(Text only for Ch. 1,2,3 Audio available for most Matthew sermons from Chapter 4-28)
Title: The Baptism of Jesus Christ
Directly after John the Baptist finishes rebuking the Pharisees and Sadducees for their false piety and selfishness, another man arrives on the scene that could not possibly be more of an antithesis to these proud men. That man, of course, is Jesus Christ.
Now, chronologically, it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen Jesus. Most scholars believe that Jesus was baptized and began his ministry around the age of 30, and the last thing we heard about Jesus was when he was just a toddler and was returning from the exile in Egypt after Herod had died. In fact, the only Biblical account we have of Jesus between the ages of about 2 and 30 is the story in Luke when Jesus is 12 and stays behind to discuss the law with the Rabbis in the Temple.
So what can we conclude from the fact that there is only one account of Jesus between the ages of 2 and 30?
- The Gospels were not written as a biography of Jesus’ life.
- The Gospels were an account of Jesus’ ministry and message.
- We should assume that Jesus‘ younger years were normal. (Except that these years were without sin.)
- God made sure, through the Holy Spirit’s authorship, that everything he wanted us to know about Jesus was included in Scripture, and we should be satisfied with that.
(read/pray)
- “To fulfill all righteousness”
When Jesus arrives on the scene, John immediately recognizes him, but not just at Jesus of Nazareth, his cousin, but he recognizes him as the sinless messiah, the one of whom he just spoke to the Pharisees and Sadducees saying, “He is mightier than I, whose sandals I’m not worth to carry.”
And his response to Jesus is quite understandable: “I’m here, baptizing people into repentance, what in the world is there to be gained by baptizing someone without sin? In fact, it could send the wrong message, Jesus! If people see me baptizing you, they might assume that you are in need of repentance yourself!”
John makes a really good point here, and I have to believe that Jesus’ response certainly surprises him.
“Permit it to be so, now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
Any thoughts as to what Jesus is talking about? (Take answers.)
- Jesus was identifying himself with the people he was coming to save. (When we get baptized we are identifying ourselves with Jesus, think of it like a tattoo.)
- Jesus was setting an example of obedience for us to follow. (What’s the number one reason we should get baptized as believers? A: Jesus told us to.)
- Jesus was making a public profession of faith before a body of believers. He is calling attention to himself, and his authority. In a way, he is telling them, hold me accountable to the highest standards of righteousness. (That is exactly what we do when we get baptized.)
- “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.”
I want us to consider a few things here.
1. Matthew’s original audience (first century Jews) would have seen yet ANOTHER example of Matthew’s evidence that, without question, Jesus of Nazareth was the son of God. Again, we said this a couple months ago when we began Matthew, but let me remind us: Matthew starts stacking his evidence as if he’s building a court case. He mainly uses two types of evidence. The first type of evidence is to tell about something that happens in Jesus’ life, and then he shows how this fulfills O.T. prophecy about the coming Christ. The second thing he does, and it’s more rare, but maybe even more powerful, is he tells of a direct account that anyone, Jew or Gentile would read and say, “Either Matthew is telling the truth, and Jesus is the Son of God, or Matthew is crazy.”
Imagine turning on the news tonight and the headline story, with a completely straight face, was Lester Holt saying, “It’s official, there has been a Godzilla sighting in Tokyo. We go now live to Tokyo with video footage of the 400 foot monster destroying the city.” At that point, either Brian Williams is crazy, or Godzilla is real. There are no other two options.
2. This statement from the Father is the bookend that begins Jesus’ ministry. Immediately following Jesus’ baptism and the Father’s confirmation, Jesus goes into the wilderness to be tested, and thus begins his ministry.
God the Father will echo this exact same message later in Jesus’ life. Anyone remember when? The Father repeats the same message during the transformation, after which time, Jesus goes into Jerusalem, to be tested, and thus fulfills his ministry. See the pattern?
Conclusions:
- We must understand what the Gospels are, and what they are not. (What do I mean by that?)
- We see in Jesus’ baptism that he has set an example for us, that he himself was willing to go through, even though for him it was not necessary.
- There is no denying that Matthew believes, without question, that Jesus was the son of God. The real question is: do we?