Matthew 3, The Baptism of Jesus

After a brief comment that Jesus grew up in Nazareth, Matthew's gospel jumps ahead to the beginning of Jesus's ministry.  It begins with a strange wild man in the desert....

Matthew 3: 1-3, John the Baptizer

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."  This 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.'"

John is a strange prophet, hearkening back to the ancient days of Jeremiah and Isaiah.  Certainly an unusual sight!

The quote in verse 3 is from Isaiah 40:3.

Matthew 3: 4-12, The Baptizer's message
John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild  honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

But 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? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  And 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.  The 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. 

"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.  His 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."

This prophet has an angry message, but a classical Old Testament one, speaking out against injustice and hypocrisy. (Sadly, some modern preachers believe that having an angry message suffices for being a prophet!)

The concept of covering people with water as a sign of repentance is an unusual one for the Jewish community, although it was probably linked to Jewish ritual washings and may have been practiced by those converting to Judaism.  If so, John is turning the tables, telling the Jews that they need to be baptized!  This message is certainly consistent with John's emphasis on reform.

Matthew 3: 13-17, Jesus is baptized
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.  But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." 

Then John consented.  As 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.  And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

John is surprised and disturbed that Jesus has come to be baptized by him!  But Jesus responds that it is all part of the plan.  (Why?)

In the next chapter, Jesus goes off into the desert, in preparation for his ministry to the cities and towns of Galilee.

Matthew 2, The Reception for the Messiah Child

Matthew records that shortly after Jesus's birth, there was a visit from some "wise men" from the east (from Persia?)

Matthew 2: 1-8, Herod hears

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.

"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: `But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means  least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a  ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them  the exact time the star had appeared.  He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful  search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

According to the NIV footnotes, "Magi" traditionally meant "Wise Men".  In verses 2 and 9 the phrase translated "star in the east" could also mean "star when it rose".

The quote in verse 6 is from Micah 5:2.

Despite our traditions, there is no mention of the number of wisemen.

Matthew 2: 9-12, The eastern visitors see the real king!
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.  And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The star may have been a true star (nova) or (more likely) something like the Shekinah Glory which led the nation of Israel in the wilderness.  If the "star" rose in the east just before dawn, it could have also been a comet.  Trying to identify the "star" with an astronomical event is a challenge that goes back to the days of Kepler in the sixteenth century.  (See for example this website or this one for some Christmas 2015 thoughts on the star.)

Matthew 2: 13-15, Joseph and family flee

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph  in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

The quote in verse 15 is from Hosea 11:1, a verse whose primary interpretatoin primarily recalls the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt in the days of Moses.

Matthew 2: 16-18, Weeping in Bethlehem
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in  Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.  Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was  fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

Most of the events in this chapter are reported only here; they are not mentioned in the other gospels. This is an especially poignant and sorrowful scene.

What would it have been like to have been the mother of one of those innocents? The world is cruel; even the arrival of the Messiah does not change the cruelty.

The quote in verse 18 is from Jeremiah 31:15.

Matthew 2: 19-23, The Nazarene
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."

So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

The quote at the end of this chapter is unclear. Matthew appears to be recalling a prophetic statement but this sentence does not appear in the Old Testament scripture that we possess.  It is possible it is quotes a variant of Isaiah 53:2, the Hebrew nasir being an alternate of the Hebrew word translated as "shoot" in that passage. Other ideas are given at this Wikipedia page.

And so Jesus grows up in Nazareth.  In the next chapter, Matthew's gospel jumps ahead to the beginning of Jesus's ministry.

Matthew 1, The Lineage of the Messiah

The gospel (or "Good News") of Matthew is a nice way to begin a reading of the New Testament. Matthew is a Jew writing to Jews, arguing that Jesus is the Messiah, the culmination of Jewish history.

Matthew 1:1-6, The Messiah's genealogy, Abraham to David

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 
Abraham was the father of Isaac, 
Isaac the father of Jacob, 
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, 
Perez the father of Hezron, 
Hezron the father of Ram, 
Ram the father of Amminadab, 
Amminadab the father of Nahshon, 
Nahshon the father of Salmon, 
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, 
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, 
Obed the father of Jesse, 
and Jesse the father of King David. 
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife,

In fourteen steps, Matthew gets us from the founder of the Jews, Abraham, to great king David:
    Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Perez,
    Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nashon, Salmon,
    Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David.
One can read about these ancients in the Old Testament books of Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Judges, Ruth and the books of Samuel.

Matthew 1:7-11, The Messiah's genealogy, Solomon to the exile

Solomon the father of Rehoboam, 
Rehoboam the father of Abijah, 
Abijah the father of Asa, 
Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, 
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, 
Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 
Uzziah the father of Jotham, 
Jotham the father of Ahaz, 
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 
Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, 
Manasseh the father of Amon, 
Amon the father of Josiah, 
and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

Another fourteen gets one from David to the Babylonian captivity:
    Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat,
    Jehoram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah,
    Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jeconiah (Jeconiah is the same Jehoiachin.)
These history are told in the Old Testament books of I & II Kings, I & II Chronicles.

Matthew 1:12-17, The Messiah's genealogy, from the exile to Jesus

After the exile to Babylon: 
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, 
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, 
Abiud the father of Eliakim,  
Eliakim the father of Azor, 
Azor the father of Zadok, 
Zadok the father of Akim, 
Akim the  father of Eliud, 
Eliud the father of Eleazar, 
Eleazar the father of Matthan,  
Matthan the father of Jacob, 
and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 

Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.

And finally another 14 generations that move the line of Israel from the Babylonian captivity to Jesus. The three sets of 14 is a convenient way of remembering the Jewish history and it clearly links Jesus into the line of David as the promised Messiah.  The genealogy is not exact; it skips some names and differs substantially, especially towards the end, with the genealogy given by Luke.

Note the significant women in the genealogy, women at the time of "questionable" character, all recognized as heroines by Matthew.

Matthew 1:18-25, The birth of the Messiah

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.  Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.  

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David,  do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" – which means, "God with us."

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.  And he gave him the name Jesus.

This scene begins with a disturbed Joseph who discovers his fiancee is pregnant.  He does not want to "out" Mary for what he believes are her indiscretions.   But then Joseph is told by an angel what is to happen and is reassured.  He apparently has no sexual relations with his wife until after the birth of the child.

Jesus means Savior.  It is the same Hebrew name as Joshua appearing in the Old Testament.

The Old Testament quote (in verse 23) is from Isaiah 7:14.

Monday we will read Matthew 2 about the earthly reception for this promised Jewish savior.