Matthew 3

v1

I wonder how soon before Jesus John TB started preaching in the wilderness. We're not told, but you may recall from the recounting in Luke that John TB and Jesus were cousins, and only born a few months apart. So if John started his ministry when he turned 30, he'd only have been baptising people for a few months. I get the feeling that it was longer, but who knows. You could argue that it would be hard for him to have the following he did in just a few months, but Jesus only had a following for three years before he died and now has a global church, so go figure.

v2

John TB's message was about repentance. I think repentance often gets a single-sided focus: either you're focused on purity (get your life straightened up) or apology (being sorry for what you've done wrong). It is of course both: you acknowledge your wrongdoing and seek to change.

v3

Again this is the sort of prophetical exegesis I wouldn't necessarily agree with were it not being done in scripture itself. Look this passage up in Isaiah, and you'll see it gets translated more or less the same, but the commas and quote marks are in different spots, lending a different emphasis to the words "in the wilderness". Now you can't make too much of that - there are no quote marks in the Hebrew or the Greek. The truth is that the Isaiah verse at the very least can be translated both ways (the NIV has a footnote to that effect). There isn't one for this verse; I wonder why.

My point being that changing the focus of "in the wilderness" from the speaker to those listening is a change of meaning. Now all of Matthew's messianic prophecies are going to be a change of meaning, aren't they? Part of the nature of prophecy is a dual meaning. But I wouldn't be comfortable making that change myself, or at the very least I'd be very cautious.

At the end of the day though, the message is more or less the same: Israel is being called to prepare the way for the good news about God's coming to them. In Isaiah it was (I think) a message to Israel that God would bring them home from their second 'wilderness' experience (the exile), having just prophesied that Babylon was going to come take them away. Now it's the coming of Jesus to them.

v4

He dressed a bit strangely is the connotation. He's doing weird things, like the prophets did. In fact, the reference to a leather belt and a hair garment is from 2 Kings 1:8 and is about Elijah. Definitely a style choice there.

I heard someone one say that locusts are not the insect but a type of fruit which also goes by this name. This goes against the Greek though: unless you think that God bombards the earth with fruit in Revelation 9.

v5

As I said earlier, lots of people went to John TB. There was an obvious thirst for the message he had. People have described John TB as a rock star, and I don't think that's too far off. Remember, preaching was a form of entertainment as well as information distribution, even rough sermons like John's about the need for repentance.

v6

Baptism was not something that made up the religious ordinances of Israel, and so it's free here to have a meaning put upon it by John TB. Clearly it's a baptism linked to repentance - not necessarily forgiveness at this point, although if it were that would be in keeping with the OT message anyway.

v7

It's good to know that Jesus' attitude to the Pharisees was not lonely. John TB (no doubt through the spirit's leading) felt the same way about them. If there's one thing that gets the sharp end of the stick in the gospels, it's always hypocrisy and failures of leadership.

v8

But even then the message is the same: it's not enough to say you repent, you need to produce fruit in keeping with it.

v9

Because this was the kind of thing they would say (and in fact did say to Jesus). Reliance on historical relationships to God is important but not sufficient - never has been, never will be. You need to relate to God yourself, in the present. That's how God relates to us: both historically and in the moment.

v10

God is a winnower, he is a decision-maker. A time of decision comes. God is slow in it sometimes (the OT attests to that readily!) but it does always come. It's never a good idea to wait. In fact, the attitude of waiting shows that you don't understand anyway, because this isn't a game where you can stave off having to fulfill responsibilities till the last moment; this is where you have a moment by moment and ongoing relationship of love that you always want to be involved in (imagine a man who continues to enjoy prostitutes until his wedding night - that would not be cool!).

v11

John TB makes it clear that his baptism is merely symbolic and holds no special power beyond the announcement by the person that they accept the need for repentance and do so. The one John TB is expecting is Jesus, who will baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now I'm not quite sure what he means by "and fire".

v12

Oh wait, yes I am. it's clear that the baptism of fire is not a good one. Either you receive the Holy Spirit and become a Christian, or you receive the fire and it destroys you (I'm not preaching annihilationism here, although you have to admit the picture of a burning fire burning stuff up is pretty destructive). It certainly isn't some sort of purgatorial picture.

v13

This is pretty awkward. I should point out that in my understanding geographically John is near Jerusalem (see v5, although that's not conclusive). The fact is though that even v5 shows that people came from everywhere in Judea to get baptised. So Jesus coming from Galilee could well be a very long way.

v14

But John TB isn't disturbed by the distance, but by the fact that Jesus is here asking for his entirely inconsequential baptism, when Jesus is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire! If you've ever had to give a sermon in a room full of Bible college lecturers, then you know how easy it is to feel inadequate in the face of someone way better than you. I imagine it would be similar to building the house of a famous architect or something.

v15

But Jesus assures him that this is the way to fulfill righteousness, and when Jesus does that, can you really argue? I'm not sure why it needed to be this way. It could be that by Jesus being baptised here, it gives creedence to the preaching of John TB.

v16

And of course this descent of the Holy Spirit onto Jesus is what gives that tick of approval from God himself, both onto Jesus and onto John's baptism in a way.

v17

The voice from heaven doesn't have anything to say about John TB's baptism; something a little more important is happening here. God is stating in a way that no-one who was there would be able to deny that Jesus is his son, loved by and pleasing to God. This is not the kind of voice you would ignore, although I'm sure many did.