Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

 

 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.  Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

For they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

For they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

For they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

For they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

 

- Matthew 5:1-10 

 

On Saturday we read that Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.  And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.   

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.  Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: . . .  My study Bible comments here that in the Old Testament, only a select few were chosen to hear God directly (see Exodus 19:3-13).  Here, God Incarnate speaks to the multitudes face to face.  Throughout the Bible, and therefore with Jesus in the Gospels, the mountain is a place where divine action enters human history, the place where God reveals God to human beings (Matthew 17:1, Genesis 22:2; Exodus 3:1, 19:2, 1 Kings 18:20).  To be seated is the traditional Jewish position for teaching with authority, my study Bible explains.  There are some early Christian preachers (for an example, St. John Chrysostom) who sat while the people stood.  Matthew says that Jesus opened his mouth to emphasize that this teaching is directed "one way," that Jesus is speaking with authority (Matthew 7:29), and the disciples are there not to discuss or debate, but rather to listen (see Luke 6:47-48, John 14:23-24).

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  To be blessed in this context does not indicate a conventional, worldly sense of material blessing.  My study Bible comments that the blessedness of the Beatitudes indicates heavenly, spiritual exaltation, rather than earthly happiness of prosperity.  In Hebrew, to be "poor" means both the materially poor, and also the faithful among God's people.  The poor in spirit are those who have the heart of the poor, the same attitude as the poor, and are totally dependent upon God.  

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."  Those who mourn are those who sorrow over the sufferings of this life (Matthew 9:23), the sufferings of others (John 11:35), the state of the world (Luke 19:41), and their own sins (Luke 7:36-38), my study Bible says.  All of these are comforted by the power of God, both in this world and in the age to come.  

 

 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."  My study Bible explains that meekness is an attitude of being content with both honor and dishonor.  It is an imitation of Christ, who said, "Learn from Me, for I am gentle [meek] and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29).  The meek, it says, are God-controlled and have mastery over their passions, particularly anger.  Meekness is not, therefore, a passive weakness, but rather strength which is directed and under control.  The earth which will be inherited by the meek is not power or possession in this world, but rather the new earth, which is everlasting (Revelation 21:1).  

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled."  Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are those who see the presence of God and God's Kingdom as the most essential thing in life.  As my study Bible puts it, they have a desperate craving for what is right before God, which is comparable to a starving person's craving for food (see Matthew 6:33). 

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."  Mercy is love which is set in motion and expressed in action, according to my study Bible.  This is similar to hearing and doing Christ's commandments, given in the spirit of the compassion of God.  My study Bible says that God's mercy in taking our sufferings on Himself in order to grant His Kingdom sets us free from captivity to the evil one.  In view of God's mercy to all, we are in turn to be merciful to all.  

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."  In the context of Scripture, "pure" here means to be unmixed with anything else.  Therefore, the pure in heart, my study Bible explains, are those completely devoted to the worship and service of God, and accept no compromises.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, those who achieve this kind of purity practice all virtue, have no conscious evil in themselves, and live in temperance.  To be pure in this sense is to be of one essence from inside to out, such as a natural pearl of pure nacre.  This level of spirituality is attained by few, my study Bible says, but all may strive for it.  When the soul's only desire is God, and a person's will holds to this desire, it explains, then that person will indeed see God everywhere.  (See also Romans 14:14.)

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."  As Christ is the source of peace, my study Bible explains, He found no price sufficient for peace other than shedding His own blood.  In so doing, He reveals Himself to us as the Reconciler, the Prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6; Ephesians 2:14-16).  Moreover, it says, the Holy Spirit gives peace to those who imitate Christ.  Therefore, peacemakers also share God's peace with others around them; they imitate Christ's sacrificial love and they participate in Christ's work.  By God's grace, peacemakers become sons of God themselves ("sons of God" meaning heirs, and therefore including all children of God, with no distinction of gender).

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  My study Bible says that children of God are those who uphold truth, refuse to compromise with the ways of the world, and give themselves to no other (Matthew 6:24, 33; see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  Like Christ Himself, these will be persecuted for righteousness' sake (see John 15:28-30).  Christ's kingdom is the crown which awaits the righteous.  

