Conversation Points for Matthew 3:13-17

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• John the Baptist appears in all four Gospels (though the baptism itself not described in John, only John’s response to it). The baptism introduces the adult Jesus for the first time. Matthew brings Jesus to the Jordan, where John and the audience already are, preserving the history of salvation narrative from the Old Testament through John to Jesus. By having Jesus appear in John’s scene, Matthew portrays Jesus as in control.
• In Matthew’s Gospel, there has been no earlier connection between John and Jesus (in contrast with Luke’s Gospel, where they are described as relatives), yet John immediately recognized Jesus as his superior and tried not to baptize him.
• Jesus demanded baptism “to fulfill all righteousness.” Righteousness literally means following the law. But, as we saw by how Joseph, “because he was a righteous man,” decided not to divorce Mary, so we will see righteousness being redefined by Matthew as doing the revealed will of God.
• There is a lot of imagery describing who Jesus was in the baptism story. The heavens opened, a voice comes from heaven, the Spirit is given. Matthew then placed Jesus as the beginning of the coming of the Kingdom of God. The dove represents, among other possibilities, the dove-like movement of the Spirit over the waters at creation. The voice from heaven spoke words from Scripture, a combination of Ps 2:7 (“I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have begotten you’”) and Isa 42:1 (“Here is my servant, who I uphold, my chosen, in who my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations”).
• Unlike in Mark, where the announcement is only to Jesus, preserving the Messianic secret, in Matthew, the announcement is to a wider audience.
• For Matthew, Jesus’ baptism is not about what went on inside Jesus’ soul or if Jesus changed at baptism. Matthew is clear that Jesus already was who he was, and already knew who he was. Rather, the baptism of Jesus was about introducing Jesus on the world’s stage. The voice from heaven introduced Jesus as both the Son of God and the Suffering Servant.
• The baptism of Jesus is also an ecclesiological (about the church) message. But the message is not, since Jesus is baptized, so should we be. No, the idea is as Christians are declared God’s children at their baptism, so too was Jesus declared God’s son at his.

Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.