Proclaimed in Baptism

January 3, 2010

Background Scripture: Matthew 3
Lesson Passage: Matthew 3:1 – 6, 11 – 17

The Sunday School lessons for this month center around the evidence that points to Jesus as the promised messiah of Israel. No other gospel account is more appropriate for this than Matthew. Matthew’s account of the gospel is biased towards the Jewish recipient. It contains many references to Old Testament messianic prophecy along with Matthew’s exposition of how Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy. The genealogy of Matthew presents Jesus as a descendant of Abraham through the royal lineage of Judah.

In today’s lesson, Matthew presents the historical account of the water baptism of Jesus. Chapter three opens with the ministry of John the Baptist and he is immediately linked to Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the forerunner of the Messiah. Isaiah’s prophecy is found in chapter forty and verse three. Here, the fulfillment of the prophecy is found in the fortieth book of the bible and chapter three. Matthew presents the ministry of John the Baptist as that fulfillment. John preached the need for repentance in order to be prepared for the coming of the Lord. Where Isaiah speaks of valleys being lifted up and high places being brought down, Matthew says that all Judea went out to John and responded to his preaching. Those who responded included both the downcast and the high and mighty. John even mocked the religious leaders for coming to repent and asked them mockingly, “Who has warned you snakes to run?” Then he demanded of them true signs of repentance as he warned them that being born a Jew was not sufficient to save them from God’s wrath. He went on to warn them that God would judge their lifestyles and punish the unfruitful wicked. From this point, John went on to point out the contrast between his ministry and that of the coming Messiah. After these things, Jesus came to the Jordan River to John to be baptized. This is remarkable when one considers how Jesus is a contrast to the message that John was preaching. John’s message of repentance would not apply to Jesus, who had no sin and needed no repentance. Yet Jesus insisted that he be baptized as an example to all who followed after him. (If Jesus accepted a baptism of repentance without having any sin of his own, how much more should we who were born in sin and shaped in iniquity submit ourselves to repentance and after having accepted Jesus, also to baptism.) As Jesus came up out of the water, the triune presentation of the godhead was in full expression: the submissive son was preparing for his ministry, the Holy Ghost descended on him as an expression of the power that he would walk in and the approving voice of the Heavenly Father falling from the heavens. All of these things are but evidence of Jesus as the Messiah.


Robert C. Hudson
December 22, 2009