Holy Boldness

message would echo many of John’s themes and emphasis. Jesus recog nized that John was carrying the torch of the current move of God in Israel and He followed him. 3. By submitting to John’s baptism, Jesus also embraced the message of John. John’s message was radical and disruptive. He called for Israel itself to repent in preparation for “He who is coming” (Matt: 3:11). Secondly, John challenged any national presumption against the threat of judgment. No one could say that they were “sons of Abraham” and avoid scrutiny. Thirdly, John called out the hypocrisy of the religious leadership of Israel. All the people were equally subject to the coming kingdom. He issued a call to repentance that required a change of lifestyle to be legitimate. “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” (Matthew 3:8). And finally, it insinuated that the judgment of God was already initiated in Israel. “The ax is already laid at the root of the trees…” ( v. 10) 4. Matthew’s account states that John was uncomfortable baptiz ing Jesus. He too recognized authority and he saw Jesus for who He was. He had already declared that “one is coming whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” When Jesus came to be baptized, John tried to dissuade Jesus exclaiming, “I should be baptized by you!” (In the original Greek text the pronouns “I” and “you” are emphatic.) But Jesus answered, “Permit it as befitting all righteousness.” (The meaning of this phrase will be discussed below.) 5. Jesus was fully cooperating with, and by cooperating also en dorsing, what God was doing in the present moment. He was out to do His father’s will. And the father’s will at present was not to exalt Jesus’s ministry but to operate through John. In a short time, all this would change. Things would transition from John’s leadership to Jesus’. But at the present moment, God was working with John at the helm. Even Je sus had to submit to the leadership of the present movement. Of course, Jesus’ ministry would far surpass John’s. But at the moment when Jesus came on the scene, he did not take over. He submitted to the baptism of John. 6. There were several reasons why Jesus might not have been bap tized had he been rationalizing the implications. Did he really want to be one of those who were baptized for the remission of His sins? Wasn’t that what John’s invitation was about? It seems contradictory for the savior of the world to be baptized along with the sinful. But Jesus was not think-

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