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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.' "
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."
Explanation: Preparation for Public Ministry (3:1-4:25)
Matthew's introduction to Jesus' public ministry does not end with
the stories of Jesus' childhood. Ancient biographies could include
other introductory qualifications, and Matthew is no exception:
he reports the attestation of the prophet John, of the heavenly
voice and of Jesus' success in testing (3:1-4:11). Jesus' public
ministry begins in 4:17.
Warnings of a Wilderness Prophet (3:1-12)
Just as God revealed his purposes in advance to his prophets in
ancient Israel (Amos 3:7; compare Is 41:22-29; 42:9; 43:9, 19; 44:7-8,
24-26; 45:21; 46:10; 48:6), God sent John the Baptist to prepare
Israel for his climactic revelation in history. John was a wilderness
prophet proclaiming impending judgment; for him repentance (Mt 3:2,
6, 8) was the only appropriate response to the coming kingdom (3:2),
its fiery judgment (3:7, 10-12) and its final judge, who would prove
to be more than a merely political Messiah (3:11-12). Given the
widespread view in early Judaism that prophecy in the formal sense
had ceased (Keener 1991b:77-91), John's appearance naturally drew
crowds (3:5). (Modern proponents of the view that miraculous gifts
have ceased have not been the first people in history surprised
when God's sovereign activity challenges their presuppositions;
see Judges 6:13; Deere 1993.)
The warnings in this passage serve two functions for Matthew's persecuted
readers: judgment against persecutors both vindicates the righteous
they oppress and warns the righteous not to become wicked (Ezek
18:21-24). Matthew's tradition probably mentioned the "crowds"
in general (compare Lk 3:7), but Matthew focuses in on a specific
part of the crowds: Pharisees and Sadducees (Mt 3:7). Like a good
pastor, Matthew thus applies the text to the needs of his own congregations:
their Pharisaic opponents were spiritual Gentiles (3:6, 9). Yet
later chapters in this Gospel warn Matthew's audience that they
can also become like these Pharisees if they are not careful (24:48-51;
compare Amos 5:18-20).
John's Lifestyle Summons Us to Heed God's
Call (3:1-4)
John's location, garb and diet suggest a radical servant of God
whose lifestyle challenges the values of our society even more than
it did his own, and may demand the attention of modern Western society
even more than his preaching does.First, John's location suggests
that the biblical prophets' promise of a new exodus was about to
take place in Jesus. So significant is the wilderness (3:1) to John's
mission that all four Gospels justify it from Scripture (3:3; Mk
1:3; Lk 3:4; Jn 1:23; Is 40:3): Israel's prophets had predicted
a new exodus in the wilderness (Hos 2:14-15; Is 40:3). Thus Jewish
people in John's day acknowledged the wilderness as the appropriate
place for prophets and messiahs (Mt 24:26; Acts 21:38; Jos. Ant.
20.189; War 2.259, 261-62).
Further and no less important to John's mission, the wilderness
was a natural place for fugitives from a hostile society (as in
Heb 11:38; Rev 12:6; Ps. Sol. 17:17), including prophets like Elijah
(1 Kings 17:2-6; 2 Kings 6:1-2). John could safely draw crowds (Mt
3:5) there as he could nowhere else (compare Jos. Ant. 18.118),
and it provided him the best accommodations for public baptisms
not sanctioned by establishment leaders (see Jos. Ant. 18.117).
Thus John's location symbolizes both the coming of a new exodus,
the final time of salvation, and the price a true prophet of God
must be willing to pay for his or her call: exclusion from all that
society values-its comforts, status symbols and even basic necessities
(compare 1 Kings 13:8-9, 22; 20:37; Is 20:2; Jer 15:15-18; 16:1-9;
1 Cor 4:8-13).
Although true prophets could function within society under godly
governments (as in 2 Sam 12:1-25; 24:11-12), in evil times it was
mainly corrupt prophets who remained in royal courts (1 Kings 22:6-28;
compare Mt 11:8) as God's true messengers were forced into exile
(1 Kings 17:3; 18:13). Most Jewish people in the first century practiced
their religion seriously; but the religious establishment could
not accommodate a prophet like John whose lifestyle dramatically
challenged the status quo. A prophet with a message and values like
John's might not feel very welcome in many contemporary Western
churches either. (Imagine, for example, a prophet overturning our
Communion table, demanding how we can claim to partake of Christ's
body while attending a racially segregated church or ignoring the
needs of the poor. In most churches we would throw him out on his
ear.)