Today's reading begins the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7), in which Jesus introduces the kind of life those who seek the Kingdom of God must lead.  Another title for Christ's homily, as suggested by my study Bible, might be "The Righteousness of the Kingdom."  The Sermon on the Mount contains several sections; today's reading begins the first, called the Beatitudes (or "blessings").  Here in today's reading, and continuing in tomorrow's, Jesus describes the joys of true discipleship, the blessed way of life.  My study Bible comments that the people of God await the rewards Jesus promises in this section.  So who are the people of God?   In a modern world, it seems increasingly difficult to appreciate the blessedness of which Christ preaches in the Sermon on the Mount.  Our spectacle-oriented life, as succored through media, and especially through images which suggest what "real life" and "the good life" are all about, does not give us an accompanying sense of what it means to be blessed in the ways of which Christ speaks here.  If anything, what all too often accompanies the images we get as consumers of media is an associated anxiety over what we might have that others don't (and vice versa), or trying to catch up with the things we think we need.  All too often, what is left out of this picture of life that we consume daily are the intangibles, and the sense of emptiness or isolation such a focus can produce is cured only through a willingness to find His way -- a focus on something of an entirely different nature, something that is linked to our souls, and to the humility and values which Christ teaches.  So let us look at these blessings which we're taught in today's reading, and focus on them.  What does it mean to be poor in spirit, to have the mind of the poor -- or, in other words, to become totally dependent upon God for our lives and our sense of ourselves?  Suppose we were to cultivate such an aspect of the self deliberately as identity?  What is it to mourn the things that afflict the world, our own sins and those of others?  Suppose we were to see loss of this kind of blessedness, and the things that are destructive to such values, as a severe affliction to our whole world (which includes ourselves)?  To be meek is to put our desires in harness first to the love of God, to understand that we serve something with our choices, and to take a look at the world and make the choice for ourselves that it is God's love we want to serve with our lives:  this is what it is to be the meek who shall inherit the earth.  To hunger and thirst for righteousness is something more than a simple formula for what might be called "social justice," whittled down to a simple slogan that benefits someone.  To hunger and thirst for righteousness is the willingness to live God's righteousness, to seek that light which shines in the soul, to see the icon of God which we're meant to be and live that way in our relationships to sense of ourselves, our communities, and the world.  To be merciful is to learn that simple earthly justice does not satisfy the fullness of what true justice is, for true justice knows the heart, and what possible choices mean, which paths we might seek down the road, which only God's love knows for certain.  The pure in heart are those for whom this kind of devotion is everything, a lifetime study, a work that begins with humility and the willingness and discipline to cast out what makes them stumble internally, even to struggle with temptation, including things that sound good but fail to deliver that in truth.  To be a peacemaker is the capacity to rise above a simple sense of material justice, to serve a greater good than an infantile version of "good versus evil" which fails to understand complexities and depths of human life, and fails to work for that which nurtures abundant life (John 10:10).  Finally, to be persecuted for righteousness' sake is to be willing to risk the hatred or envy of others for the sake of the love of God, the ways that God calls upon us to live.  These are the intangible, beautiful, blessed things of Christ which the Beatitudes introduce to us here in this start to the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus expounds on what it is to live the life to which He calls all of us.  Let us remember His mercy and His love, for these are the things that truly make life blessed and worth living.  We have been given the tools of intelligence and creativity, as human beings we are capable of so much -- but without the blessedness of which Christ speaks those things are so frequently turned to destructive ends and means toward toil and suffering, even if seemingly well-intentioned.  Let us, then, seek first this blessedness of Christ's Kingdom to feed the deep needs which even a whole world can't fill.

Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan

 

 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.  

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. 

 

- Matthew 4:18-25 

 

In yesterday's reading, we were told that when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, / By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, / Galilee of the Gentiles: / The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, / And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death / Light has dawned."  From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 

 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.  These first disciples had already heard the preaching of John the Baptist and were prepared to accept Christ immediately (see John 1:19-42).  although they were illiterate and unlearned in religion, my study Bible says, these "people of the land" whom Jesus calls will be revealed at Pentecost to be the wisest of all.  

 

 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. My study Bible remarks that the crowds do not swarm Jesus when He commands repentance (see 4:17, from yesterday's reading, above), but only when He begins to heal and work miracles.  This fact, it says, shows that the people misunderstand the true nature of Christ's Kingdom.  It also shows Christ's concession, as Theophan puts it, "to give credibility to what He teaches" among the fickle multitudes.  

What is the power of the presence of God, of God being extraordinarily near -- of God manifest as one of us?  How can we put limits on it, or know precisely its nature?  Jesus is Son of God and also Son of Man, both human and divine.  These signs of healing are signs of the power of the Logos, God who brings order out of chaos and who is always making all things new (Revelation 21:5).  These are signs of the presence and the power of God, these healings which include the casting out of demons, and the healing of various difficult and serious diseases such as episepsy and paralysis.  It's almost as if Jesus can't help it, that the people who come near Him receive the influence of this holy power that is within Him and comes from Him.  We read this quite clearly in the story of the woman with the blood flow (Matthew 9:20-22), in which Jesus is seemingly startled in the midst of a jostling crowd because He feels power going out from Himself; it is the response of this holy power to the faith of the woman who touched Him, desiring healing.  In a sense, the holy power of Christ and how it works in the world provides to us a contrast to the chaos of things we might consider to be the effects of evil, the influence of demons, and ailments and illnesses that afflict humankind in our mortality, also understood in the context of the Bible to be the result of distance from God (Genesis 3, esp. verses 23, 24).  In a very imperfect world beset with ailments and grief, influences of evil and distance from God, Jesus comes among the crowds and heals.  The influence is clearly immediate, as we can see from the swift change as reported in Matthew's Gospel from which Jesus begins to call His first disciples and seemingly extremely quickly is known for His ministry to multitudes from all over Israel who come to Him:  from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.  Perhaps this seemingly swift response is also a factor that involves the mysterious power of God that not only heals but also communicates to us in ways we do not know nor understand.  Note that my study Bible comments that the people respond to healing right away, and seek Him out, but that this response does not come from His first word of preaching, to repent.  And almost as quickly, Jesus will also be making enemies of those who resent Him, who question His power and authority, and envy His place.  So when we look at our world, and we observe Jesus in His ministry in the world, we should not be confused by the fact that we live in an imperfect world, created by God but also with influences that are "against God."  The illustration of our faith is not one in which our lives will fall into place perfectly -- in which people will automatically adore us for our good devotions to our faith -- but rather one in which there will also be difficulties and upsets, stumbling and hurdles put in our way, even at times because we love God.  All of this is put before us in the Gospels, but one thing we know remains true:  it is Christ's influence that helps to put us in order, to get a grip on our lives and discipline over ourselves, God's power that can be at work in our lives through our prayers and through worship to become fruit of the Spirit in us (such as "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control," according to St. Paul), and which we share with others.  God's work in the world has most of all the hallmark of love, and of compassion, and in His strength and power, and through participation in His life, we may also grow in this image that we are given.  Through His power and that of the Spirit, we grow in the ways God holds for us, and we are also led to repent in the ways God holds for us, to cast off that which keeps us from becoming and manifesting the things He calls us toward, changing our lives and setting us on a deep path to His holy work and through our faith.  God's way is surprising, and not easy or simple, but it is always good and good for us, even when we must turn away from things we thought we loved.  Let us remember the power of His healing and how deeply that goes into our lives, even into who we think we are.

