The Holy Spirit decended like a dove... and alighted...on him: Jesus Baptism Temptation, Hovering Birds and The Abiding Presence of God by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:12-4:11, Acts 19:1-6)

I have experienced a lot of birds hovering over my head this summer, in particular Pied Stilts, or Poaka. On the ground or out on the mud flats they seem fragile, peaceful and almost whimsical. When they are in the air they are graceful, yet somewhat comical as they trail their long slender legs, which look out of proportion to their bodies. When they hover, they almost look like a ballerina… Up on her toes, wings like arms outstretched and their tail feathers forming a tutu.

But I didn’t know till this year they are very territorial.  When you walk towards them or walk anywhere near where they are nesting, they get aggressive. They take flight, hoover at a distance looking all innocent, squarking a warning, and then they swoop at you at great speed.  So close that a few times I felt the wind as they came past below head height. Think maverick buzzing the tower in the film “top gun”. They will keep on doing it till you go away. They will not rest till you are gone.

What does that have to do with the Bible passage that we are looking at today? What does it have to do with Jesus baptism and his temptation in the wilderness from Matthew’s gospel? Well with that experience of birds fresh in my mind… I read through the scripture and was about to put an image together  for the service today. A dove flying down, the one behind me which I found on the internet. It’s a great photo, but I stopped myself because while it was like all the other images and art work I’ve seen associated with Jesus baptism, the words of the scripture spoke to me. The Spirit of God descended like a dove and alighted on him. It didn’t just hover, it came to rest on Jesus, it didn’t remain in the air it landed and came to dwell in and with Jesus, and we have the declaration from Heaven “this is my Son, whom I love; with whom I am well pleased”.  

In the passage we had a look at last week, John the Baptist had said, that while I baptise with water the one who comes after me will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. In Jesus baptism we see that happen and start. The Holy Spirit comes and alights it doesn’t just hover, it alights on Jesus, It is what Jesus promised would happen with us, as we have turned to Jesus and been washed clean by his death and resurrection, the Spirit comes and alights on us it makes it home with us. The Artwork and images that are associated with Pentecost in Acts 2, have the tongues of fire being above the heads of each of the disciples, probably for dramatic effect, but the text says they came to rest on each of those gathered there, and as it came to rest they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in tongues and prophesy. Not out there, but in here with us.

I Sensed God say that I have that hover mentality when it comes to the Holy Spirit, God is near, with us even, so close that we can occasionally feel the wind… but out there… when the amazing truth is that the Holy Spirit rests with us, and dwells with us.   I tried to capture that in the image I did use for the service of a Kereru, wood pigeon that had alighted that was at rest. A Kereru because its as close as we get to a native dove in New Zealand, and in the Maori translation of the Bible  (Paipera Tapu) the word used for dove in Matthew 3 is Kῡkupa, which is another name for woodpigeon. It takes it from the there and then, first century Judea to the here and now twenty first century Aotearoa New Zealand. It’s at rest, its not hovering, its not in flight but has come to alight… in the Scripture the spirit alights on Jesus and promise of Jesus is the Spirit does on us as well. I want to explore that today.

But first let’s just go through the bible reading… 

Jesus comes to John the Baptist to be baptised, and John is reluctant to do it. He realises that like all of us he needs the baptism Jesus will bring, that indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that fire that will cleanse within as water washes the exterior. But Jesus insists. It is to fulfil all righteousness.

People often wonder why Jesus needed to be baptised, as we read in Acts 19, Paul says John’s baptism was for the forgiveness of sins. The theological question is why did Jesus need to be baptised for the forgiveness of sin? The first answer is that Jesus identifies with us in submitting to this Baptism, he is humbling himself before God, and identifying both with our need for forgiveness but also the other side of repentance as well that wanting to turn and to live out what it means for to be God’s people. Secondly  in Matthew 16 Jesus talks of his crucifixion as a baptism. His baptism here at the start of his ministry foreshadows that willingness to identify with us in death, so that our sins can be forgiven. Jesus is aware right from the start that the way of the Kingdom is obedience, service, and self-sacrificial love. In response we hear God’s affirmation “Here is my son, whom I love; with whom I am well pleased”, the Father acknowledges who Jesus is and his willingness to do God’s will, to fulfil his unique mission.

