From Malachi to Matthew

From Malachi to Matthew

Malachi 3:1-4

Matthew 3:1-17

            The Bible leaves a huge gap between Malachi and Matthew.  What happened during these years?  We know that several empires conquered tiny Judah.  Israel had all but disappeared before the Babylonian captivity, but Judah remained. Much diminished in stature in the Middle East, Judah had the misfortune to lie at a crossroads.  Nations wishing to expand southward towards Egypt had to pass through—indeed, pass over—Judah, a task which wasn’t difficult. 

            Judah had periods of freedom.  The Maccabees led revolts against their overlords and threw off the yoke of bondage, but it was relatively short-lived.  As soon as one conqueror left, another moved in.  Judah knew very little peace in the almost 700 years between the prophecies of Malachi and the events of Matthew.

            The culmination of these events was Judah’s conquest by Rome, whose rule was particularly oppressive.  The Romans wanted those they had defeated to understand their place in the order of things—at the bottom.  Revolt was put down quickly and cruelly.  The empire intended that no one would ever forget who was in charge.  Their rule was absolute.

            Malachi said, “Behold I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me.  And the Lord whom ye seek will suddenly come to his temple.”  So Judah hoped and waited all those years.  Who would this messenger be?  Was it one of the Maccabees?  No, for they had their day on  stage and were gone.  Was it the Messiah, whom Isaiah had promised?  What would he be like?  Would he come at the head of an army of angels?  Micah had said the Lord would suddenly come to his temple.  Would he arrive on a cloud?  In an instant?

            Micah had been short on these details, but he did promise retribution.  The messenger would be a refiner’s fire and a cleansing agent.  He would change the priesthood, making it as pure as fine gold or silver.  Many would not be able to stand in his presence, or endure his judgments.  But when—when would he come?

            Surely the messenger would come now.  How could things get any worse?  Could any captors be more hateful and hated than the Romans?  If ever a nation wanted a deliverer, it was Judah in the first century BCE.

            And the messenger came.  He was from the tribe of Levi, for his father Zechariah was a priest.  He preached repentance, and offered baptism for the remission of sins.  But what a creature he was!  Living in the wilderness, and dressing in weird clothing, eating a diet not fit for civilized people—this couldn’t possibly be the messenger Micah had promised!

            Yet people flocked to hear his preaching and be baptized by him in the muddy Jordan River.  Not much more than a creek, the river was not the place to take a cleansing bath.  And yet the people came to hear him and respond to his message.

            But what was he saying?  “I am not the one you’re looking for.  I’m only the messenger of the messenger.  There’s another one coming who is far greater than I.  If you think my message is difficult, wait till you hear his.”

Then Jesus stood among them.  The Lord had come—not to the  temple, but to his temple.  Jesus had come bringing a message of hope and of peace—not to conquer, to throw off the Roman yoke, but to end the oppression of sin, to exchange its yoke for his own.  Not to bring outward peace, but to bring the peace which dwells within those who commit to serving him. Micah’s prophecy had been fulfilled.  God’s messenger had come.