John's garment (Mt 3:4) in general resembled the typical garb of
the poor, as would befit a wilderness prophet cut off from all society's
comforts. But more important, his clothing specifically evokes that
of the Israelite prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8 LXX). Malachi had promised
Elijah's return in the end time (Mal 4:5-6), a promise that subsequent
Jewish tradition developed (for example, Sirach 48:10; compare 4
Ezra 6:26; t. `Eduyyot 3:4). Although Matthew did not regard John
as Elijah literally (17:3; compare Lk 1:17), he believed that John
had fulfilled the prophecy of Elijah's mission (Mt 11:14-15; 17:11-13).
John's Elijah-like garb thus tells Matthew's readers two things:
first, their Lord arrived exactly on schedule, following the promised
end-time prophet; and second, John's harsh mission required him
to be a wilderness prophet like Elijah. Following God's call in
our lives may demand intense sacrifice.
John's diet also sends a message to complacent Christians. Disgusted
though we might be today by a diet of bugs with natural sweetener,
some other poor people in antiquity also ate locusts (3:4), and
honey was the usual sweetener in the Palestinian diet, regularly
available even to the poor. But locusts sweetened with honey constituted
John's entire diet. First-century readers would have placed him
in the category of a highly committed holy man: the pietists who
lived in the wilderness and dressed simply normally ate only the
kinds of food that grew by themselves (2 Macc 5:27; Jos. Life 11).
Matthew is telling us that John lived simply, with only the barest
forms of necessary sustenance. Although God calls only some disciples
to such a lifestyle (Mt 11:18-19), this lifestyle challenges all
of us to adjust our own values. Others' needs must come before our
luxuries (Lk 3:11; 12:33; 14:33), and proclaiming the kingdom is
worth any cost (Mt 8:20; 10:9-19).
For that matter, John's lifestyle, like that of St. Anthony, St.
Francis, John Wesley or Mother Teresa, may challenge affluent Western
Christianity even more deeply than John's message does. John's lifestyle
declares that he lived fully for the will of God, not valuing possessions,
comfort or status. Blinded by our society's values, we too often
preach a Christianity that merely "meets our needs" rather
than one that calls us to sacrifice our highest desires for the
kingdom. Too many Western Christians live a religion that costs
nothing, treats the kingdom cheaply and therefore does not demand
saving faith. Saving faith includes believing God's grace so sincerely
that we live as if his message is true and stake our lives on it.
May we have the courage to trust God as John did, to stake everything
on the kingdom (13:46) and to relinquish our own popularity, when
necessary, by summoning others to stake everything on the kingdom
as well.
John Has an Uncomfortable Message for Israel
(3:5-10)
Although most Jewish traditions acknowledged that all people need
some repentance (see 1 Kings 8:46; 1 Esdras 4:37-38; Sirach 8:5),
John's call to his people (Mt 3:5-6, 8-9) is more radical. John's
"repentance" refers not to a regular turning from sin
after a specific act but to a once-for-all repentance, the kind
of turning from an old way of life to a new that Judaism associated
with Gentiles' converting to Judaism. True repentance is costly:
the kingdom "demands a response, a radical decision. . . .
Nominalism is the curse of modern western Christianity" (Ladd
1978a:100). In various ways John warns his hearers against depending
on the special privileges of their heritage.
First, John's baptism confirms that he is calling for a once-for-all
turning from the old way of life to the new, as when Gentiles convert
to Judaism. Although Judaism practiced various kinds of regular
ceremonial washings, only the baptism of Gentiles into Judaism paralleled
the kind of radical, once-for-all change John was demanding. In
other words, John was treating Jewish people as if they were Gentiles,
calling them to turn to God on the same terms they believed God
demanded of Gentiles. As F. F. Bruce puts it, "If John's baptism
was an extension of proselyte baptism to the chosen people, then
his baptism, like his preaching, meant that even the descendants
of Abraham must . . . enter . . . by repentance and baptism just
as Gentiles had to do" (1978:61).