Then Matthew tells us that the Spirit leads Jesus off into the wilderness for forty days and nights to be tempted by the devil. Matthew as a first century Jew paints Jesus life as a fulfilment of the Old Testament, and with his baptism, its like Jesus passing through the red sea, leaving Egypt, the wilderness experience is where Israel were forged into God’s people. They faced different trials, and while they failed them, Jesus is able to be victorious. Jesus temptations reflect Israel’s, they have to do with identity and with trusting in God’s goodness. Will Jesus keep on being focused on the Kingdom of God.

The first temptation is can Jesus trust God for his needs, can he trust God to provide. It is the temptation of turning stones to bread. The Israelites seemed to complain at every turn about food and water, but Jesus quoting scripture says “man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” He will put God’s Kingdom First and trust God to take care for everything else as he tells his followers to do in the sermon on the mount.

The second temptation concerns can Jesus trust God with his security and his life? If you throw yourself off the temple height surely God will save you the devil says, this time even quoting scripture. Jesus responds with an affirmation of trust, “do not put God to the test.” When we later see Jesus face the cross it is with the great assurance that even if he is to suffer and die he can trust God to do what he has said. At the cross “into your hand’s do I comment my spirit”.

In the third temptation the devil offers Jesus all the nations of the world if he will but worship him. Jesus is aware that he is about the coming of the kingdom of God, God’s reign in the world, will he be tempted by this instant gratification, or be willing to trust in the way that God has planed the road of servanthood and self-sacrifice. Jesus again declares his trust in God “ it is written you shall worship the Lord, your God and serve him only.”

Each of these temptations challenges Jesus identity and his call and his trust in God. The same temptations Israel faced and we face. Jesus faces and triumphs in each temptation with the scripture and reaffirms his trust in God. The passage finishes with Angels coming and ministering to him. Satan is defeated, and Jesus now is prepared and ready for ministry and as we will see as we continue through the gospel.

With all that in mind I want to go back and focus on the abiding presence of God in the Holy Spirit, that rested, alighted on Jesus at his baptism, and that in Christ, as God promised, has alighted  and rests on us.

The first is like with Jesus, the presence of the Holy Spirit is a mark of our identity in Christ. John 1: 12 John says that all who believe in the word made flesh, in Jesus Christ are given the right to become the sons and daughters of God the most high’ the seal of that is that God’s spirit comes and dwells within us. In 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Paul says, Christ has anointed us with the Holy Spirit as a seal a sign that we belong to God. In Ephesians 1:14 the presence of the Holy Spirit is like a guarantee of our inheritance, AS God’s children.

The hovering birds were a sign that they were angry I had encroached on their territory and I was not welcome, the spirit lands and alights and rests on us to say we are  welcome… we belong… we journey  together.

Secondly, when we have a picture of the Holy Spirit hovering around, when we have wilderness experiences in our life it can lead to thinking that the Holy Spirit has left us… That God has flown the coup. Jesus temptation tells us otherwise. Just like with Jesus the spirt leads us into wilderness times, but does not leave us. It’s interesting that in Matthew the word for tempted in Greek means both attempting to lure away, but also it means tempered or tried, made stronger, or like a metal purified for use. It’s like in the book of Job, you get this dichotomy between the accuser, who wants to show that Job’s faith is false and God who allows Job’s faith to be tested because he knows it is strong and true. That God’s purpose in allowing our trials.

Jesus didn’t face his trials with his own superhuman strength rather Jesus as totally human faced them with the same resources that we have. God’s word and the presence of the Holy Spirit. AS a Jewish man Jesus would have been immersed in the scriptures of the Old Testament, these are the things that came to mind and allowed him to defeat the devil. In John 16 Jesus says that when the advocate, the trusted friend, another name for the Holy Spirit, comes he will teach us to remember all that Jesus has taught, and bring it to mind, often when we face temptation there is that small still voice that answers the luring whisper or shout.   Like Jesus we can trust God to provide for us, watch over us and lead us through the process to achieve his purposes for us.

