JESUS' BIRTH, INFANCY, AND BAPTISM

Matthew 1–3

DIMENSION ONE: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Answer these questions by reading Matthew 1

1. With whom does the genealogy of Jesus begin? (1:2)

2. What five women are included? (1:3, 5, 6, 16)

3. Is the ancestry traced to Joseph or Mary? (1:16)

4. How many generations are reported? (1:17)

5. What are the major divisions in the ancestry? (1:17)

6. Why does Joseph first want to divorce Mary? (1:18)

7. What does the name Jesus signify? (1:21)

Answer these questions by reading Matthew 2

8. Who is the king of Judea when Jesus is born? (2:1)

9. How do the magi (wise men) know that Jesus is to be born in Bethlehem? (2:5- 6)

10. Why don't the magi return to Herod? (2:12)

11. Why does Joseph take the family to Egypt? (2:13)

12. Whom does Herod kill in Bethlehem? (2:16)

13. Where does Joseph take Jesus and Mary when they return from Egypt? (2:21-23)

Answer these questions by reading Matthew 3

14. What message does John the Baptist preach? (3:2)

15. Who foretells that a preacher will "prepare the way for the Lord"? (3:3)

16. Where do the people come from who want to be baptized by John? (3:5)

17. Whom does John call a "brood of vipers"? (3:7)

18. What does John tell them to do? (3:8)

19. Why does John first refuse to baptize Jesus? (3:14)

20. Why does Jesus say it is fitting for John to baptize him? (3:15)

21. What does Jesus see when he is baptized? (3:16)

22. What does the voice from heaven say? (3:17)

DIMENSION TWO: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE MEAN?

The first two chapters of Matthew tell of Jesus' ancestry and birth and the flight into Egypt. These stories, like the ones in Luke 1–2, were told to report the wonderful and miraculous things people believed happened at the birth of the Messiah.

Chapter 3 is the account of John the Baptist's preaching and Jesus' baptism by John. Jesus emerges onto the public scene of his ministry here.

* Matthew 1:1-17. How could Matthew introduce such an important book with a column of genealogy? Finding a more boring beginning for any book, especially this one, is hard to imagine. Let's imagine ourselves back in time to the first- century church of Jewish Christians for whom Matthew writes. Now does it sound boring? Far from it. In fact Matthew can scarcely have chosen a better way to begin. This report of Jesus' ancestry was written for the Jews who have chosen to follow Christ. It tells them that the history of God's salvation began with Israel in the covenant God made with Abraham. This salvation comes directly down to "Jesus who is called the Messiah" (1:16). The former covenants are not broken. On the contrary, Christ's followers inherit the promises once made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. This genealogy is not written to persuade anyone to believe in Jesus as the Christ. Matthew's Christians already believed that. The genealogy links their new experience with Israel's salvation history.

If we think about this list of sometimes unpronounceable names we may wonder about three things. Three groups of fourteen generations each are listed. We do not know why the list is composed the way it is. But Matthew clearly divides the ancestry by three of the greatest names and events of Israel's covenant history. The list goes on from Abraham to David, from David to the Babylonian Exile, from the Exile to Jesus.

Matthew was way ahead of his time by giving five women as much place as this in God's design for salvation.

And why does this genealogy trace the ancestry to Joseph if he is not the genetic father of Jesus? According to the tradition, Jesus was the son of Joseph's virgin wife. Apparently this inconsistency does not trouble Matthew. Jesus can descend from Abraham and David and forty others and still be born without any blood connections (as we understand it) to Joseph.

* Matthew 1:18-24. Betrothal — the pledge to marry — was more binding then than engagement is to us now. Mary already was considered to belong to Joseph in betrothal. He wants to divorce her quietly, to hurt her as little as possible. He must have been baffled by his dream. But he trusts the Lord's word. Incidentally, God uses dreams five times in the first two chapters. These dreams insure that God's divine purpose is not frustrated and Jesus' safety is assured.

The names given to Mary and Joseph's child are important. They foreshadow what the whole Gospel will proclaim. Actually, these names are profound theological statements: Jesus, the way of salvation from sin; Immanuel, the incarnation of God with us.

* Matthew 2. What an incredible surprise that the Christ should be born unannounced. And Matthew implies in his Gospel that leaders of Israel failed their watching and waiting. Should they have been more attentive?

The rising star (2:2) is Matthew's way of saying that the very heavens marked the birth of Immanuel. This birth was truly a cosmic event. Divine guidance is given to those who would come to worship and pay homage.

"[Herod] was disturbed" (verse 3). His rage and cruelty (verses 16-18) show how Jesus threatens all entrenched worldly power. The Herods are one of the most monstrous families history has ever seen. One of Herod's sons torments Jesus at his trial and adds his power to the forces that brought Jesus to his death (Luke 23:6-15a).

Matthew quotes the Old Testament four times in Chapter 2 (verses 5, 15, 17, 23) and once in Chapter 3 to account for what happens to the infant Jesus. Matthew refers to the Old Testament as a device. He declares that the salvation history of the Jews is preparation for fulfillment in Christ. God's promise is unbroken from Abraham to the present.

* Matthew 3:1-12. For John to call these people a "brood of vipers" when they come to be baptized seems rude. He denounces them as snakes. This implies that they are descended from the great snake, Satan himself. John believed piety without repentance was a great sin. John saw this unrepentant piety in these people.

If we read verses 7-12 carefully, we hear three themes that Jesus will later repeat. The first theme used by John is the denunciation of the Pharisees and Sadducees. In Chapter 23, we will find Jesus raising the same indignation that John first sounds here. The second theme used by John also uses the metaphor "every tree that does not produce good fruit" (verse 10). Jesus speaks these very words in the Sermon on the Mount (7:19). In 12:33-34, Jesus even uses the phrase...