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light

 

 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

"The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles:

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,

And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death

Light has dawned."

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

 

- Matthew 4:12-17 

 

Yesterday we read that, after His Baptism by John the Baptist,  Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and 'In their hands they shall bear you up, / Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.  

 

 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, / By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, / Galilee of the Gentiles: . . . "   Matthew quotes from Isaiah 9:1-2, a prophesy of the coming of Christ.  My study Bible comments that the term Galilee of the Gentiles indicates that many non-Jews lived in the region.  As Galilee had a mixed population, it says, it was not considered to be a genuinely Jewish land, although many Gentile residents had converted to Judaism during the Maccabean period.  As much of the Jewish population there had been influenced by Greek culture and customs, they were generally looked upon as second-class citizens by the Jews of Judea.

" . . . The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, / And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death / Light has dawned."  My study Bible explains that darkness means ungodliness.  Here it is a representation of the Gentiles' unawareness of God, and the Jews being under the shadow of the Old Covenant.  To sit in darkness means to be overcome by spiritual ignorance.  The great light is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  As we can see from Isaiah's prophecy, this darkness of spiritual ignorance has an association with death and evil.

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  Christ's first word in His preaching, like that of John the Baptist, is Repent."  My study Bible comments that the kingdom of heaven is present wherever Christ is.

In the use of Isaiah's prophecy, we see how Scripture is meant to work.  There are echoes of truths throughout the Old and New Testaments; things which are foreshadowed in the Old manifest themselves through Christ's ministry and Incarnation -- right through to Ascension -- in the New.  It is important to understand Scripture as its own kind of literature:  it's not a history textbook, it's not a how-to book, it's not like any other kind of literature.  One thing we can note here is its sense of timelessness, of being outside of time.  Or rather, time is something that is intersected by this place from which literature comes.  Where the kingdom of heaven is, there is no sense of boundaries by time; it is something always "present."  So when the Isaiah is given a prophecy about the great light that dawns in Galilee of the Gentiles, its root is from this place Christ calls the kingdom of heaven, as we know that Isaiah lived and gave his prophecies in approximately the 8th century BC, long before the Galilee of the Gentiles existed and before the birth and ministry of Jesus Christ.  But this is how prophecy works:  it comes out of an experience given to some of the kingdom of heaven, and the prophets in turn give that to us.  Time is immaterial in this sense that the kingdom is present to those who experience it and in turn present what they are given to us.  Of course, we don't know this Kingdom in its true fullness, but we are given glimpses; God visits us in these forms, and manifested as both divine and human in one Man, Jesus Christ.  This is the center of our faith.  Jesus teaches, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  In the context of what we have just reviewed of the prophecy of Isaiah and its meaning, what do we make of this?  We know that the prophets themselves, such as Isaiah, were frequently persecuted, out of sorts with the world, deliberately called out of the world to serve God -- especially at times of great corruption, to call people back to God and to God's message.  Here is Jesus, God made manifest as human being, fully God and fully human, who teaches us that this kingdom of heaven is present with Him, and He, like the prophets before Him (particularly in the word of John the Baptist from chapter 3), teaches us to repent in order to successfully meet that Kingdom, and to receive it.  The fact that today's reading tells us that Jesus begins His preaching when He knows John has been imprisoned further indicates that this present message is reflected through time.  When Jesus sends out the apostles on their first mission, He will teach them to say the same, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 10:7), that it has drawn near.  This is because, as those sent out by Christ, the apostles carry that Kingdom with them, and they go before Him announcing the "good news," the gospel of Christ -- the same way a messenger would be sent out to announce the gospel (εὐαγγέλιον/evangelion) or great message of Caesar or another earthly ruler.  And in that same sense that anything with Caesar's stamp or image on it indicated Caesar's presence and the presence of his realm, so the kingdom of heaven is present where there is an image or icon of Jesus Christ -- most especially where we seek to worship and to honor Him, and within ourselves as we learn that each one of us is made in the image and likeness of God, and to bear that image and likeness into the world.  If all of this sounds confusing, it is meant simply to mean this:  that God is with us (Matthew 1:23), the kingdom of heaven is present to us (Matthew 3:2, 4:17, 10:7), and that it is within us (Luke 17:21).  But we will not realize it without faith (the work of God), and the repentance which accompanies that faith, as we also grow in this image and participate in the Kingdom through worship, prayer, and the sacraments.  But let us consider how this great light dawns in our lives, to dispel our own darkness, to teach us in the love of God, revealed through the beautiful poetry of Isaiah and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We would do well to remember that this is an ongoing  process and continues today in our world and in us, at all times present and at hand in this way.

 

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God

 

 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"  

 

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written:

 'He shall give His angels charge over you,'

and 

'In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. 

- Matthew 4:1-11 

 

In yesterday's reading, we read that Jesus came from Galilee to John the Baptist at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"  But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."   

