The Great Pattern, Or, There Can Be No Disaster
It’s rather an ignominious start to Jesus’ ministry, but you have to read past the end of our gospel lesson to realize that.
When the curtain closes on our passage from Matthew 3 today, it’s a beautiful happy ending.
John baptizes Jesus “to fulfill all righteousness,” God declares him the beloved with whom God is well pleased, and end scene.
Sunlight, water, voices from heaven, the devoted John and the interested crowd—it’s a perfect set-up.
This is the debut of the Lamb of God on the world stage.
What’s he going to do next?
What intriguing sermon or salvific healing or jaw-dropping miracle will he do to kick off his earthly work?
Well, if you take a look at Matthew 4, you’re probably going to be disappointed.
The last sentence of Matthew 3, which we read this morning, is, “when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.'”
And the first sentence of Matthew 4, which we did not read this morning, says, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.”
Ouch.
That’s the climax of the start of Jesus’ earthly ministry? Continue reading