Matthew 3:13-17

If there’s one thing that all humans have in common, it’s our love for a good unveiling. There’s something so enticingly dramatic and alluring about an unveiling. We all love a good unveiling. There’s a popular trend in today’s culture, you’ve probably seen videos of it on Facebook, it’s the gender reveal party. I love watching those videos! So if you’re not familiar, in a gender reveal party, the future parents don’t know whether they are having a boy or girl, so they have this big party with all their friends and family, and they unveil the sex of their baby in usually a really creative way: like they pop a balloon that’s filled with either blue or pink powder. Or I’ve seen sparklers that are blue or pink, or piñatas. And it’s always so exciting. We love a good unveiling.

Actually, we love bad unveilings too. I thoroughly enjoyed the botched unveiling of the new cybertruck from Tesla. Did you hear about that? Tesla had this big event to reveal their new futuristic looking electric truck, and during the event they were touting the toughness of the glass, saying it was armored like a military vehicle. And to demonstrate, they threw a metal ball at the driver’s side window, and the window just shatters. So, thinking it was a fluke, they lightly tossed the ball at the back window, and again it just shatters. It was hilarious. So, it doesn’t really even have to be a good unveiling, we still love it.

Well, we are now in the season of Epiphany, which is a time in the year when we really hone in on this idea of unveiling. Specifically, the idea of Christ being unveiled to us, revealed to us, made known to us, and in turn our making Christ known to the world around us. Unveiling Christ to the world around us. So for the next few weeks we’re going to be looking at passages in the gospels where Christ is unveiled in a public way to see how he is made known to us, and in turn how we can go about the work of making him known to people in our lives.

So let’s look again at our gospel passage: .

So for the next few weeks we’re going to be looking at passages in the gospels where Christ is unveiled in a public way.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

So here we have Matthew’s account of Jesus being baptized by John. Last week we looked at Jesus’ first words recorded by Luke, and this week we hear the first words that Matthew records. This scene at the Jordan river is happening right at the beginning of the story of Christ’s active life. He’s not an infant in a manger anymore, he’s not a child being visited by the magi, he’s not a tween listening to the teachers in the temple, he’s now about thirty years old, and he’s about to set off to do the work the Lord had given him to do, he’s about to set off on the road that would eventually lead him back to Jerusalem, and to the cross, and the empty tomb. This is the beginning of it all, this scene at the Jordan river.

The best way to describe what’s happening here, and in fact the angle that Matthew wants us to see regarding Christ’s baptism, is that what we’re witnessing is a coronation. This isn’t just a baptism, it’s a coronation ceremony. Jesus is being crowned the King.

A coronation is a public ceremony where a new sovereign is installed. Melanie and I have really enjoyed the Netflix series, “The Crown,” which is a show that follows the life of Queen Elizabeth. Now, we in America don’t really understand the national importance of a coronation, but for the British people, the installment of a new sovereign is an occasion unlike any other. Our closest comparison would be inauguration day, but really that pales in comparison. There is so much pomp and circumstance, so much ceremony, so much symbolism when the Queen of England is crowned, so much that means not a whole lot to those on the outside of that culture, but to those on the inside, they get it, they understand it.

Here we have the kind of coronation that the people of Israel would understand. The heavens are torn open, the Spirit of God descends and anoints Jesus - bringing to mind the kings of Israel who were also said to be anointed by the Spirit, kinds like Saul and David, and we hear a voice that comes from the opened heavens, the voice of Yahweh himself saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

This in fact is not a unique statement, but like much of what we see throughout the gospel of Matthew, this is an allusion to Old Testament passages, and in this case these words that come from heaven harken back to the book of Psalms and the prophet Isaiah.

In , the Lord is looking over the nations of the earth and how they’ve made such a mess of the world because they’ve broken away from the ways of God, and in response, God sets up a King that he himself chooses. Listen to the Psalm and listen for the words that we hear coming from heaven at Christ’s baptism:

English Standard Version Psalm 2

Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain?

2  The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,

3  “Let us burst their bonds apart

and cast away their cords from us.”

4  He who sits in the heavens laughs;

the Lord holds them in derision.

5  Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

and terrify them in his fury, saying,

6  “As for me, I have set my King

on Zion, my holy hill.”

7  I will tell of the decree:

The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;

today I have begotten you.

Now this Psalm had long been seen as speaking about the king of Israel. Kings like Saul and David, who were both called the Lord’s anointed, which in Hebrew is the word mashia, which we generally pronounce, Messiah. But as history played out, people recognized that the kings of Israel, these Messiah’s, they never lived up to the promises made about the Messiah who Yahweh would call his own Son. And so the people began to hope for a future king who would be the delight of Yahweh, who would rule with absolute justice and righteousness.

And the prophets affirmed this hope of the people. The prophets began to speak about a coming King, who would be the true mashia. More than any other prophet, Isaiah speaks again and again about the Messiah that would fulfill the hopes of God’s people. But this Messiah would be more than a king, he’d be a servant. Listen to again, where right at the beginning we hear what’s happening at the Jordan with Jesus and John.

English Standard Version Chapter 42

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

2  He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

3  a bruised reed he will not break,

and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

4  He will not grow faint or be discouraged

till he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his law.

Can you see and hear in these two passages the voice that calls out from the heavens at Christ’s baptism? In talking about the future King who would be chosen by Yahweh himself to bring justice to a world in rebellion? And again in , where this beloved one of God is anointed by God’s Spirit in order to bring justice to the ends of the earth.