 

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. My study Bible says that to be tempted is to be tested in fundamental areas of faith.  As in Mark's Gospel (Mark 1:12), the Spirit leads, or rather "throws" (in the Greek) Jesus into the wilderness after His Baptism, to be tested by a struggle with the devil.  My study Bible comments that we who are baptized in Christ need not be defeated by temptations because we also are aided by the Holy Spirit.  The wilderness is a battleground, an image of the world, both the dwelling place of demons and a source of divine tranquility and victory.  

And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  My study Bible comments on all of Jesus temptations that we're given a framework in which Jesus reverses Israel's falling to temptation in the wilderness.  Once again, we can't read the New Testament apart from the Old, for it is the story of salvation.  The Israelites were tested forty years in the wilderness, and proved disobedient and disloyal.  God humbled them by first letting them go hungry and then feeding them with manna to help them to learn to be dependent upon God (Deuteronomy 8:2-5).  Here, my study Bible continues, Jesus is tested with hunger for forty days, but in His response He does not sin.  All of Christ's answers to Satan are from Deuteronomy, and all call for loyalty to God.  Jesus fasted in order to overcome temptation, which gives us an example of our own power and limitations in the face of temptation.  It is essential that we note Christ's hunger of His flesh does not control Him.  Instead, He controls His flesh.  It is the same when we practice fasting in service to our faith.  Christ's fast of forty days is the foundation of the Church's historical forty-day Lenten fast (often essentially a vegan fast, or one in which we refrain from certain foods) before Holy Week, and also one before Christmas.  

 

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  My study Bible points out that here the devil challenges Christ's relationship to the Father.  If You are the Son of God is a challenge that calls into question the Father's declaration at the Baptism of Christ (which we read in yesterday's reading, above), "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  The devil wants Jesus to act independently of God the Father, and to detach Himself from the will of the Father.  In His divine nature, my study Bible says, He shares one will with the Father and the Holy Spirit; He can do nothing of Himself (John 5:30), apart from the Father.  But in Christ's humanity, He possesses free will and at all times must make a choice to remain obedient to the divine will of the Father.  

 

 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"   As Jesus rejects this first temptation, my study Bible says, so He rejects an earthly kingdom, and shows us not to pursue earthly comfort in the "food which perishes" (John 6:27).   As Adam disregarded the divine word in order to pursue the passions of the body (Genesis 3), the New Adam, who is Jesus Christ, conquers all temptation by the divine word instead, which gives human nature the power to conquer Satan.

 

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and  'In their hands they shall bear you up, / Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  The holy city is Jerusalem, and the temple is the splendid temple as reconstructed by Herod the Great, one of the seven architectural wonders of the world at that time.  My study Bible comments that seeing that Christ had defeated him already through the power of the Scriptures, Satan vainly tries to use Scriptures to put God's power of protection to the test.  (See also 2 Peter 1:19-21 regarding the use and interpretation of Scripture.) 

 

Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  My study Bible comments here that trials and temptations come on their own; we should never intentionally expose ourselves to danger in order to test or to prove God's protection.  To do so is to tempt the LORD.  

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Here my study Bible comments that God's Kingdom is not one of earthly power and possessions.  In the devil's test, Jesus was being asked to choose worldly power over the Kingdom of God.  The devil is the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31), "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), because the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19).  But Jesus refuses the road of earthly glory, which would lead Him away from His suffering and death for the redemption of the world.

Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.   It is well to remember that we also have angels who minister to us, although we face temptations, trials, and difficulties in the world ourselves.  

