FRAY REY JAY Y.

QUEVEDO, OAR
SYNOPTIC AND ACTS
Exegesis on Matthew

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS (Matt. 3:13-17)

13. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.

This scene marks the beginning of Jesus’ public life. Coming from Galilee, he joins the crowd
of repentant sinners to be baptized by John at the Jordan.

14. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to
me?”

Unique to Matthew records the interchange between John and Jesus that precedes Christ’s
baptism. John objects to Jesus being baptized, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you
are coming to me?” John acknowledges his subordinate role in relation to Christ – something he
already spoke in the earlier verses 3:11. John’s baptism is only with water and for repentance,
Johns sought the need to be baptized by the one who “who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and
fire”. John is uncomfortable with the reversal of the role that someone who is mightier wishes to
join with the sinners.1

15. Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fill all righteousness.”
Then, he allowed him.

Jesus tells John, “Allow it now”. This appears to be an inversion of their proper roles, it should
be permitted because “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” The word righteousness
often refers to the moral conduct of the Christian disciple being obedient to God. Christ’s
baptism becomes the occasion for his anointing as the Messiah-king and the confirmation of his

1
Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri, The Gospel of Matthew (United States: Baker Academy, 2010), 69.
divine sonship. During the baptism, Matthew reports a heavenly vision and voice. This event at
Jordan River recalls the commissioning of the prophet Ezekiel by the river Chebar. Like Jesus,
Ezekiel came in a time of sufferings for God’s people (Ez. 1.1), and he was beside a river when
“the heaven opened” and he was a heavenly vision, heard the voice of God, and received the
Spirit (Ez. 1:1;2:1-2). Jesus, like Ezekiel of old, is being commissioned as prophet to Israel in a
new period of crisis.

16. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened
[for him], and he saw the Spirit of God descending like dove [and] coming upon him.

The Spirit of God coming upon him. This is not the first time Matthew used the Spirit. It was
used when he said that the Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit. This marks the crucial life of
Jesus just as in the Old Testament the Lord powerfully came to the King of Israel at the time of
their anointing. Samuel told Saul that a sign of his being the anointed king of Israel would be the
coming of the Spirit (1 Sam 10:6). David (1 Sam 16:13).

The descending like a dove recalls Noah’s dove that signaled the end of the flood and the
beginning of the new world. (Gen 8:8-12). It also recalls the Spirit of God over the waters of
creation in Gen 1:2 where Spirit is described as “hovering” or “fluttering” over the waters like a
bird.

17. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well
pleased.”

The voice from heaven is God’s voice (Gen 15:4; Deut 4:36; Dan 4:31) which reveals Christ’s
divine sonship: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”2 These solemn words
contain several Old Testament allusions that shed light on Christ’s identity and mission. First, it
echoes Is. 42:1 in which it says “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I
am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations”. This

2
O. Lamar Cope, “Matthew: A Scribe Trained for the Kingdom of Heaven” in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
Monograph Series 5(Washington, DC: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1976), 36.
servant will restore Israel and bring salvation to the ends of the earth echoes in Isaiah 49:5-6
“For now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb, that Jacob may
be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him; And I am made glorious in the sight of the
LORD, and my God is now my strength! It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise
up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” This can be done by accomplishing
through the suffering as he offers his life for sin in Isaiah 53. Second, beloved Son recalls Isaac.
(Gen 22:2) To be offered (Gen 22:1-12) recognized as the temple mount in Jerusalem: 2 Chron
3:1. Third, an echoing of Ps 2:7, in which God addressed the newly enthroned King, “You are
my son; this day I have begotten you”.3

3
Mitch and Sri, The Gospel of Matthew, 70.