Matthew 3:1-12

 

POPULARITY OF JB – If frequency of occurrence reflects importance, then the compilers of the New Testament materials deemed the John the Baptist material as more important than even the birth narratives. The movement that received its impetus from the Baptist did not end with his end, but rather grew in popularity. It continued alongside Christianity after the resurrection and beginning of the Christian community (Acts 19:1-7). Why was John so important to early Christian communities? Josephus writes that John was praised because of his piety and religious leadership, but murdered by Herod precisely because he was such a charismatic and thus, dangerous leader. [1]

JOHN AMONG THE PROPHETS — John was also the latest in the long line of prophetic figures that called Israel to repentance, though with a marked difference. While earlier prophets named sins and named names and announced God’s judgment, John, while doing all that, also offers the sacrament of repentance + baptism as a sign of new life: "Change your life. God’s kingdom is here . . . I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life." Early Christian faith also honored John as being the forerunner of Jesus as mysteriously alluded to in Malachi. As Hare points out, "Christianity did in fact emerge out of the Baptist’s movement, and some of Jesus’ first followers had been John’s." [2]

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING – As for the leather belt, what else does it demonstrate but this fragile flesh of ours, trapped in the grip of viced before the coming of Christ . . . Before his coming this flesh was fat through dissipation. Now by abstention it is firmly held in place [Maximus of Turin, 408]. [3]

 

connections

Did you ever play John the Baptist in the Christmas play? Did you ever meet John the Baptist outside the play? What strikes you most about this locust-chewing prophet?

What do you think accounts for this character’s immense popularity through history?

 

gambits

The bullets that follow are offered in the hope of providing some food for thought as you think about this Sunday’s homily.

Is John’s message perhaps an allusion to our first lesson in Isaiah 11:1-5? Just the breath of lips or the rod of his mouth will slay the wicked. Such incendiary language must be squelched from a politician’s perspective, and Herod Antipas is no one’s fool—he knows how dangerous such a message is and moves to silence the message.

What is distinctive of Matthew’s telling of the Baptist vis-à-vis Mark and Luke’s? Well, at least this: close observation will reveal that both Jesus and John are saying basically the identical message: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (3:2/4:17). On the other side of the tennis net, the opponents are addressed by both John and Jesus as "You brood of vipers" (3:7; 12:34; 23:33).

John the Baptist during Advent: Call to worship or Wake up Call?

The abrupt appearance of John in Matthew’s Gospel is a matter of theological design, not literary clumsiness. The action of God in history is often sudden, unexpected, and to our eyes, even intrusive. The will of God cannot be equated with group progress, human growth, or social development, arising naturally out of the human possibility. God’s will does not always work gently, climbing quietly like ivy up the lattice of history . . .

. . . So the doors of Matthew’s Gospel suddenly swing open, and there stands John in the wilderness of Judea, looking all the world like Elijah of old. It’s a shock to see him. Who could have guessed it? His surprising appearance is, itself, a claim that God’s ways with the world are often strange, unforeseen, and unpredictable. Here at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, John the Baptist is a "call to worship" in the flesh—not a benign and cheery "Good morning," but a real call to worship that shakes the cobwebs off the pews: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." [4]

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[1] Josphus: Antiquities 18.5.2
[2] Interpretation Series: Matthew, Douglas R.A. Hare, commentator (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1993, page, 19.
[3] The Christian Commentary on Scripture 1a (InterVarsity, 2001), page 41.
[4] The New Interpreter’s Bible VIII (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), Page, 158.