And so in a way that the people of Israel would understand, Jesus is being unveiled as this Messiah, this Servant King, this Anointed Son of God. Right at the beginning of his ministry, before he has begun to teach that the Kingdom of God was at hand, before he had done a single miracle, he is crowned at the Jordan in this dazzling coronation. What an unveiling.

But the question for us this morning, is how do we unveil this Jesus, who is the Messiah, who is the Servant King, who is the Anointed Son of God who is the hope for the earth? How do we unveil him to the world around us? How do we make him known to our neighbors, coworkers, and friends who do not know him to be what we know him to be?

I see two answers in this passage. First from John, and then from Jesus.

When Jesus comes to the Jordan to be baptized by John, I just love the response from John.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

If we are going to unveil Jesus to the world around us, we’ve got to adopt this posture of John, which is a posture of deference to Jesus. John knows that his life and his purpose is to make Jesus known to the world. John famously will say that he must decrease, and Christ must increase. If we are going to make Jesus known in the world around us, we’ve got to do the same. We have to push against this mentality that we are the stars of the show, that the life of the world revolves around us - because how can we possibly make much of Jesus if we’re caught up with making much of ourselves.

If we look at our lives, do we see this deference to King Jesus? Who are we drawing attention people’s attention to in our daily lives? John is so uncomfortable with the idea of drawing attention to himself and putting himself above Jesus. If we’re going to unveil Jesus to the world, we’ve got to have that same discomfort and that same intentionality.

And now lets look at Jesus. One of the fundamental questions of this passage is one that we haven’t talked about this morning. If John was calling all Israel to repent of their sins and be baptized in the Jordan, why does Jesus go to John to be baptized. Look at that first verse again. Jesus doesn’t stumble upon John. Jesus intentionally goes to see John in order to be baptized by him. So why does Jesus, who has never nor will ever sin, why does he go to be baptized?

Well, Jesus says it is to fulfill all righteousness. That just clears it all up doesn’t it? No! Not at all. Commentary after commentary that I read in preparation for this morning would not give a definitive answer. Every single scholar gave a wide range of possible reasons that Christ’s baptism would fulfill the purposes of God, and I’ve come to believe that there may not have been just one reason.

1) Perhaps Jesus was baptized in order to affirm the message of John. We know that John preached that folks should repent because the kingdom of God was at hand, and in fact Jesus preaches the exact same words in the next chapter when he begins his teaching ministry.

2) Perhaps Jesus is being obedient to God’s call through John that has gone out to all of Israel, which Jesus is a part of, to be baptized by John and repent of their corporate sins as a people.

But one reason that everyone thinks is at least part of the answer is one I want to focus on today, because I think it helps us as we think about how we unveil Jesus to the world.

Jesus is baptized because he is identifying with sinners. He’s identifying with their sins. In the same way that he would identify with sinners at the end of his ministry, when he takes their sins upon his own shoulders on the cross, Jesus begins his ministry in the same way - identifying with the people’s brokenness and rebellion, and sharing in their baptism.

Listen to how Isaiah speaks about the Servant King:

English Standard Version Chapter 53

10  Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

11  Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

12  Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

And so perhaps Jesus’ ministry is bookended by a loving identification with sinners like you and me. At his baptism and again upon the cross. In fact all, throughout Christ’s ministry, he is sharing his life with sinners.

And as we look to unveil Jesus in our own lives, what can we learn from Jesus here? It is impossible to unveil Jesus to the lost without sharing our lives with the lost.

There’s a pattern with Christians particularly in our context: when a person first becomes a Christian, they have this outpouring of evangelistic passion. They’ve come to know Jesus as the crowned King and they are utterly transformed, and they want to share it with all their friends who were just like them. When person becomes a Christian, they often bring people along with them. It happens all the time. But then what happens is, their connection to the unbelieving community grows weaker and weaker as their connection with the Christian community deepens and widens, until there is almost no meaningful interaction with unbelievers in their life.

Chances are I’ve just described a lot of us in this room. And listen, if that’s you - there’s no shame here, because you’re in good company, because chances are good that many of us have fallen into that pattern. But do you see how that pattern is incompatible with the way of Jesus? Jesus intentionally goes to the Jordan, to share with those who needed to repent, and he intentionally goes to the cross, to share with those who need to repent. He identifies with the broken in the world, and he calls for his followers to do the same.

So if we are going to unveil Jesus to the world, we’ve got to have a context in our lives where we have meaningful interactions with those who do not know Jesus. That may take a re-orienting our schedules. That may take a re-thinking of who we invite over for dinner on Fridays. But if we’re going to unveil Jesus to the world, we’ve got to have a context in our lives where we can have meaningful interaction with those who do not know Jesus. Because that’s the way of Jesus.

That’s the way of Jesus that we celebrate each and every week when we come to the table. We celebrate that Jesus has come for us, that he has taken the initiative on our behalf, that he has shown himself to be our King and our Savior and our greatest Hope. And so as we are sent out this morning, and remember what we say, “Let us go forth in the Name of Christ.” As we are sent out in the Name of Christ this morning, let us remember that he has been crowned the King and Savior, and let us pray for two things: 1) that we’d develop of posture that seeks above all to make much of Jesus in our daily lives and 2) that the Spirit would guide us to the right context for sharing our lives with the lost. As we go in the Name of Christ, let us unveil him to the world. Pray with me.