Since our preaching series at Littleton, called “Follow,” is drawn from Matthew, I would like to continue some posts on this Gospel.
A central question for Matthew is, “Who is Jesus?” In this post, I want to briefly look at an answer Matthew gives in chapter 3, and beyond. Don’t worry, I won’t be doing this for another 25 weeks! However, in these early chapters, Matthew introduces important ideas that later chapters develop.
Each of the canonical Gospels connect the beginning of the ministry of Jesus with that of John the Baptist. Matthew, Mark, and Luke (the Synoptic Gospels) connect the two ministries with a quote from Isaiah 40. This chapter in Isaiah marks a dramatic historical and literary shift in this prophetic book. No longer is the setting in the 8th century BC, Jerusalem, but in the 6th century BC, Babylon. With the edict of the great Persian King, Cyrus (539 BC), Jews began to return to Jerusalem as a new Exodus.
In John the Baptist’s quotation from Isaiah he is linking himself with the one who prepares the way of the Lord, but also sees himself as one who is not the King-Messiah, but who, instead, serves Him. It is a surprise then, for both John and the readers, that Jesus comes to be baptized by John. Jesus’ answer about fulfilling righteousness suggests that Jesus connects Himself to humanity and particularly to Israel as a personification of true, faithful Israel. Unlike the many Pharisees and Sadducees who reject John’s baptism and too easily identify themselves with Abraham, Jesus submits to God’s will in humility.
However, it is not John (or Matthew) who gives the greatest witness to Jesus’ identity, but to God, Himself, speaking from heaven. The Voice quotes Scripture:
Psalm 2:7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father. (NIV)
And
Isaiah 42: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations. (NIV)
From his very first verse, Matthew has called Jesus the Messianic King, and the Voice from heaven reasserts that in the quote from Psalm 2. Yet, now comes something new and vital. Isaiah 42 introduces a new theme, indeed a new person. This Someone is the Servant, who is both Israel, and her personification in an individual. The songs of the Servant in Isaiah reach their climax in Isaiah 53—the Suffering Servant. Here is a combining of roles that few would have imagined. The conquering King conquers through suffering—even suffering on a cross!
Throughout the rest of Matthew’s Gospel, this combination guides Jesus’ mission:
Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” [Psalm 2]
…
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. [Isaiah 53]
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (NIV)
Jesus, the Suffering King refused to give way to all stumbling blocks, and does so today, even in the face of all faithless triumphalism, that has no place for suffering, seen in too much of the contemporary church.
Tim Kelley