St. Matthew

Baptism of Jesus

Matthew crafts the story of the Baptism of Jesus to reflect on the great events of Jewish History, namely the return of the Israelites from their Exile. The Old Testament occurrence was an event of God’s forgiveness. The prophet Isaiah in chapter 40 reflects the journey home as the result of the end of their warfare. Tell them, God says, “that their iniquity is pardoned,” that they “have received double for all their sins.” John appears in the wilderness as voice that cries out, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” This is the same message as Isaiah 40, in fact, this represents another quotation from Isaiah 40 to announce the forgiveness of the people, to announce a return journey to the Promised Land, only this home is not bound by geographic boundaries, but this Promised Land is God’s Kingdom of Heaven. John’s baptism is about repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

The contest with the old Judaism is drawn. The Judaic claim to righteousness was based upon the descendence to Abraham. John’s proclamation of the new relationship is based not on descendence but upon bearing the fruits of what God desires – repentance. No prior claims stand up here, only the turn from the ways of sin and disconnection from to God to new connection to the one who will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit.

For Jesus, his baptism is the inauguration of his ministry. The heavens open, the Spirit descends upon him, and God’s voice declares him to be the beloved Son that pleases him. The term “righteousness” is connected to Jesus’ act of baptism. John didn’t want to do it because he recognized the differential. John recognized his own unworthiness in comparison to Jesus; however, Jesus insisted saying that he needed to be baptized by John to “fulfill all righteousness”. Righteousness is the biblical term for absolute congruence with God. One who is righteous is “on the same page” as God. Far from being connected to “what a person does,” this righteousness is more a “state of being”. This concept will become extremely important when we get into Jesus’ teaching about the laws of the Torah. Righteousness is not as much about “doing” as it is a “state of being”.

The Rev. Dr. Kipp W. Zimmermann

Thursday, January 12, 2006