Friday, 28 February Seeking the Messiah. Matthew 3:1–17
My Bible starts this chapter with the curious little phrase, In those days…What are ‘those days’? They are the days that were introduced at the end of the previous chapter. Joseph is told in a dream that it is safe to return to Israel after Herod dies. But he is apparently left to decide all the minor details himself: when to leave, where to live, what to do. Joseph made up his own mind to live in Nazareth. All of this is a lovely reminder of how we are to live in a thoughtful mix of personal responsibility and spiritual alertness, not always needing specific ‘guidance’ for our next move.
So, in those days, Jesus was growing up in a family in Nazareth – working, laughing, enduring sorrows. It is often conjectured that his father, Joseph, may have died during this time, as there is no mention of him in Jesus’ ministry years or at his crucifixion. Jesus tells the disciple, John, to care for his mother, Mary. So Jesus lived, just as we do, ‘tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he did not sin’ (Hebrews 4:15).
Isn’t it a fact that most temptation comes to us in the ordinary things of life – work and family? Murder, organised crime, massive frauds – these are comparatively rare. Most of our ordinary lives are marked rather, by temper tantrums, little outbursts of irritation or nastiness, small deceptions, mean sarcasms, little quarrels and minor acts of violence. Jesus lived amidst these, just as you and I do. We aren’t tempted, most of us, to commit murder or treason. Jesus, too, lived in a family and knew all about the stress of family life. That was how he lived in those days. But at the end of those days, a new voice appeared on the scene…
John is a New Testament character – but he is actually an Old Testament prophet. He is the last of a long line of prophets; he warns of coming judgements and is desperately and urgently seeking the coming of the Messiah:
Repent!
Prepare the way of the Lord! Flee from the wrath to come!
The axe is lying at the root of the trees, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire!
One who is more powerful than I is coming after me.
This One who is coming will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.
He will separate out the wheat from the chaff!
The chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire!
I suspect that if you were to ask most people, whether or not they are church-attenders, they would suggest that they could make up a more user-friendly introduction to Jesus than this. Most people would prefer that God provide a prophet who went around promising love, joy, hope, brightness, and kindness to animals.
Perhaps you are thinking that so far, Matthew’s Gospel (i.e. Good News), does not seem to be very good news. In the first three chapters, we’ve had all the wrong people being mentioned in genealogies, wickedly cruel tyrants, slaughtered children, midnight dashes for the border, and now miserable and terrifying warnings about the future. Perhaps the best thing might be to turn to Mark or Luke. They seem to be a bit more cheerful.
The history of Christianity in the West since about 400AD, has wavered between two extremes – and often mostly at the edge of each of the extremes.
Sometimes the church has been full of ugly demands for obedience and conformity to a set of narrow rules; it has described God as being an angry Judge who can't wait to throw sinners into a fiery Hell. He is the fierce, distant father-figure who shouts ‘Damn you to hell! Leave this house and never darken this doorway again!’
At other times, it has focussed on God (or at least, Jesus) being unfailingly gentle and kind, forgiving sins even without our asking, only interested in peace and love and generally accepting everyone no matter how they live or what they do. He is the gentle grandmother who says kindly, ‘Tut, tut. Oh bless! Off you go, now, and have fun!’
Matthew doesn’t fall for either kind of misrepresentation of God. He is a Jew, writing for Jews. This ancient people understood their God. Just read their Psalms. They know that he can be fierce and uncompromising, a wrathful judge. But they also know that he is full of faithfulness and lovingkindness, slow to anger, maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin (Deut. 34:6–7).
Here is the simple truth of the matter: it is only tyrants, oppressors and wilful rebels who need fear the fierce anger of God. Those who seek to do good will know only his love and mercy. In their seeking to do good, they are truly seeking God.
Trying to put God into our little systems of either niceness or nastiness just won't work. He refuses to be pigeonholed. C. S. Lewis got this aspect of God just about as perfectly as is possible in fiction, I think, in his character of Aslan; let’s finish by reading this extract from The Silver Chair:
Jill is desperately thirsty, and comes to a stream. But lying next to the stream is a huge lion. She stops dead, too afraid to move. Eventually, the lion (for it is Aslan) speaks: “If you’re thirsty, you may drink”.
“Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion.
“I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.
“Then drink,” said the Lion.
“May I – could I – would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realised that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
“Will you promise not to – do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill.
“I make no promise,” said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it she had come a step nearer.
“Do you eat girls?” she said.
“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.
“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.
“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”
“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, help me, please, to seek you urgently. Help me to live out my days, as you lived yours; being kind and good and patient, and despite many temptations, not sinning. But when I do sin, please be gentle with me, and forgive me. Amen.