It is the Holy Spirit that also leads us to those places where angels, divine or human, can minister to our needs in the midst of the long dry and hard periods in our life. 

Lastly it is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives that enables us to minister to others as well. We going to look at Jesus ministry in a couple of weeks. His teaching proclaiming and healing ministry. Jesus does those things in the strength and enabling of the Holy Spirit, and so do we. In our lives and action and reactions the abiding presence of Spirit enables us to witness to Jesus Christ and be ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. It’s not just that the Spirit turns up on special occasions. In Acts 19 the passage finishes with the believers in Ephesus speaking in tongues and prophesying. We can get sort of caught up in those manifestations. But remember in Acts speaking in tongues is always a sign of the Spirit’s presence and a sign that the Kingdom of God is for all people everywhere, it’s a sign that the mission of God is to all people. Prophesy is always linked to the presence of the Spirt it is peaking forth the word of God, it is the Spirit that enables us to do that.

Maybe I am bird brained and I easily forget, I forget the abiding presence of God by the Holy Spirit. I know that the devil who tempted Jesus wants to tempt us to forget and be like those people in Acts 19 who didn’t know there was a Holy Spirit, maybe to think “well it’s just for the birds!” But as I came to look at this passage, after a summer of birds, I found it encouraging, renewing and refreshing to be reminded that Jesus baptises  with the promised Holy Spirit,  that the Spirit does not just hover out there somewhere, an impersonal force,  but like with Jesus the Spirit of God  has come to alight… to rest… on all who have put their trust in Jesus Christ. I hope as we start of 2019 that is encouraging, renewing and refreshing for you. You are God’s beloved children and he has sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in and to fill you with the presence of his beloved son Jesus Christ, even in the deepest driest desert times,  to lead and to guide, to enable and empower, as a guarantee of our belong to God.  

Joseph and John's Story.. prepare us for Jesus (Matthew 2:19-3:12)

‘It’s a strange way to tell a story” that’s how Matt Woodley describes the way Matthew starts his gospel. It’s  not till the end of the third chapter of the story does the main character step centre stage. It’s not till chapter 3:15 that Jesus steps from the crowd and we hear him speak, then it is only “a quick line to his cousin, to explain his own baptism”, and in “the first half of chapter four it’s only three short lines this time… to the devil.” … In the desert…

In fact Matthew’s gospel starts off as Joseph’s story and John’s story, that’s John the Baptist. They are the focus… Jesus birth is told from Joseph’s perspective, the story tells of Joseph’s encounters with God, Joseph’s actions and reactions. John appears seemingly from nowhere, a voice crying in the wilderness, and sets the scene, calling people to get ready for the kingdom of heaven to prepare themselves for Jesus.

And it may seem a strange way to start the year. It’s like looking at the last part of Josephs story is unfinished business from before Christmas and the holidays. We had been going through Advent looking at the birth of Jesus in Matthew's gospel, We started with his whakapapa (genealogy), looked at his reaction to the angels message about Mary, talked about the three wisemen and Herod and we’d stopped like many do with Joseph andthe family fleeing to Egypt. But there is one more section of the story, one more God moment for Joseph, one more journey, that tells us about who Jesus is, and reinforces Joseph as a model for us of faith…of being prepared for Jesus.  

It is also getting us ready for the new year. AS we are going to be focusing in our services on Jesus teaching in the sermon on the mount. John acts as a sign post for us pointing us to the coming kingdom of heaven. Telling us about the heart attitude we need to adopt to hear and respond to Jesus the messiah and what he is going to say and do.

This may seem a strange way to start a sermon. commenting on Matthew's quirky literary style...  But let’s move on to look at Joseph’s story and John’s story and what they have to say to us about being Prepared to encounter Jesus. In the gospel and in our own lives.

Joseph had taken Mary and the child to Egypt. An angel had told them to do this, to escape from Herod’s massacre of male children under two. Now Herod is dead, Herod the great died in about 4BC. An angel again appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him it is now safe to return home, to go back to Israel, as those who are trying to kill the child are themselves dead. AS we have seen all the way through Joseph’s story, when he hears from God he obeys.  

