In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’* 3This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.” ’4Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
The first thing I want to check is how Matthew makes editorial changes to Mark. In this text, the most striking change is that Matthew puts Jesus' Markan speech (Mark 1: 15), or at least part of it, into the mouth of John the Baptist: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come hear." (Secondly, in a minor change, the punctilious Matthew removes the Malachi part of Mark's quotation from Isaiah.)
Third, and most tellingly, Matthew removes Mark's description of John's baptism--"a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins"--and says simply that John baptized people who also confessed their sins. For Matthew, forgiveness of sins comes only through Jesus. Forgiveness is through the eucharist (26:28), and not from John's baptism.
Fourth, Matthew adds that not only did people go to John from Jerusalem and Judea, but also "the region along the Jordan" as well. For Matthew, John's appeal is extended northward, even to Samaria, perhaps even to Galilee.
One wonders at Matthew's insertion of the "region along the Jordan." Is Matthew recalling the Canaanite resistance, over 1000 years earlier, to the encroachment of the Hebrews from the wilderness? Matthew will explicitly use the word "Canaanite" in the story of the "Canaanite woman" in 15: 21-28. In doing so, he is using a word associated with an ancient enemy of Israel, one that hadn't been used for hundreds of years. Is his inclusion of the "region along the Jordan" a signal that the "kingdom of heaven" includes even Canaanites and--gasp!--the Samaritans who currently live in that region?
John is presented as a prophetic figure, dressed like Elijah (2 Kings 1: 8), an association that Matthew will repeat in 11:14 and 17: 11-13. That he ate a diet of "locusts and wild honey" means that he received his sustenance directly from God as did the Hebrews when they wandered in the wilderness after the Exodus.
But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
With verse 7, Matthew switches from Mark to Q as his primary source. Luke is word-for-word the same, except that, in Luke, John addresses "the multitudes," while in Matthew, John addresses the "pharisees and Sadducees."
The appearance of Jesus' primary opponents enter Matthew's gospel as paired together. Historically, there were several prickly points of contention between Pharisees and Sadducees. They will be united, however, in their opposition of Jesus, and, in true John fashion, he lets them have it.
They are claiming special privilege because they "have Abraham as (their) father." They are, in other words, Chosen People through their hereditary connection to Abraham. In the "kingdom of heaven," on the other hand, all claims to special status are subverted. The "kingdom of heaven," which is to come "on earth" (6:10), is about loving of enemies (6: 44)--Canaanites!?--which is how people become "children of (their) Father in heaven" (6:45).
Claiming special status as Chosen People based on one's lineage through Abraham is countered with being a child of God, which claims no special status, and is marked by love towards outsiders. This clash between hereditary privilege and the equality of all in the "kingdom of heaven" is a central conflict in the synoptic gospels, and is expanded upon further in John's gospel--evidence, incidentally, that the author of John's gospel knew Mark.
John the Baptist tells the pharisees and Sadducees to "bear fruit worthy of repentance." "Fruit" is an important image in the New Testament, and particularly in Matthew. To paraphrase: "Show that you've really changed (metanoias) by acting differently in the world." Conversely: "If you don't, you're going into the fire."
11 ‘I baptize you with* water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with* the Holy Spirit and fire. 12His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’
The very early church was careful to make clear that John was subordinate to Jesus. John appears to have been well-known throughout the region. Herod Antipas knew of him. The crowds, and Herod, even confused Jesus with John the Baptist come back from the dead.
This may have been a sensitive point in the early church. That Jesus was baptized by John is attested by all four gospel writers, though John can't quite bring himself to mention the actual baptism. The early church, therefore, had to deal with the fact that Jesus entered into public ministry as something of a follower of the Baptist. The gospel writers always affirm a connection between John and Jesus, provided it is understood that John is the lesser figure.
There were, of course, a number of similarities between the two. Both were preachers, both preached repentance, both were mavericks, both were connected with wilderness. Where John is a stationary figure located in the wilderness, Jesus travels throughout the region. People come to John, in other words, while Jesus goes to the people.
The "winnowing-fork" of verse 12 should be translated as "winnowing shovel" (ptuon). The verse is not about separating out the wheat from the chaff, as it commonly supposed, but rather "shoveling" up the wheat and the chaff together. Thus far, John has the ministry of Jesus exactly right. Jesus will gather both the wheat and the chaff.
Where he gets it wrong is in saying that Jesus will save the wheat and burn up the chaff. That is not what Jesus would do, and here is where Jesus advances beyond John. This appears to confuse John, and later, in chapter 11, he will wonder if Jesus is really the one to come. Jesus responds with the very definition of "fruit":
‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers* are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. 6And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’
Maybe it's a good cop/bad cop kind of thing that reflects a tension that runs through Matthew's gospel. Matthew, more than any other gospel, is concerned about "righteousness"-- repentance, right action, bearing fruit--and the punishment that awaits those who don't get it or do it. At the same time, Matthew undermines that same position as often as he affirms it. Only Matthew tells the story of the Laborers in the Vineyard with its radical vision of universal equality.
John represents one side of the argument, the punishment that awaits those who don't get it right. This is a judgment that Matthew calls us to take seriously. This judgment, however, is trumped--and soundly trumped--by the ministry of Jesus wherein the unloveable are loved, the outcasts accepted, and sinners party with God.
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