Second, John's hearers were not all good descendants of their ancestors
anyway. "Viper" was certainly an insult, and brood of
vipers (offspring of vipers) carries the insult further. In the
ancient Mediterranean many people thought of vipers as mother killers.
In the fifth century B.C. Herodotus declared that newborn Arabian
vipers chewed their way out of their mothers' wombs, killing their
mothers in the process. Herodotus believed that they did so to avenge
their fathers, who were slain by the mothers during procreation
(Herod. Hist. 3.109). Later writers applied his words to serpents
everywhere (Aelian On Animals 1.24; Pliny N.H. 10.170; Plut. Divine
Vengeance 32, Mor. 567F). Calling John's hearers vipers would have
been an insult, but calling them a brood of vipers accused them
of killing their own mothers, indicating the utmost moral depravity.
That Matthew applies this phrase to religious leaders may be unfortunately
significant.
Third, employing the image of a tree's fruit, both John and Jesus
demand that one's life match one's profession (3:8; 7:16-17; 12:33;
13:22-23; 21:34, 43). In contrast to some forms of modern Christianity,
Judaism also insisted that repentance be demonstrated practically
(m. Yoma 8:8-9; Montefiore 1968:2:15). Thus no one could simply
appeal to ethnic character or descent from Abraham (compare Deut
26:5). Biblical tradition had already applied the image of a tree
being cut down (Ezek 31:12-18; Dan 4:23) or burned (Jer 11:16) to
the judgment of a nation. Most small trees that could not bear fruit
would have been useful, especially for firewood (N. Lewis 1983:139).
Fourth, John's admonition that out of stones God could raise up
children for Abraham (compare Gen 1:24; 2:9) warns his hearers not
to take their status as God's people for granted. Jewish people
had long believed they were chosen in Abraham (Neh 9:7; Mic 7:20;
E. Sanders 1977:87-101), but John responds that this ethnic chosen
ness is insufficient to guarantee salvation unless it is accompanied
by righteousness (compare Amos 3:2; 9:7). Prophets were not above
using witty wordplay at times (Amos 8:1-2; Mic 1:10-15; Jer 1:11-12),
and children and stones probably represent a wordplay in Aramaic;
the two words sound very similar (Manson 1979:40). (At any rate,
John's symbolism should not have been obscure: God had previously
used stones to symbolize his people in Ex 24:4; 28:9-12; Josh 4:20-21.)
Salvation demands personal commitment, not merely being part of
a religious or ethnic group. No one can take one's spiritual status
for granted simply because one is Jewish, Catholic, Baptist, evangelical
or anything else. As the saying goes, God has no grandchildren;
the piety of our upbringing cannot save us if we are not personally
committed to Christ. Even depending on our past religious experience
is precarious. Whereas historic Calvinism teaches that the elect
will persevere to the end and Arminianism allows that apostate converts
may be lost, neither supports the now-common view that those who
pray the sinner's prayer but return to a life of ignoring God will
be saved. Yet at a popular level, vast numbers of people believe
they are saved because they once prayed a prayer. If this modern
popular misunderstanding of the once-saved-always-saved doctrine
is false, it may be responsible for millions of people's assuming
they are saved when they are in fact lost. John's message constituted
a decisive challenge to false doctrines of his day that cost people
their salvation; John's successors in our day must be prepared to
issue the same sort of unpopular challenges.
John Proclaims the Coming Judge and Judgment
(3:10-12)
In Matthew, John is mostly what narrative critics call a "reliable
character": we can trust the perspective of most of what he
says (11:7-11). The only point at which Matthew needs to qualify
John's proclamation is John's inability to distinguish works inaugurated
at the first coming of Jesus (such as baptism in the Spirit) from
those inaugurated at the second (such as baptism in fire); Jesus
addresses this lack of nuance in 11:2-5 (see comment there).