In Judea Herod’s son Archelaus has come to power, and really its more of the same. Archelaus follows his fathers’ ruthless ways, however he does not have his father’s abilities when it comes to organisation and his reign is short lived. Again Joseph is warned, like his father Archelaus is a threat and there is danger. Joseph is warned to take Jesus and to go to the Galilee. Again he does what he is told and settles in a town called Nazareth. From Luke’s gospel we know that he and Mary had lived there before Jesus was born. However Matthew tells us that even this was in fulfilment of what the old testament prophets had said, that he would be called a Nazarene. Josephs action and all that happens here Matthew sees as being in fulfilment of the scriptures.

In all of Josephs story we find that Jesus identity is revealed to us through the names and titles he is given: The Messiah, the son of David and the son of Abraham. Jesus which means ‘God saves” Emmanuel which means “God with us”, this is God’s son. Now we see that in going to live in Nazareth he is also fulfilling a scripture and is also given the title of the Nazarene.

However, this title is a bit of an enigma, as Nazareth is not mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament. It could mean that Jesus was identified as a Nazarite like samson, but we know from Jesus life that he did not adhere to the stringent code for that… of not cutting his hair, abstaining from alcohol. Some have seen it as a play on words for the word which we translate branch in Isaiah 11:1 as in a branch from Jesse, a messianic title. But it is more likely that the term was one of disrespect and distain. Galilee and Nazareth were like saying someone was from Hamilton or from Gore, or even that little known place with the Maori sounding name… nowhere… NO W H E R E. It was seen as a backwater, a place where the pagans lived not a stronghold of Jewish thinking or religion. Here at the end of Joseph’s story we get a complete picture of who Jesus is, as it seems to fit in with the suffering servant in Isaiah 53, where the one who saves many is seen as coming from the wrongside of the tracks with nothing to attract us to him.

But how does this story prepare us for Jesus? well Joseph is an example for us of what it means to be a person of faith. Joseph is a man of great faith and builds his life around  Jesus. That is shown to us in that when he hears God’s word he obeys and puts it into action.. While we may at times hear God speak to us through a dream or a vision, or sense a messenger from God, the way in which most of us will hear God speak is through his word, the scriptures. Jesus at the end of his sermon on the mount will say to all who would follow him, if you love me you will hear my words and obey them. You will hear my teaching and put it into practise in your life, and Joseph is the example at the start of the gospel of someone with that faith, someone for the love of Jesus … does that. Matthew shows us the model of how we are to respond to Jesus right from the start.

Now let’s turn to John’s story. John calls the people of his day and his readers today to get ready for the coming of the kingdom of heaven. He calls them to have the kind of faith that Joseph shows us…

If the gospel was a movie their would be an ellipse between chapter 2 and 3. The screen would go dark for a while and we know by conversion that it was to denote the passing of time. Matthew tells us that ‘in those days, John the Baptist came”. In those days is used in the Old Testament to speak not of a date but an important time in history. John comes preaching in the wilderness calling people to repent for the ‘Kingdom of heaven has come near’.  AS Matthew paints A picture of John’s clothing and diet, to his first century Jewish readers they would understand that John is a prophet, they would note the similarities between him and Elijah, and to their minds would come the words of Malachi 4 of Elijah coming before the messiah… For us it’s a bit hard to hear John’s message without that picture of hellfire and brimstone preaching, that we associate with the word repent, and the picture of the wild eyed dishevelled man, with bugs and honey on his breath does not help, it’s a negative not a positive.

I found NT Wright helpful in being able to look past that. He says that the road, the water, the fire and the axe are four strong metaphors that prepare us for the real start of the Jesus story. He  likens John’s message to the declaration of a royal visit, and how we respond to that. John is after all the one who goes before like a herald with the good new that the king is coming.

