry.

 

Thank you for posting this. I have read or heard read this particular scripture often, but never really understood it's significance. And it is most fitting that it happened in that context at that time in Jesus' life.

 

That's one take on it. Wrestling with this passage for a sermon a few weeks ago, it seemed to me there were three camps of interpretation on why Jesus was baptized by John. I'll cut and paste part of my message, more because it's easier for me to cut and paste than for any other reason:

Actually, HB, your take is a little different than any of the three I mentioned. I just prefer Willimon's emphasis on new life/birth and it's congruence with Jesus teaching that one must change - deny themselves, give their life away, take up their cross, etc. - to follow him.

 

I agree on your latter point, and it's one I neglected to mention -- not only do I think Jesus' baptism foreshadowed His own death, burial, and resurrection, but also the spiritual death, burial, and resurrection of all who would follow Him. Good call there.