03/07/2022 – Day 008 – Matthew Chapters 03 & 04 commentary
Footnotes:
*A – “The Gospel of of Matthew by William Barclay
“It was the Jewish belief that Elijah would return before the Messiah came, and that he would be the herald of the coming King. ‘ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. (Malachi 4:5). John wore a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather belt around his waist. That is the very description of the raiment which Elijah had word (2 Kings 1: 8).
Matthew connects him with a prophecy from Isaiah (Isaiah 40: 3).” *A (pg 45) This Jewish belief in large part explains in our reading : “The Calling of the First Disciples” today later in Chapter 4: 18 -22. They follow Jesus immediately for at least a couple of the disciples have been following John the Baptist. They are connecting the dots, at least in this case.
So question Brothers: Why does Jesus need to be baptized? (3: 13 – 17)
Check this out: Readings for the Baptism of the Lord: Isaiah 42: 1-4, 6 -7 or Isaiah 55: 1-11 / Psalm 29: 1-2, 3-4 / Acts 10: 34 – 39 / Mark 1: 7 – 11
John calls out the Pharisees and Sadducees with “Your brood of vipers!…” And don’t count on being the seed of Abraham, a common malady for the nation of Israel.
Chapter 4 – “The Temptation of Jesus”
I have a movie recommendation, that I have mentioned before: “XL: THe Temptation of Christ”. I have the trailer here:
Here were my comments back on my 04/02/2021 post on this film:
And again, I still would like to immerse ourselves into a short review and small group study of “XL – The Temptation of Christ, a Faith Works Pictures. The scripture accounts are very short on the 40 day temptation of Jesus in the desert following his baptism and just before the start of His public ministry.
From that movie, one curiosity question to share would be: How aware was the devil of Jesus’ substitionary atonement on the cross to save us from death? Did he have any inkling that this was his demise, as certainly God had pronounced to him in the garden. Or not at all, even possibly cheering at his last breath and “It is finished!”. Any clue when the veil was torn from top to bottom in the Holy of Holies?
Soli Deo Gloria!