1. Week 4:
Jesus’
Baptism
Matthew 3:13-17

2. Remember what we know about John the Baptist: His location was remote
Remember what we know about John the Baptist: His location was remote! In those days John the Baptist came and preached in the Desert of Judea. His lifestyle was bizarre! John’s clothes were made out of camel’s hair. He had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

3. His communication style was alienating
His communication style was alienating! John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing. He said to them, “You are like a nest of poisonous snakes!

4. He anticipated a firestorm
He anticipated a firestorm. “After me, someone is coming who is more powerful than I am. I’m not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His pitchfork is in his hand to clear the straw from his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the storeroom. But he will burn up the husks with fire that can’t be put out.”

5. So, imagine his surprise when this happened:

6. Matthew 3:13-17 Reader 1: Jesus left Galilee and went to the Jordan River so John would baptize him. Reader 2: John didn’t understand, saying, “Why do you want me to baptize you, Jesus? You should be baptizing me!”

7. Reader 1: But Jesus said, “Allow this to happen
Reader 1: But Jesus said, “Allow this to happen. This is right and needed.” Reader 2: When John baptized Jesus, the sky opened. Jesus saw God’s Spirit come down like a dove that rested on him.

8. Then a voice from the sky said, Reader 1: “This is my Son whom I love so much. He makes me so happy.”

9. 1. Jesus came to John, even in his remote location
1. Jesus came to John, even in his remote location. He did not send for John to come to him. In that one simple act, he proclaims the entire Gospel. God comes to us, even when we are most remote. He does not wait for us to come to him.

10. Jesus is baptized.
“I like to consider this Jesus’ first miracle: the miracle of his humility. … It is well known that Jesus ended his career on a cross between two thieves; it deserves to be as well known that he began his ministry in a river among penitent sinners.”
(Dale Bruner on Matthew, p.83)

11. A dove descends.
One more time, God comes to earth.
But a dove?? John predicted a pitchfork and fire as markers of the Messiah.
Why not a lion?
A tiger?
A bear?

12. “Just as Jesus completely redefined what the Messiah is by his humble baptism with sinners, so the Holy Spirit completely redefines what spiritual power is by coming down like a dove. … The remarkable office of the Spirit is to nuance strength, to modulate power, and to deliver what is deeply needed in common and public life -- the way of gentleness.”
(Dale Bruner on Matthew, p.90)

13. This is my priceless Son; I am deeply pleased with him.
4. God the Father speaks.
The only two times we hear the Father’s voice in the Gospels, he says EXACTLY the same thing. Here, and at the Transfiguration in Matthew 17:
This is my priceless Son;
I am deeply pleased with him.

14. This is my Son whom I love so much.
He makes me so happy.
Out of everything God might want to open the heavens and shout down at us, this is it??
Yes. Jesus is God’s Word to us.
In Jesus, we can see, hear, and know everything God wants us to know.

15. God delights in calling you daughter. God delights in calling you son.
Through Jesus, we are adopted as God’s beloved children ourselves.
What if we reminded ourselves of that every morning?
God delights in calling you daughter.
God delights in calling you son.

16. “God delights in calling you daughter/son.”