Although Matthew and Luke retain Mark's emphasis on the Spirit (the
Spirit-baptizer himself becomes the model of the Spirit-empowered
life-Mk 1:8-12; see Keener 1996: 29-30), they report more of John's
preaching of imminent judgment than Mark does. Matthew emphasizes
the kingdom, the Coming One and the judgment he is bringing (Mt
3:2, 7-12).
First, John emphasizes that the kingdom is coming. In Matthew's
summary of their preaching, both John and Jesus announce the same
message: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near (3:2; 4:17).
Matthew intends us to see John's and Jesus' preaching about the
kingdom as models for our preaching as well (10:7); the Lord is
not looking the other way in a world of injustice but is coming
to set matters straight. Therefore those who believe his warnings
had better get their lives in order.
Most Jewish people in Palestine expected a time of impending judgment
against the wicked and deliverance for the righteous. But most expected
judgment on other peoples and on only the most wicked in Israel
(compare m. Sanhedrin 10:1; E. Sanders 1985:96); Jewish people,
after all, had certain privileges. Oppressed by surrounding nations,
Israel had good reason to long for deliverance, but many people
within the nation, including its political leaders, needed to look
first to themselves. Amos sounded a clear warning, to his generation,
to Jesus' generation and to ours, when we prove more quick to judge
others than ourselves: "Woe to you who long for the day of
the Lord," for it will be a day of reckoning (Amos 5:18). Sometimes
skeptics appeal to evil in the world to deny God's existence; instead
they should be applauding his mercy in giving them time to repent,
because when God decisively abolishes evil, he will have to abolish
them (see 2 Pet 3:3-9).Ã Ã
Second, John warns that the wicked will be burned, just as farmers
destroy useless products after the harvest. Harvest and the threshing
floor (3:8, 10, 12) were natural images to use in agrarian, rural
Palestine. Earlier biblical writers had used these images to symbolize
judgment and the end time (as in Ps 1:4; Is 17:13; Hos 13:3; Joel
3:13); Jesus (Mt 9:38; 13:39; 21:34) and his contemporaries (4 Ezra
4:30-32; Jub. 36:10) also used the image. (Fire naturally symbolized
future judgment, as in Is 66:15-16, 24; 1 Enoch 103:8.) Villagers
carried grain to village threshing floors; large estates worked
by tenants would have their own (N. Lewis 1983:123). When threshers
tossed grain in the air, the wind separated out the lighter, inedible
chaff. The most prominent use of this chaff was for fuel (CPJ 1:199).
But while chaff burned quickly, John depicts the wicked's fire as
unquenchable. Many of his contemporaries believed that hell was
only temporary (for example, t. Sanhedrin 13:3, 4), but John specifically
affirmed that it involved eternal torment, drawing on the most horrible
image for hell available in his day.
Many of us today are as uncomfortable as John's contemporaries with
the doctrine of eternal torment; yet genuinely considering and believing
it would radically affect the way we live. That John directs his
harshest preaching toward religious people (Mt 3:7) should also
arouse some introspection on our part (see also Blomberg 1992:142-43).
Even for the saved, the knowledge that all private thoughts will
be brought to light (10:26) should inspire self-discipline when
other humans are not watching. Our culture prefers a comfortable
message of God's blessing on whatever we choose to do with our lives;
God reminds us that his Word and not our culture remains the final
arbiter of our destiny.
Finally, John warns of the coming judge, who is incomparably powerful.
Judgment is coming, but the coming judge John announces is superhuman
in rank (3:11-12). Only God could pour out the gift of the Spirit
(Is 44:3; 59:21; Ezek 36:27; 37:14; 39:29; Joel 2:29; Zech 12:10),
and no mere mortal would baptize in fire (in the context, this clearly
means judge the wicked-3:10, 12).
Further, whereas Israel's prophets had called themselves "servants
of God" (as in 2 Kings 9:7, 36; Jer 7:25; Dan 9:6, 10; Amos
3:7), John declares himself unworthy even to be the coming judge's
slave! In ancient Mediterranean thought, a household servant's basest
tasks involved the master's feet, such as washing his feet, carrying
his sandals or unfastening the thongs of his sandals (see, for example,
Diog. Laert. 6.2.44; b. Baba Batra 53b). Although ancient teachers
usually expected disciples to function as servants (as in Diog.
