“Jesus came from Galilee to John ....”
The decision to make that journey was Jesus’ own. It’s important that we
realize that.
There is, perhaps, left-over
radioactivity from an early church explosion: There may have been controversy
at first over whether John was the Messiah or Jesus was — after all, John came
first; his ministry of baptism had a profound impact upon the Jewish culture of
the time. In this text, however, Matthew intends to lay that to rest once and
for all. Verb construction in the original Greek indicates that Jesus had
decided, while in Galilee, to go and present himself to John. So he may have,
early on in his adult life, presented himself to John for baptism; nevertheless,
he himself decided to do this, in accordance with his own purposes, and thus,
throughout the scene, Jesus is the one in charge.
This understanding is nailed down by
John’s reported reaction: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
In that statement, we are shown John’s clear understanding that Jesus and what
he represents are superior to himself and what he represents. And Jesus’
response shows that he is indeed in charge of the situation: No, let us
continue! It is “proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus
will submit to John’s baptism, for it is his choice to do so — his prerogative,
within his power. And after this fulfillment of righteousness, Jesus arises out
of the waters of John’s baptism, and then the “heavens are opened” (other
portrayals of this scene go so far as to say that the heavens are “torn apart”1).
Then the very Spirit of God descends upon Jesus, and the voice of God intones, “This
is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
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