16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” -Matthew 3:16-17
This has to be one of my favorite texts in the entire Bible. It does quite a few things that affirm who Jesus was claimed to be and His connection to God. There are actually two connections being made from Jesus to God. First, the text is making it clear that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is connected to God through a divine relationship. God conceived and birthed Jesus from the beginning. The other connection made is actually best seen in Luke’s retelling of this exceptional event. As soon as Luke reports the fact that Jesus was baptized, he goes into Jesus of Nazareth’s entire genealogy. Here is the second connection. Not only is Jesus connected to God through divine means, but also through human means as well. It was prophesied that the Messiah would come from the lineage of King David. Luke actually traces Jesus back to Adam, the first human that God created. Matthew, appealing to his mainly Jewish audience, feels that linking Jesus to Abraham is quite sufficient. What the authors are doing for their audience is making this plain and simple. Jesus is the real Son of God and He is fully human and fully divine. His entire life from this point on will be helping those who choose to follow to pursue God with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength.
The importance of this text cannot be more implicit. The fact that this is the only place in scripture where God the father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all together at the same time evokes a second, third, fourth, and one hundredth look. God, while being one has projected himself three ways to His people and in every way God is pursuing ALL people.
This has to be one of my favorite texts in the entire Bible. It does quite a few things that affirm who Jesus was claimed to be and His connection to God. There are actually two connections being made from Jesus to God. First, the text is making it clear that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is connected to God through a divine relationship. God conceived and birthed Jesus from the beginning. The other connection made is actually best seen in Luke’s retelling of this exceptional event. As soon as Luke reports the fact that Jesus was baptized, he goes into Jesus of Nazareth’s entire genealogy. Here is the second connection. Not only is Jesus connected to God through divine means, but also through human means as well. It was prophesied that the Messiah would come from the lineage of King David. Luke actually traces Jesus back to Adam, the first human that God created. Matthew, appealing to his mainly Jewish audience, feels that linking Jesus to Abraham is quite sufficient. What the authors are doing for their audience is making this plain and simple. Jesus is the real Son of God and He is fully human and fully divine. His entire life from this point on will be helping those who choose to follow to pursue God with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength.
The importance of this text cannot be more implicit. The fact that this is the only place in scripture where God the father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all together at the same time evokes a second, third, fourth, and one hundredth look. God, while being one has projected himself three ways to His people and in every way God is pursuing ALL people.
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