My study Bible comments on today's passage that the wilderness is a battleground, an image of the world, both the dwelling place of demons and a source of divine tranquility and victory, as noted above.  Why do we have this image of the wilderness?  It is, indeed, a picture of this world, under the influence of Satan and evil, a place where we are born into a heritage of the effects of sin that has come before we're born, and into the mindset of such a world which we inherit and from which we learn.  This is the condition of all of us.  But Christ comes into the world on a particular mission for salvation.  This mission has nothing to do with some heroic feat as pictured in a physical battle where sheer might or invented weapons defeats an enemy, and moral values might be assigned to one side or another depending upon one's perspective and point of view (or who is telling the story).  This wilderness is a battleground that is also mirrored within us, for it is connected to who we are, our own place in the story of salvation.  Just as with Jesus, this wilderness battleground also reflects the battleground within us, where we need to make choices regarding our own lives and our direction in this world -- where we deal with various temptations and yet are also ministered to by angels.  In other words this "wilderness" battleground is one that is also inside of us, our state as human beings, our place in the cosmos as creatures of God within God's creation.  As Jesus has free will as a human being (as pointed out by my study Bible above), so do we.  Often, of course, our ways of thinking and the patterns set in our minds are also things we have inherited from our environment and experiences in one way and another.  But this story does not deny that.  It does illustrate, however, that in our vulnerability to all kinds of influences, we also have another influence to which we can choose to turn in life.  We have Christ who has already gone before us, and through it all.  We have His example, and most powerfully we also have the Holy Spirit to help us.  So it does not really make a difference where we start in this process of recognition of where we are, what the world is about, and where God would call us to go forward within this salvation story.  What matters is that we understand the conditions, the powers and influences at work, and our place in this scheme or plan of Creation.  Because the truth is that we as human beings are most important in this plan.  God has elevated us to this place where we see Jesus go before us, in this temptation scenario and in His responses.  Jesus shows us the way, but does not "fix" things so we have no temptations whatsoever and so that evil is completely banished from our world.  Instead, Jesus has given us the spiritual weapons and tools to make our own battle and our own stand in this wilderness, even within ourselves in fighting the influences we must deal with in our lives.  Christ has weakened the power of the devil, and given us the Holy Spirit to help and to guide through all things.  So, when we are faced with difficult struggles and choices, with things that tempt us to rage, or to despair, or when we think things are so far above our heads and out of our control that we don't know which way to turn in what seems like an impossibly dark place, we have allies to get us through.  We have weapons in a battle for hearts and souls, even when we feel we are most alone and have no allies.  Because Christ has gone there before us, He is also here with us, right in the middle of this struggle and in the difficulties in our lives.  What we have to do is decide that faith is the one thing that will get us through a battle to a place where our lives are meaningful, toward a vision of light that holds for us love and truth, the wisdom of God who loves us -- and not those things that tempt but simply enslave or trick us into something we'd rather not serve at all.  We are bound to be imperfect.  We are bound to make mistakes.  But the purpose of our place in life is not to be perfect in a worldly sense; it is to struggle midst our imperfection and what we have to deal with.  This is not a worldly story, but a true one of love and of salvation; it is not a fantasy invented for a movie or cartoon network or for a posed selfie on social media designed to leave us with a particular impression.  This is real; it is a clear look at our condition, and it gives us a clear answer about how important it is that we take this seriously, and know our places in what is really a cosmic battle with deep significance.  We each have our place in it.  From the Gospels, we know that the ones Christ has selected to carry on this battle were anything but perfect in a worldly sense; they made mistakes, they came with strikes against them, they struggled to understand their faith and to follow Christ.  But it is love, in the end, that wages this battle, a love of Christ that drives us, and our response to knowing His love for us.  For the humility that serves God, forgoes temptation for short-term worldly glory or approval for faith, is the kind of love that is willing to make sacrifices for a greater good, a deeper truth, a better place of the heart, and for the meanings and purposes that truly glorify what it means to be a human being, even when seemingly no one else is around to applaud.  The devil challenges Jesus, "If You are the Son of God . . .."   But He knows who He is.  The question is whether or not we know that we, also, are children of God, and loyal to our own place in God's salvation plan, to the Savior who is the Word of God.

And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"

 

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"  But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Then he allowed Him.

 

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 

 

- Matthew 3:13-17 

 

 Yesterday we read that when John the Baptist saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

 

 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"  But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Then he allowed Him.  My study Bible comments on this passage that Jesus does not need purification.  But by making the purification of humanity His own, He would wash away humanity's sin, grant regeneration, and reveal the mystery of the Holy Trinity.  Therefore, Christ's baptism was necessary for the fulfillment of God's righteous plan of salvation.  Gregory of Nyssa is quoted as commenting:  "Jesus enters the filthy, sinful waters of the world and when He comes out, brings up and purifies the entire world with Him."  

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  As the Spirit of God hovered over the water at the first creation (Genesis 1:2), now the Holy Spirit comes in the form of a dove to anoint the Messiah, the Son of God, at the beginning of the new creation, my study Bible comments.  It notes that Jesus does not become the Son of God this day -- rather He is revealed to all as the Son of God on this day.  The Holy Spirit has always rested upon Him.   In the East, the feast day of Epiphany (meaning a manifestation or revelation) or Theophany (meaning a manifestation of God) is celebrated on January 6th.  It commemorates this day and points to the age to come.  In the very early Church, Christ's Nativity (Christmas) and this day (Epiphany) were celebrated together on January 6th, a practice still held in the Armenian Apostolic Church.  

And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  This is a quotation from Psalm 2:7, "You are My Son, / Today I have begotten You."  My study Bible notes how the Baptism of Jesus reveals the great mystery of the Trinity:  the Father speaks;  the Holy Spirit descends; the Incarnate Son is baptized.  

 

