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Verse 9. "In those days," that is, in those days of John's ministry of:
- proclaiming, "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight;"
- proclaiming a baptism for the forgiveness of sins (instead of making the Biblically mandated sacrifices at the temple for the forgiveness of sins);
- proclaiming, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; ... he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (and who has ever done that before?)
That is, "in those days" of raised expectations that the long-desired Messiah who would save Israel from the Roman oppressor was on his way.
In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth. Say again! Nazareth! You gotta be kidding. Nothing and no one good has ever come from Nazareth!
But it is precisely in those days, from that Nazareth, that that Jesus came and was baptized by that John in that river Jordan. And it is precisely in that moment in that place in that way that the heavens are torn apart. The heavens are torn apart and the Spirit descends like a dove. Like the dove that once descended on the ark of Noah, bearing an olive branch as a sign that the devastation of the flood was over, foreshadowing the sign of the rainbow that God would never again use violence to redeem violence.
Like a dove the Spirit descended and a voice comes from heaven. A voice comes from heaven, "You are my Son. You are my beloved Son. You are my Beloved. With you I am well pleased." With you I am well pleased like the days of creation, when each day was a good day.
And so it is that that Jesus from that Nazareth is named God's Son; God's Beloved; the One in whom God is well pleased. That's pretty impressive.
But in the context of our Lenten journey, it is crucial to note the difference between the voice from Heaven on this day, and the voices of the crowd on Palm Sunday.
Today, the defining voice, the "Jesus, this is your identity voice," says, "You are my Child, my Beloved." Then, the voices of the crowd will make a subtle, but significant, distortion, "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming of the Kingdom of our ancestor David."
The same Spirit that came like a dove with blessings now comes like a storm and drives Jesus out into the wilderness - out into the wild - into the chaos - into the God-forsaken place - for forty days. For forty days tempted by Satan. Tempted by the snake in the Garden. Tempted by the wiliest snake. He was with wild beasts - like one of them? He was with wild beasts - and they do him no harm? He was with wild beasts and the angels waited on him. He was with wild beasts in the chaos of the wild being tempted by that wily snake and yet even here are angels; even here is NOT God-forsaken. The covenant with Noah has no conditions, no exceptions; even the God-forsaken places are places where God's angels are present and give aid.
"Now after John is arrested," in those days now, those days when the empire again exerts its unjust violent power to silence the proclamation of God's coming realm, in those new days of increased threat and peril, in those days, Jesus comes back to Galilee. Comes back to that Galilee, to that back water, nowhere place. Comes to Galilee with a new proclamation that is the fulfillment of John's forecast:
The time is fulfilled,
and the Kingdom of God has come near;
repent,
and believe the good news.
See my earlier note for comments on this proclamation by Jesus.
David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca
