The first day

Matthew 3

As I write this, the music of Spring is piping outside my window. The performer has perched herself in a tree by my window and the heavenly bird-song provides a divine sound-track for this chapter as I read. I imagine the day here described was filled with just as much music and sunshine!

C.H. Spurgeon wrote: “It is pleasant to pass over a country after a storm has spent itself; to smell the freshness of the herbs after the rain has passed away, and to not the drops while they glisten like purest diamonds in the sunlight. That is the position of the Christian . . .” As he continues, the imagery brings the rain into a downpour, then a storm, then an outright hurricane! He closes, “O sinner, when wilt thou hide thy head, or whither will thou flee? O, that the hand of mercy may now lead you to Christ!”

John the baptizer came along not as the rainstorm that ruins everyone’s parade, preaching repentance and the coming King, but he came as liquid sunshine that nourished dry and dying roots. He called people to come to the water, to publicly proclaim their changed hearts, to state bodily their decision to hear and obey God.

The baptizer’s words in 3:7 do seem odd when you look at them. I picture a large tangle of snakes, threading over each other, racing from a raging fire. How do they know to flee? How do sinners know to flee wrath? Fleeing requires turning the back. One runs from fire by giving his back to the heat. This is what John means when he says that repentance is fruitful. Turn your back on the wrath to come—now you’re getting somewhere!

I wonder what Jesus was thinking this day. I wonder if he softly paced his way down the road and “excused me” softly through the crowd to the shore; or, did He run full tilt down the road and show up breathless on the back, searching for John. I wonder if the event occurred as pastorally as we picture or have seen it in art.

Whatever the emotion, Jesus came from Galilee. I have no doubt it was an exciting day, a real “thumper.” This was to be the first day of ministry. The day in which He would declare publicly His obedience to God. This is the day Jesus must have said, “Today, I get to be filled with the Holy Spirit!”

There was a commercial for a cereal I think, where this guy went through his daily routine and at every moment said, “I lowered my cholesterol.” He says it in the drive-thru, answering the phone, passing by meetings in offices (like he still had a job at the end of the day), walking past people in the hall, even in the elevator.

I wonder if Jesus rolled out of bed that day thinking, “I get filled with the Holy Spirit today.” I wonder if he made up a tune for these words and whistled it down the street, perhaps sang it out when purchasing some breakfast from a market vendor. I know this may be a bit much, but I don’t think he was depressed about it: “C’mon. Let’s get this over with" and kicked cans down the street.

Spurgeon helps us to imaging how the Holy Spirit came that day: rapidly, quietly, purely. He came softly, as the wings of a dove are soft. He came bringing peace that reigns when He comes in power. He came gently, harmlessly, not as a bird of prey. The Spirit came in love. And Jesus loved it.