My study Bible points out the parallel here between Old and New Testaments in the Spirit of God, who, in the Old Testament hovers over the waters at the beginning of Creation, and who here hovers over Christ at this beginning of the New Creation.  These parallels are intentional and filled with meaning, given to us so that we understand the power in these events as given to us through the Scriptures.  In the Creed, the Holy Spirit is called "the Lord, the Creator of Life" (the Greek word Ζωοποιόν/Zoopion is frequently translated as "Giver of Life" or "Life-giver" but is more accurately translated as Creator of Life).  When the Holy Spirit hovers over the waters at the beginning of Creation in Genesis, the Spirit hovers over what is understood to be chaos, the opposite of Creation.  This is the understanding of the Old Testament.  The Holy Spirit is revealed to be hovering over Christ, as the Holy Spirit has always been, at Christ's Baptism.   That is, the power of the Holy Spirit is with Christ, the Son, and Christ's Baptism in effect sanctifies all the waters of the world for Christian Baptism.  It restores the order of Creation, renewing it for purposes meant for our own restoration and regeneration.  As we will see through the exorcisms that Christ performs, His work is to restore order, in some sense, to the chaos that often permeates our world.  How can we, as modern people, understand this chaos?  We see chaos present where there are great sins committed, such as the mass and random killings which take place during warfare.  We see it where violence can permeate families and neighborhoods for all kinds of reasons, where a murder or other violence destroys and pollutes families, disrupts relationships for generations at a time, and lays particular affliction upon children who are born into a circumstance over which they had no control or who suffer the effects and fallout from violence or abuse.  We can see violence in neighborhoods from organized crime of many types, or the lawlessness that permeates and lays claim to victims who cannot protect themselves from predators.  Everywhere we look, we can find chaos that enters our world through sin and destroys the kind of order that God condones in relationships within community, family, and for us as individuals.  There is the chaos of addiction and its attendant behaviors, which so often destroys family relationships and puts equal strain especially on children who pay the price for it, or other family members afflicted through another's problem.  We don't have to look far for chaos; we can see it all around us in one form or another.  Christ -- and the accompanying work of the Holy Spirit -- remains the answer for these problems.  One may not find that God simply appears and fixes everything; that does not happen in our world.  For, as the commentary a few days ago noted, we human beings are a sort of battleground for this world, where the influences of chaos and their effects in us meet the power of God to restore and heal, to help us find our way through a world afflicted by sin and its effects.  But we can call upon Christ to help us find our way forward; we hear and listen to His commands and do them.  How often does violence result from rage, from the inability to practice forgiveness, to face a good road, from the descending depravity of chaos that simply gets worse if one does not "turn around"  toward God and find God's way (otherwise known as repentance)?  Can we look around ourselves and see what it is to lack humility, to abuse others through false use of power, to fail to find Christ's way through bad circumstances?  Do we observe people going from bad to worse as they continue along this same path of abusive uses of power and manipulation?  John the Baptist has come preaching a baptism of repentance in preparation for Christ, and this is still the way for us.  It is still Christ who must help us to find His order in New Creation; it is still Christ to whom we turn to seek to put order into our lives out of chaos, to make sense of bad circumstances and help us through them the best we can, to find what the practice of love means in our lives, and the responsible use of authority and power.  It is Christ to whom we turn and rely upon for help through our own chaos and difficulties, whose help and presence we learn to depend upon when family or others let us down.  It is our faith that helps us out of the desert wasteland of meaninglessness to values that give meaning and substance to our lives.  So here in today's reading, the Holy Spirit is revealed to be always present with Christ at this New Creation, and we are each called to be part of that New Creation, through the waters sanctified by Christ and the seal of the Spirit, through practice of His commands, and prayer and worship to keep us alive and alert to His presence in them.   Our prayer and worship, our hearing and doing of Christ's commands for us, is the ongoing moment-to-moment practice of renewing and participating in our Baptism, in the life He offers.  We, too, become part of the New Creation, and our lives may touch others in this practice as examples of what is possible through the love of Christ the beloved Son, and our return of that love for us.

 

 

 

 

 

He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire

 

 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

 

- Matthew 3:7-12 

 

In yesterday's lectionary reading we were first given the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:  Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.  Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.  Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.  Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king.  David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.  Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.  Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.  Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.  Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.  Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.  And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel.  Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.  Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.  Eliud begot Eleazar, Elezar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.  And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.  So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.   From here the lectionary began with chapter 3 of Matthew's Gospel:   In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"  For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the LORD; make His paths straight.'" Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.  Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.  

"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"  My study Bible explains that Sadducees were members of the high priestly and landowning class who controlled the temple and the internal political affairs of the Jews.  They denied the resurrection of the dead and had no messianic hope beyond this life.  The Pharisees, on the other hand, formed a lay religious movement, which was centered on the study of the Law and on strict observance of its regulations.  From their understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures, they believed in the resurrection of the dead and they cherished a messianic hope.  But they taught that righteousness is attained on the strength of one's works according to the Law, and that the Messiah would be merely a glorious man.  John uses the title for them, brood of vipers.  This same title will later be used by Jesus (Matthew 12:34; 23:33).  This title is indicative of their deception and malice, and also reflects an influence of Satan.

 

"Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance . . ."  My study Bible comments that repentance, confession, and baptism lead to fruits worthy of repentance, a way of life which is consistent with the Kingdom of God (see Galatians 5:22-25).  It says that if a fruitful life does not follow, sacramental acts and spiritual discipline are useless.  Therefore in many icons of the Baptism of Jesus, there is an ax chopping a fruitless tree.  See also the commentary on verse 10, in which John declares that "even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

". . . and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones."  This warning that from these stones (in Hebrew 'ebanim) God can raise up children (Hebrew banim) is a play on words.  My study Bible says that God will not admit fruitless children into God's house, but adopts other children from the Gentiles.  

"And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."   See the commentary on verse 8, above.  Fire here refers to divine judgment (see Isaiah 33:11, 66:24; Ezekiel 38:22, 39:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9).  See also "fire" in verse 11 which follows.

 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."   Christ baptizes in the fire of the Holy Spirit; this is the power and grace of God which is divinely poured out on all believers at baptism, my study Bible says.   In John's culture, a slave would carry the sandals of  the king.  Therefore what John declares here is that he is even lower than a slave of Jesus.  John's inability to carry Christ's sandal has another meaning; for to carry another's sandal once meant taking someone else's responsibility (Ruth 4:7).  Here it shows that John could not have carried the responsibility that Christ carries, and that the Law could not redeem the world as Christ has come to do.  

"His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."  Winnowing the threshed grain from the chaff (a process by which the indigestible chaff is separated from the good grain) is a metaphor for the divine judgment, which will separate good from evil.  