Laert. 7.1.12; 7.5.170; t. Baba Mesi`a 2:30), later rabbis made
one exception explicit: disciples did not tend to the teacher's
sandals (b. Ketubot 96a). John thus claims to be unworthy to even
be the Coming One's slave. Indeed, the One whose way John prepares
is none other than the Lord himself (Is 40:3; Mt 3:3). Matthew's
readers would not need to know Hebrew to realize that John was preparing
the way for "God with us" (1:23). No wonder John is nervous
about baptizing Jesus (3:14)!
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."
Explanation: God Honors His Humble Son (3:13-17)
Given the embarrassment of some early Christian traditions that
Jesus accepted baptism from one of lower status than himself, it
is now inconceivable that early Christians made up the story of
John baptizing Jesus (E. Sanders 1985:11; 1993:94; Meier 1994:100-105;
pace Bultmann 1968:251).
Although Jesus alone did not need John's baptism-he was the giver
of the true baptism (3:11)-he submitted to it to fulfill God's plan
(3:14-15). In a traditional Mediterranean culture where society
stressed honor and shame (Malina 1993), Jesus relinquishes his rightful
honor to embrace others' shame. After Jesus' public act of humility,
God publicly honors Jesus as his own Son (3:16-17; compare 2:15)-that
is, as the mightier One whose coming to bestow the Spirit John had
prophesied (3:11-12).John Recognizes Jesus as the Ultimate Baptizer
(3:14)
Why would the fire-baptizer seek baptism like an ordinary mortal?
Whereas John recognizes Jesus' superiority, Jesus humbly identifies
himself with John's mission: It is proper for us to do this to fulfill
all righteousness (Meier 1980:26-27). Although John undoubtedly
recognized the Spirit's empowerment in his own ministry (Lk 1:15-17),
he recognized that Jesus had come to bestow the Spirit in fuller
measure than even he as a prophet had received, and he desired this
baptism (Mt 3:11; compare 11:11-13).
Various schools of thought today dispute exactly what the New Testament
writers meant by Spirit baptism; some think the term refers to conversion
only, and others only to a subsequent experience. It may be that
John applied the expression to the entire sphere of the Spirit's
work in our lives, including both conversion and subsequent experiences
of empowerment (see Keener 1996:17-78), in which case both main
schools of thought would be correct. But regardless of our view
about the specific meaning of his language, most of us fail to grasp
the power God has provided us. If Jesus has bestowed on us even
more spiritual power than he bestowed on John and the Old Testament
prophets, today's church should be trusting God for a much deeper
empowerment in our life and witness than most of us currently experience.
Jesus "Fulfills All Righteousness"
by Identifying with His People (3:15)
As noted above, on behalf of others Jesus voluntarily accepted a
lower status than he deserved. Since "fulfilling righteousness"
elsewhere in Matthew may pertain to obeying the principles of the
law (5:17, 20; compare, for example, Sib. Or. 3.246), Jesus presumably
here expresses his obedience to God's plan revealed in the Scriptures.
But Jesus sometimes also fulfilled the prophetic Scriptures by identifying
with Israel's history and completing its mission (Mt 2:15, 18).
This baptism hence probably represents Jesus' ultimate identification
with Israel at the climactic stage in its history: confessing its
sins to prepare for the kingdom (3:2, 6).If this suggestion is correct,
then Jesus' baptism, like his impending death (compare Mk 10:38-39
with Mk 14:23-24, 36), is vicarious, embraced on behalf of others
with whom the Father has called him to identify (Lampe 1951:39).
This text declares the marvelous love of God for an undeserving
world-especially for us who by undeserved grace have become his
disciples. Jesus' example also calls us to offer ourselves sacrificially
for an undeserving world as he offered himself for us. In a world
that regards moral boundaries as impractical, where nothing higher
than selfish passion guides many lives around us, Jesus reminds
us of a higher mission and purpose for our lives. By submitting
to baptism by one of lower rank who was nevertheless fulfilling
his calling, Jesus also models humility for us.
