This spring on the blog, we’re making our way through the Gospel of Matthew. If you’re just now tuning in, I encourage you take a minute to catch up with our discussions of Jesus’s genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17), the angel’s appearance to Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25), and the visit of the magi to Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1-23). This week, we look at two closely related stories: the appearance of John baptizing in the wilderness and John’s baptism of Jesus himself.

By Their Fruits

I wrote about the Gospel of Luke’s version of John baptizing people in the wilderness just a few weeks ago. Since Matthew’s version largely parallels Luke’s I won’t repeat that discussion here—but I do encourage you to read it for yourself! In short, I interpret John as telling the people that salvation lies not in proper religious observance but in acts of mercy toward the poor.

According to John, the Son of Man will judge people by the fruit they bear and not by their  religious pedigree. For Matthew, this critique is particularly apt for religious leaders—the Pharisees and Sadducees. Those who have the most reason to boast in their religious credentials face the most dangers of being cast into the fire.

Misunderstanding Jesus

Yet the story of Jesus’s baptism suggests that even John the Baptist himself hasn’t fully understood the kind of messiah Jesus is to be. John is no doubt correct that Jesus will ultimately judge people according to their fruits. When Jesus describes the day of judgment in Matthew 25:31-46, he depicts the Son of Man separating the sheep from the goats based on how they have treated the hungry and frail, the imprisoned and oppressed. This judgment is indeed based on the fruits of righteousness one bears with regard to the poor.

But what John seems to get wrong is his depiction of Jesus as a scorched-earth savior, wielding an ax of destruction and burning everything in his wake. John expects a messiah who will wield his authority with stern violence, but what he gets is a humble Jesus who submits himself to baptism by an inferior—and ultimately to crucifixion for the sake of us all.

Indeed, John’s misunderstanding of Jesus is so pronounced that later his ministry John, from his prison cell, will send his disciples to Jesus asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (Matthew 11:2-3). John is so uncertain about the way Jesus behaves that he loses confidence that Jesus is in fact the messiah! John expects an axe-wielder. But Jesus is a gentle messiah.

Jesus’s reply confirms the point. He tells John’s disciples, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them” (11:4-5). Indeed the kingdom is made known in the fruits of righteousness. But the kingdom does not arrive in violence.

Jesus Submits to John

In Matthew’s Gospel, John’s misunderstanding of Jesus is evident from the moment they meet. When Jesus comes to be baptized by John at the Jordan, John immediately objects. “I need to be baptized by you,” he says, “and do you come to me?” (3:15).

To be fair, John’s concern about baptizing Jesus makes sense. He has just finished telling the crowds that the one who is coming after him is “more powerful than I” and that John is not “worthy to carry his sandals” (3:11). John knows the hierarchy that exists between himself and Jesus, and Jesus is by far the more important of the two. If one understands messiahship and authority in terms of power, then John indeed has no business baptizing Jesus.

Yet Jesus’s authority doesn’t come from exercising power over another. Jesus’s authority doesn’t recognize hierarchies that make one person more worthy than another. Jesus’s authority rejects the claim that John is unworthy of carrying his shoes—or even of baptizing him.

Rather, Jesus’s authority lies in submission to the ways of righteousness, wherein humanly-contrived hierarchies are inverted. Jesus’s authority means obedience to the will of God, who desires that the poor be lifted up and that the hungry be fed, who declares that those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness will receive the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10).

Jesus’s submission to John’s baptismal authority, though everyone knows that Jesus is the messiah and John is not, indicates the way in which Jesus will exercise authority. Jesus does not care about hierarchical power. Jesus does not care about wielding swords and fire. Jesus cares about the fulfillment of righteousness, made manifest in the uplifting of the lowly.

The Beloved Son

When John at last consents to baptize Jesus, the heavens open up in approval. The Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus, alighting like a dove, and a voice from the heavens affirms his authority. “This is my son,” the heavenly voice says, “the beloved, with whom I am well pleased” (3:17).

The words spoken by the heavenly voice echo two passages from the Hebrew scriptures. The first is Psalm 2:7, interpreted by the early church as God’s word to Jesus saying, “You are my son; today I have begotten you.” The second is the beginning of Isaiah 42:1-4, which reads “Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased.”

This second passage has particular resonance for Matthew, who will later quote it again as a prediction of Jesus (Matthew 12:17-21). Thus, when the heavenly voice at the baptism invokes the language of Isaiah 42, we should probably hear the full passage in the background:

Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
He will not wrangle or cry aloud,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
He will not break a bruised reed
or quench a smoldering wick
until he brings justice to victory.
And in his name the Gentiles will hope. (Matt 12:17-21 [Isa 42:1-4])

When I wrote on this passage last month, I noted the way this passage depicts the servant as bringing justice with a gentleness that doesn’t break the bruised reed or extinguish the flickering flame. Applied to Jesus, it envisions a messiah that transforms the world without damaging the weak or the hopeless. Far from wielding an axe, this messiah tenderly loves the world until justice comes.

Following the Gentle Messiah

Like John, we, too, often misunderstand Jesus and the nature of his authority. We, too, run the risk of succumbing to the view that the world must be ordered by hierarchies or that might always makes right. We, too, can live our lives calling others snakes and vipers unworthy of the kingdom of God. Or, perhaps, believing ourselves to be unworthy of the callings to which we have been called. Too often we accept the hierarchical values that the world places upon us, and too often we extend those values to secure our place over others.

Yet this is not the way of Jesus. Jesus is the gentle messiah who brings justice with tenderness and who upholds righteousness for the poor and hopeless and forgotten. Jesus is the subversive messiah who submits to one who does not believe himself worthy, witnessing to God’s inversion of worldly hierarchies.

We can’t blame ourselves for not understanding. Even John the Baptizer did not understand. But nonetheless we are called to live into this truth. We are called to transform the world through love, lifting up those deemed unworthy and bringing a gentle justice to the poor and the oppressed. This is how John finally recognized Jesus. And this is how the world will recognize Jesus in us.