The kingdom of heaven is not referring to the promise of eternity when we die, Heaven is used in Matthew’s Gospel as a substitute for the word God… Matthew as first century Jew would be reluctant to use God’s name so substitutes heaven the place where God reigns. The kingdom of heaven come near is the declaration that the long awaited rule and reign of God is coming near, as Wright puts it “the King is Coming”… get ready.

When we have a royal visit the first thing that happens is that the roads are made ready for them. I remember President Clinton coming for a summit in Auckland and the whole of the motorway from the airport into town was blocked off and watching on Tv fascinated as the motorcade swept into town  along the deserted roads.  I worked in the BNZ queen street when Charles and Princess Diane  first came to New Zealand, and they were going to do a walk about outside the bank. The ropes were up in the morning and the crowds built. You weren’t going to get any work done when they came…The traffic stopped, as we got ready for them. The passage quoted by Matthew from Isaiah 40 of make straight the way of the LORD, was a message of hope for the exiles coming home from Jerusalem, and as John tells of the Kingdom of God coming it is positive message that when the King comes the people will find freedom and liberty, justice and mercy and peace.

The another thing that happens when there is a royal visit is that there is a spring clean. I wonder what feverish activity would happen at your house if the queen were to let you she was coming to your place. I know there would be a lot of activity at our place, simply from what happens when the mother in law comes to visit… and yes I do like to live dangerously… The call to repent we see as a turning away from sin, but in scripture it is turn away from all the things that would distract you and come concentrate of the things of the king, of Christ. The spring clean the baptism calls us to wash away the stuff that would get in the way. For the Jewish people they knew what the king required of them and so as they got ready for the king they confessed those things and were baptised for forgiveness. Baptism was a ritual that was reserved for the gentiles who converted to Judaism, it was a way of signifying that they were cleansing themselves. But John was baptising Jews and The baptism of John, has to do with the forgiveness of sins, but also with identifying with God’s people again. Spring clean putting it all in order to be ready for the royal visitor.

We live in a town house, but I know that if we had a royal visitor coming there would be some gardening that needed to be done as well. John says that because the king is coming there is going to have to be some gardening done as well. The metaphor for Israel in Isaiah is that of God’s vineyard, and John says that as the king is coming the trees that do not bear fruit will be cut down with the axe. John applies that to two groups. The pharisees and the Sadducees that had come to John’s Baptism. It is ambiguous if these groups were coming to be baptised or coming to simply check out what was going on.

The pharisees were a group within the Judaism of the day who believed strongly in keeping the letter of the law, of external observance, it resulted in them having a real sense of pride in themselves a distain for others and a dependence on their own goodness before God. They believed that their heritage as sons of Abraham put them in a privileged position before God. John dismisses that by saying that God can raise up descendants of Abraham from the very stones.  Here is a foreshadowing of what will happen in Christ where you and I are adopted into be sons and daughters of Abraham, through Christ. John’s challenge to them is to show fruit worthy of repentance, that their lives should reflect a change from the inside.

The Sadducees were a smaller group in the religion of the day, they were mainly based round the temple and they focused on the rituals of the temple, and John as well says to them that rituals without the relationship behind them, will not bear fruit… when the King comes these things will be removed. Only the trees that bear fruit will remain.

John speaks of the one who comes after him will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The Holy spirit speaks of the fact that because of Christ his life and his death and resurrection, the king not only comes to visit but to dwell with in us by the Holy Spirit. The fire speaks of purifying, the rubbish being burned away but the great harvest and good stuff being keep, while its not used here you get the idea of a precious metal being made ready for the use of the king as well.

Joseph and John’s story call us to be prepared to encounter Jesus. In the gospel as after this strange start he steps into the story, and in our lives as we meet Christ in the scriptures as we read them and they are illuminated by the spirit within us, as we are aware of Christ’s abiding loving presence with us. We prepare ourselves for the kingdom of heaven by being willing to be open and ask what road needs straightening? What fire needs to be lit? what rubbish cleared away? What dead trees need to be cut down? And with the love and faith that joseph had for Jesus, hear God’s word and being willing to put it into practise. The kingdom of heaven has drawn near, the King has come…you are loved and welcomed into the Kings family … let’s be ready.