John the Baptist sets his call for a baptism of repentance within the framework of the coming of the Messiah, and of Judgment.  It is a call for preparation for what is understood to be a cosmic event of the utmost significance.  So, even in the context of the Old Testament Scriptures and Jewish religious literature of this period in which Christ's ministry took place, there was expectation of the Judgment with the coming of this messianic figure of whom John the Baptist speaks.  Preparation, then, was not simply for a Messiah who would rule as an earthly king, but for a judgment regarding the preparation of the people for this divine visitation, for God coming near.   When John speaks of fire in warnings to the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious authorities of his time, who oversaw the temple and its activities and formed parties of the Council, he is speaking in the context of Judgment and the failure to live a life devoted to the true things of God.  Jesus, of course, will continue to speak in this vein of discourse throughout His ministry.  This also takes place within the context of Jewish Scripture, as Jesus will quote from Isaiah:  "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me" (Matthew 15:8, quoting from Isaiah 29:13).  Jesus' cleansing of the temple (Matthew 21:12-17) will indicate to us the extent of corruption and the ways in which personal profit was being derived, and the care of the poor neglected will be evident in Christ's many teachings, such as His observation for the disciples of the poor widow who gave all that she had to the temple treasury (Mark 12:41-44).  John the Baptist's words regarding the dead wood of fruitless trees, the ax, and the fire also remind us of the figurative significance of Jesus' withering of the fruitless fig tree so soon after the cleansing of the temple (Matthew 21:18-19).  When Christ enters the temple, what He does are authoritative acts which indicate Christ's role in Judgment, His authority in the Judgment which is to come.  But what we cannot forget, and why these Scriptures and these acts are important for us to consider today, is that John's words in today's reading remain ultimately true for us all.  It is a question of how we are living our lives, and what we accept as our priorities and values.  Do we pay lip service to things but fail to show compassion?  Do we put emphasis on an outward show or does the state of our hearts matter to us?  To throw out the chaff from the good grain, to put the chaff in the fire and chop off dead wood from a tree, are all images that resound with meaning regarding a great and final judgment by the One of whom John says that he is not worthy of carrying His sandals.  But they also teach us about our daily lives.  Repentance is a process whereby we can winnow from ourselves and our worldly sense of self the things that do not serve Christ in that ultimate Judgment, the things He calls us to cast off.  And in so doing, we support the good growth, the fruit we are willing to bear for Him, the spiritual fruits of a life lived in prayerful devotion.  The poor widow may not look like she gave much, but she gave all that she had -- which is significant simply because it expressed the great love in her heart.   Ultimately, the fruits we bear are not about the judgment the world might render from our appearance, but about the closeness of our hearts to God, our capacity to welcome Christ's visitation which is always present to us now, even as John sought to prepare people for Jesus' presence as human being with a ministry in the world.  These meanings and values remain present to us, even as John's and Jesus' term for the religious leaders of their time "brood of vipers" remains meaningful for us -- suggesting those who do not work for God, but rather against God.  The hidden motivations of those who "put on a good show" so to speak, but whose actions cause chaos and destruction and harm the poor rather than help, reveal the hardness of their hearts, a lack of compassion, and true motivations of greed and power.  Let us consider our place in this great historical story of salvation, for we each have a role to play, and fruits to bear, within the context of our communities and our love of God.  John speaks to all of us when he warns us to prepare for the One whose sandals he is not worthy to carry.  For fire is the real fire of the Holy Spirit, an energy that both kindles the heart with its infinitely creative spiritual power, and also destroys what cannot stand in its holy presence. 

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!

Last page from the Genealogy of Matthew depicting the Virgin Mary, Joseph, and Christ, illuminated manuscript:  From The Armenian Gospels of Gladzor, 1300-1307, painter Toros of Taron, p 35 (full manuscript)

 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:  Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.  Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.  Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.  Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king.  David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.  Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.  Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.  Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.  Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.  Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.  And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel.  Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.  Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.  Eliud begot Eleazar, Elezar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.  And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.  So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.  

* * *

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"  For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the LORD;

Make His paths straight.'"

Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.  Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

 

- Matthew (1:1–17) 3:1–6 

 

  The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:  Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.  Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.  Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.  Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king.  David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.  Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.  Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.  Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.  Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.  Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.  And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel.  Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.  Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.  Eliud begot Eleazar, Elezar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.  And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.  So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.   Today the lectionary begins readings in the Gospel of Matthew, and that Gospel begins with this genealogy for Jesus Christ.  My study Bible comments that Jesus means "O Lord, save," which refers to His role as Savior.  Christ means "Anointed One," the Messiah, the One who is filled with the Holy Spirit (see John 1:33).  Although the Son alone became a human being, God the Father and teh Holy Spirit work in Jesus Christ to save us.  We note as we begin Matthew's Gospel, that it is understood to have an orientation toward a Jewish audience, and clearly from Christ's lineage we know that He became a human being as a Jew, from the lineage of Abraham, the father of all Jews, and of David, Israel's greatest king and the prototype of the royal Messiah.  My study Bible explains that this genealogy reveals that the Son of God so identifies with the human condition that God the Son takes it all on Himself and becomes part of it.  It is very important to note that Christ's ancestry given here includes both righteous and wicked people, faithful kings and murderers, Jews and Gentiles, kings and peasants.  If we compare to Luke's genealogy (which runs from Jesus back to Adam (Luke 3:23-38), Matthew's list makes clear Jesus' descent from Abraham, with whom God established the Old Covenant of circumcision, to Jesus, the author of the New Covenant.  My study Bible notes that God promised to bless all the tribes of the earth in Abraham (Genesis 12:3; 28:14), and this promise is fulfilled in Abraham's greatest son, who is Jesus Christ.  While Jewish genealogical lists would normally include men only, the mention here of women (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba) is unusual.  Each one was either a Gentile or a sinner:  the inclusion of these women, my study Bible comments, declares God's graciousness and prefigures the calling of the Gentiles into the Church.  Also, it underscores powerfully the role of women in the plan of salvation by God, and especially anticipates the special place of the Virgin Mary in that place.  David was made king through anointing by Samuel -- but through his psalms, David was revealed as a great prophet.  Therefore, David foreshadows both the royal and the prophetic nature of Jesus Christ (Psalm 110).  David was also an adulterer and murderer, and so he also functions as a type for all repentant sinners.  Joseph is named here as Jesus' immediate predecessor as Old Testament marriage laws confer hereditary rights on adopted as well as biological sons.  The church fathers teach that Mary also was descended from David.  In the original Greek language of the text, "of whom" (in of whom Jesus who is called Christ) is feminine, which refers to only Mary.  therefore Jesus is shown to be born of Mary, but not begotten of Joseph.  My study Bible also notes for us that Christ's ancestors are arranged in three groups of fourteen generations.  Fourteen is the numerical equivalent of the consonants in the name David, which underlines Jesus' descent from David.  It also shows the division of the leadership of the Jews, being under judges until David, under kings until Babylon, and under priests until Christ.  

