Gospel (Mt 3:13-17)
13 In Then Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized by him.
14 John tried to deter him, saying: "I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?". 15 But Jesus said, "Leave it for now, it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
16 newly baptized, Jesus came out of the water: and behold, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said: "These is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. "
In Jesus' baptism practiced many religious sects. The ceremony had many meanings, but one was especially important with the dive indicated the death of an individual (his past life was erased, as if it were dragged away by the current) and with the emergence occurred the birth of a new man to whom, of course, was given a new name. John
accomplish this ceremony to accommodate those who wanted to be part of his disciples. Baptizing those who decided to change his life to prepare for the coming of the Messiah, announced as imminent. The first condition was to be baptized themselves as sinners, that is why the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who considered themselves righteous and without sin, not felt the need (Luke 7.30).
If this was the meaning of the baptism of John, do not understand why Jesus has received, he did not have to change his life and his action would suggest that John's was higher. To clarify this difficulty, many felt among the first Christians, Matthew introduces the episode dialogue between the Baptist, who refuses to baptize one superior to him, and Jesus who insists he is fulfilled "all righteousness". John has to adapt and cooperate in the implementation of the plan of salvation of God (is this "justice"), even if he would raise mysterious and incomprehensible (vv. 14-15).
Even a spiritually mature person like John the Baptist has difficulty accepting the Messiah of God, is surprised when he sees the saint, the right flank to those sinners who, according to the logic of men, should be destroyed.
It is the new, baffling "justice" of God is the "justice" of the man who "wants all men to be saved" (1 Timothy 2:4). The author of Hebrews will call this consoling truth in moving terms: Christ is not ashamed to call "brothers" sinful men (Hebrews 2:11).
is an invitation to the Christian communities today, to see those attitudes which transpire from arrogance, conceit, self-congratulation for their own righteousness, and correct language that may lead to the idea that is meant to judge, condemn, exclude those who did wrong or are mistaken.
After this introduction, the original, also Matthew, like Mark and Luke, describing the scene later with three images: the opening of the heavens, the dove, the voice from heaven. It is not remembering where he personally witnessed miraculous events. It uses images familiar to his readers and the meaning is not hard to grasp even for us.
start opening of the sky.
is not meteorological information. It is not that the clouds are dense and dark, filtered and suddenly a bright ray of sunshine. If so, Matthew would have reported a trivial detail, and of no interest to our faith. He is alluding to, explicitly, to a text of the Old Testament, a passage from the prophet Isaiah that we need to call.
In recent centuries before Christ, the people of Israel had the feeling that the sky had closed . Outrage at the sins and unfaithfulness of his people, God had withdrawn into his world, had stopped sending prophets and seemed to have broken any dialogue with the man. The pious Israelites were wondering: when will end this silence so that we fear? The Lord will not return to speak to us, no longer show his face serene, as in ancient times? Invoking it this way: "Lord, thou art our Father and we are the clay and you the one who gives us the form, we all are the work of your hands. Do not fret too much, not always to remember our iniquities ... Ah, if you would rend the heavens and come down "(Is 64.7-8, 63.19).
stating that, with the beginning of Jesus' public life, the heavens are torn , Matthew gives his readers a surprising news: God has heard the cry of his people, the sky has opened not close again and again. It's over for ever the enmity between heaven and earth. The door of the house of the Father eternally remain wide open for accommodate every child who wants to enter, no one will be excluded.
The second image is that of the dove .
Matthew does not say that a dove came down from heaven, this would also be a banal and superfluous detail, but that Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending from heaven like a dove and alighting on him. " The Baptist
certainly remember that fell from heaven, not only the manna, but also decreased the water destroying the Flood (Genesis 7:12), fire and brimstone which burned Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19.24) . You probably expect the coming of the Spirit as a consuming fire of the wicked. Jesus sits on the Spirit like a dove instead: is all tenderness, affection, kindness. Moved by the Spirit, Jesus comes near to sinners always el'amabilità the sweetness of the dove.
The dove was the symbol of attachment to its nest. If the evangelist is thinking of this appeal, then he wants to tell us that the Spirit of Jesus look like a dove seeking its nest. Jesus is the temple where the Spirit finds its permanent home.
The third picture: the voice from heaven .
was an expression often used by the rabbis when they wanted to give a statement to God. In our story is intended to define, in the name of God, the identity of Jesus
The song was composed after the events of Easter in response to questions raised by the disciples in the ignominious death of the Master. In their eyes, he seemed a loser, an outcast and abandoned by the Lord. His enemies, guardians and guarantors of the purity of the faith of Israel, had condemned as blasphemous. The disturbing question was: Did God shared this sentence?
the Christians of his community, Matthew reports the proceedings of the Lord with a phrase that alludes to the three texts of the Old Testament.
- This is my son. The recall is 2.7 Ps. Semitic culture in the end only son did not indicate the generation organic, it also implied the assertion of a similarity. In presenting Jesus as his son, God guarantees to recognize in him, in his words, his works and, above all, in his supreme act of love: the gift of life. Who wants to know the Father only has to contemplate that this son.
- The beloved . The reference is to the account of evidence which was submitted to Abraham, he was asked to offer his son Isaac, the only one, the beloved (Gen 22,2.12.16). By applying this title to Jesus, God invites us to consider not a king or a prophet like others, he is, like Isaac, the only one, the beloved.
- in whom I am well pleased . We already know that this expression is in the first verse of today's reading (Isaiah 42:1). God declares that Jesus is the servant of which you spoke the prophet, he is the one sent to "establish law and justice in the world. To fulfill this mission life will offer.
The voice from heaven then spotlight the court ruled by men, and denies the Messianic expectations of the people of Israel who could not conceive of a messiah humiliated, defeated and executed. When the high priest's house, Peter swore he would not know this man, after all he was telling the truth, could not recognize him as the Messiah: it is not in any way the expected savior. The way God fulfilled his promise was for all, including the Baptist, a surprise.
Commenting on the Gospel of the Feast of the Holy Family, we said that Matthew is usual to point to similar traits of Jesus and Moses. In the passage today of a new call to find this parallel: Moses received God's spirit when, along with all the people left the waters of the Red Sea. That divine power enabled him to lead the Israelites through the desert to the promised land. Even Jesus received the Spirit after exiting the water, and then, together with the slaves of evil men, undertook the journey to freedom.
Fernando Armellini (biblical scholar)
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