God Declares His Approval of Jesus (3:16-17)
After Jesus submits humbly to others in God's plan, God publicly
acknowledges Jesus' own rank. First, heaven was opened, reflecting
biblical language for God's revelation or future deliverance (Is
64:1 [LXX 63:19]; Ezek 1:1; Kingsbury 1983:64; Schweizer 1970:37;
compare Joseph and Asenath 14:2/3).
Second, Jesus saw the Spirit descending like a dove and lighting
on him. The background for this sign of God's approval may require
further comment. Scholars have often suspected that the dove has
symbolic value and have proposed a variety of possible backgrounds
for it. Jewish use of the dove to symbolize God's Spirit (Abrahams
1917:48-49; Barrett 1966:38) is both rare and late, as is the rabbinic
comparison of the brooding Spirit in Genesis 1 with a dove (Taylor
1952:160-61). More frequently the dove represents Israel (as in
Ps-Philo 39:5; b. Sabbat 49a; 130a); but while Jesus identifies
with Israel in the context (as in Mt 2:11), this passage portrays
the Spirit, not Jesus, as a dove. Genesis 8:8-12 probably provides
the most suitable background (see also 4 Baruch 7:8): here the dove
appears as the harbinger of the new world after the flood, which
other early Christian literature employs as a prototype of the coming
age (Mt 24:38; 1 Pet 3:20-21; 2 Pet 3:6-7). Jesus is the inaugurator
of the kingdom era that John has been proclaiming.
Third, God shows his approval of Jesus by a voice from heaven, a
concept with which Matthew's Jewish audience was undoubtedly familiar.
Many Jewish teachers considered this bat qol the primary source
of revelation apart from Scripture exposition while the Spirit of
prophecy was quenched. The Gospels show that three voices-Scripture,
a prophetic voice in the wilderness and the heavenly voice-all attest
Jesus' identity. The heavenly voice alone would have been inadequate,
but here it confirms the witness of Scripture and a prophet. Jesus
is not a mere prophet but the subject of other prophets' messages.
The fact of the voice is important, but what the voice says is most
important, for this is what officially declares Jesus' identity
to Matthew's biblically informed implied audience. The voice rehearses
ancient biblical language, probably adapting Psalm 2:7 ("You
are my Son") into an announcement to the bystanders (This is
my Son). Psalm 2, originally an enthronement psalm, is here used
to announce in advance Jesus' messianic enthronement. The second
proposed biblical allusion here, Isaiah 42:1, is more controversial,
despite its many proponents. But whether or not Mark saw Isaiah's
servant as background here, Matthew surely did, for he reads the
wording of this voice's recognition oracle into his own translation
of Isaiah (Mt 12:18). Jesus' mission includes suffering opposition
as well as reigning, and so does the mission of his followers (5:11-12;
10:22; 16:24-27; 19:27-29; 24:9-13).
The Father's acclamation of the Son may suggest various principles
to Matthew's readers. First, it reveals how central Jesus is to
the Father's heart and plan; no one can reject Jesus and simultaneously
please the Father. Jesus is not one prophet among many, but God's
ultimate revelation; that he is God's "beloved" Son underlines
the magnitude of God's sacrifice (compare Jn 3:16). Though in many
contemporary circles worship properly exhorts and encourages the
people of God (Col 3:16), we also need the kind of worship that
tells Jesus how great he is, praising him for what he has done and
for who he is (Ps 150:2).
Second, the Father's acclamation reveals that the meek Jesus is
also the ultimate ruler who will usher in justice and peace. The
beginning of his story tells his persecuted followers the end of
the story in advance, providing us firm hope for the future.
Finally, the voice reveals Jesus as the Son obedient to the point
of death, who willingly divests himself of his proper honor by identifying
with us in baptism and death. We who often trifle with obedience
in the smallest matters-for instance, the discipline of our thoughts
or words for God's honor-are shamed by our Lord's obedience. May
we worship him so intensely that his desires become our own and
we, like our Lord, become obedient servants with whom the Father
is well pleased.