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"  For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the LORD; make His paths straight.'"  My study Bible comments that the wilderness of Judea is the barren region which descends from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea.  The preparation for the ministry of Christ begins with the call of John the Baptist, to repent.  Repentance accompanies faith, and it indicates a total about-face, my study Bible says.  The word in Greek for repentance (μετανοια/metanoia) means literally to change on'e mind, or more generally to turn around.  Repentance is, in the words of my study Bible, a radical change of one's spirit, mind, thought, and heart, a complete reorientation of the whole of one's life.  It is the necessary first step in the way of the LORD.  It is accompanied by the confession of sins and the act of baptism (Matthew 3:6), and followed by a life filled with fruits which are worthy of this change (Matthew 3:8).

Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.  The text gives us a hint about John's ascetic life, which was conformed to that of the Jewish sects such as the Essenes, who lived in the wilderness and whose devoted purpose was to prepare for the coming Kingdom of God.  John's clothing sends us "signals" regarding his role as prophet, as it is typical of a prophet, and specifically that of Elijah (2 Kings 1:8).  My study Bible comments that the monastic movement in the early Church was patterned after John's manner of life.  This also gives us clues about the significance of John the Baptist in the arc of the story of salvation.

 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.  My study Bible says that confession of sins is essential to baptism under both the Old Covenant and the New.  But John's baptism was a sign of repentence and the forgiveness of sins alone; it did not confer total regeneration or adoption as a child of God, as does Christian baptism (Matthew 3:11).

 

 One important thing we learn from today's reading is all about God's hand acting throughout history to reveal and manifest the plan of salvation, especially through the human history of those who bore faith into the world.  From Abraham, through David, to Christ, Matthew's genealogy gives us the depiction of salvation history, working in and through human beings as God's spirit calls each one.  In this genealogy are both sinners and saints, Jews and Gentiles, and as my study Bible points out, those from all manner of life in the context of the society, including peasants and kings, men and women.  There is a continuity through history in this depiction, with humankind as the locus of a kind of battleground for the world.  We really can't lose that perspective (which a modern world all too often either forgets or represents as some sort of political or cultural battle), because it is truly the background for all spiritual struggle as depicted in Scripture, whether we are talking about pagan gods and idol worship to the present day.  This battleground takes place within human beings, but is basically spiritual in nature, and that is why we must take care in learning to read the Gospels and the Old Testament on which all is based, the context into which the New Covenant was born.  Therefore to read the genealogy of Jesus is to understand the entire arc of the spiritual manifestation of Jesus as human being, both God and Man.  This is because Jesus depicts for us the reality of God's work in the world, ultimately born as human being in order to live among us and fully experience human life, to give us an icon or image of what and who God is, and to call us all to the transformation within that image.  In so doing, Christ "conquered death by death" as the Orthodox Paschal hymn tells us, befitting today's reading so soon after the celebration of Easter.  Death, in this context, means not only the physical death of human beings, but also the realm of evil, synonymous with death, and personified in the devil.  As we begin the Gospel of Matthew, we are taken to chapter 3, the beginning of Christ's earthly ministry -- which, just as the genealogy of Christ reflects an entire history which prepared for the birth of Christ, we understand is also "birthed" through the baptism of John the Baptist, and his role as the last and greatest of all of the Old Testament prophets.  Without John, we could ask, would there be a ministry of Jesus?  We, of course, leave that answer up to God, with whom, Jesus tells us, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).  But the story of salvation works through human beings, as we understand from today's reading, and we cannot leave out the specific significance of John and John's role in this story, the one who would become the model for monasticism, as he was devoted to the Kingdom of God and its coming through Christ.  We are meant to understand the incredible significance of human beings, and their specific roles in the coming of the coming of the Kingdom of God, and in the ways in which God manifests God's work in the world, in and through God's creatures and creation.  We are not simply decreed a Kingdom from on high through celestial messengers, neither are human beings simply slaves of the divine, but there is quite a different economy going on here.  We are the center of the struggle for the world, as we human beings become the bearers of its "good news" or those who reject and participate on the "other side," so to speak.  The great spiritual battleground for the world and the cosmos, even the whole created order, is in the center of human beings, for we are the ones who participate in its reality or choose to reject it for ourselves, a constant struggle going on in the midst of our lives at any moment in time.  So, here we are, in what might be thought of as the center of human history, the moment we await Christ's Baptism in the Jordan at the hands of John the Baptist, the one who announces the preparation for Christ to the world.  Are you ready?  For that center is always within us, to receive and to prepare, to repent and to look toward Christ, to become "like Him" as He images for us what it is to be a bearer of the kingdom of heaven.