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.
Thank you, from Southern CA, USA
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