On Matthew 3:1 through Matthew 3:3

It's early in the morning on Christmas Eve, Anno Domini Two Thousand Eighteen.  I am awake because I'm always awake at a very early hour.  If not for the holiday, I'd be making my lunch and getting ready for work.  The holiday will afford me some extra writing opportunity, and I'm grateful for this.

I cannot wait to get to the part of this study in which we are reading and talking about the actual words of Christ.  I want you to know that the anticipation is killing me.  I derive an increasing amount of joy from my limited knowledge of The Man's words, and feel increasingly compelled to share those words with you.

Part of me wants to just skip to the red-letters, leaving the rest by the way.  That part of me I call "weakness."  Weakness is the bigger part of me, but I will not give in to it, on this single occasion.  All things must come in their due time, and they will come soon enough.

Until then, we will continue dancing around The Man and his delightful words.

You'll recall that, a few weeks ago, we read some of The Book of Acts.  We focused on Acts Chapter 2, wherein we saw "The Birth of the Church," learned of Peter's fiery Pentecost Sermon, and read the first words in the whole Bible that describe what it means to live a Christian life.

Let's reiterate those first words about Christian life from Acts, Chapter 2:

42 They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. 

43 Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 

44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 

45 they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need. 

Please note that the first Christians appear to live a Stateless, voluntary-communal life.  Please note that the first Christians do not appear to believe in property.

These are deep and historically rare philosophical and political concepts.

Please note the difference between this philosophy and that of the modern American so-called Christian.

The Book of Acts says more, so today we'll explore it a little more.  My interests have been piqued, as should yours have been.

I would call your attention to Acts, Chapter 4.

32 The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. 

33 With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. 

34 There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, 

35 and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need. 

Wow.

"The community of believers was of one heart and mind?!"

"There was no needy person among them?!"

"...To each according to need?!"

Are we reading The Bible, or some kind of modern ultra-left political theory?

The narrative continues in Chapter 5 with God killing a husband and wife who conspired to enter the Christian community under false pretenses.  When they sold the land they owned and gave the money to the community, they secretly set some of the money aside for themselves.

God literally just snatches the life right out of the husband and wife for this transgression!

It is truly a wild scene.  Here, from Acts, Chapter 5:

1 A man named Ananias, however, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. 

2 He retained for himself, with his wife’s knowledge, some of the purchase price, took the remainder, and put it at the feet of the apostles. 

3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you lied to the holy Spirit and retained part of the price of the land? 

4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain yours? And when it was sold, was it not still under your control? Why did you contrive this deed? You have lied not to human beings, but to God.” 

5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon all who heard of it. 

6 The young men came and wrapped him up, then carried him out and buried him. 

7 After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, unaware of what had happened. 

8 Peter said to her, “Tell me, did you sell the land for this amount?” She answered, “Yes, for that amount.” 

9 Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen, the footsteps of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 

10 At once, she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men entered they found her dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 

11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

You don't want to cross Peter, I guess.  Or, more to the point, you don't want to cross Jesus.

Acts presents even further evidence of the Stateless nature of the very first Christians.  Later in Chapter 5, we see the Apostles locked in jail for preaching in the name of Jesus and for performing "signs and wonders."  They escape from jail and head to The Temple in the morning to keep preaching.  The Sanhedrin - the high court of the Jewish people and client to the might of Rome - round up the apostles and question them sternly.

I love this part.  They tell Peter and the apostles, in Acts Chapter 5, Verse 28:

“We gave you strict orders [did we not?] to stop teaching in that name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and want to bring this man’s blood upon us.”

Peter and the boys reply simply, in Verse 29:

"We must obey God rather than men."

Boom.  There it is.  "We must obey God rather than men."

By the "rather than" phrasing, we can deduce that obeying God and obeying men are thought to be totally exclusive of one another.  One takes the place of the other.  They cannot exist together.

So...

The very very first Christians, the ones who actually knew Jesus, felt that it was their charge to reject human authority outright, and to replace it with the authority of God, which they had understood through the teachings of their recently executed leader.

Wow.

What are we reading?!

That's right, my friends.  Welcome to The New Testament.

If the modern American so-called Christians knew about this stuff, they'd have to find a new book to swear on.

Now, Matthew, Chapter 3.

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Matthew 3:1 through Matthew 3:3

1 In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea 

2 [and] saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 

3 It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:

“A voice of one crying out in the desert,

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight his paths.’”

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Perhaps one of my favorite little lines of text from all of the Gospels is this "a voice of one crying out in the desert."  There is a poetry to it that takes me away. I love it, and digress.

Finally, The Baptist appears on the scene.  

Who is this "John the Baptist" guy?  

If you'll recall, this is the guy that some scholars believe was an Essene, the ascetic sect of Jews that had left Jerusalem and rejected the mainstream for a life of celibacy and ritual bathing.

Why do some people believe John the Baptist was an Essene?  Because, like the Essenes, he appears in The Gospel having rejected the mainstream, as we meet him preaching out in the desert.  He offers a baptism (Greek for "dunking"), while the Essenes bathed daily in order to maintain ritual purity.  He lives ascetically, as did the Essenes.  His cosmos center around an eschatology, as did that of the Essenes.

It is safe to say that, of the sects of Judaism existing at the time, John had most in common with The Essenes.  However, it won't prove exceptionally important to nail down John's sectual identity* at the moment.  That's more of a scholarly dalliance, although we will get to it eventually.  

The point we don't want to miss here is that we've just met perhaps the only guy in The Gospel that Jesus gives any deference to.  Jesus will, in fact, be baptized by this man.  If John can bestow blessings upon Jesus in the form of a baptism, then he must be, at least in some sense, more than Jesus.

We want to pay attention to The Baptist.  He preaches.  Crowds gather on the shores of the Jordan to hear him and be baptized by him.  I am giddy with anticipation.

Until next time, my friend.

Love

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* Seven years of this and you are going to get tired of this joke's many variants.  I'm sorry.  I will try to keep it at a minimum.

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