Deuteronomy: The Sequel

Homily for Sunday, December 4, 2022
The Second Sunday of Advent
Matthew 3:1–12

Whether you like to watch Duck Dynasty or Downton Abbey, whether your television tastes are Ozark or Outer Banks, whether you like Star Trek or Star Wars, we all like a sequel; we all like to know what happens next.  The Gospel of Matthew, from which we heard this morning and from which we will hear for the bulk of the coming year, is a sequel; it tells what happens next.  And this morning I do not want to begin with Matthew but rather with what is arguably its main “prequel,” the book of Deuteronomy, in particular Deuteronomy chapter 18.  In Deuteronomy chapter 18 Moses offers a messianic prediction that differs from those of other Old Testament books.  Rather than (like other Old Testament books) imagine a messiah who is a king, in Deuteronomy Moses imagines instead a messiah who is a prophet: “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you,” Moses writes, “the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me” (18:9 & 15).  Further, of this prophet Deuteronomy says that he will not be merely an Israelite version of a pagan soothsayer telling of future events; rather, the defining characteristic of this prophet is that like Moses he will “see the Lord face to face”: “Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses,” writes Deuteronomy, “whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deut 34:10).  By its messianic prediction, the fifth and final book of Moses lays the groundwork for a sequel: “Who is this prophet?” we might wonder.  “When will he arrive?”  And “How will he be different because he is a ‘prophet like Moses’ and not a king?”

The Gospel of Matthew, Deuteronomy’s “sequel,” provides an answer: the messianic prophet of which Deuteronomy speaks is Jesus.  Jesus is the one whom “the Lord your God will raise up for you”; Jesus is the “prophet like me.”  For Matthew, Jesus is the “new Moses.”  For example, it is Matthew’s Jesus who, like Moses on Sinai, in the Sermon on the Mount delivers teachings from a mountain.  It is Matthew’s Jesus who, similar to Moses with the Ten Commandments, offers nine Beatitudes.  It is Matthew’s Jesus who, like Moses, establishes a definitive teaching of the law: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (5:43–44).  It is Matthew’s Jesus who—as Moses ended his ministry on a mountain (Mt. Nebo) (Deut 34:1)—likewise ended his ministry on a mountain: “The… disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them… And Jesus… said to them, ‘Go… and make disciples of all nations…’” (28:16–20).  Matthew’s Gospel is a sequel to Deuteronomy.  In Matthew, Jesus is “the prophet like me… raised up… from among your own people.”

Far from being a domesticated prophet who doesn’t offend sensibilities, Matthew writes that Jesus is a prophet with a winnowing fork who threshes and clears, a prophet who gathers and burns, and who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire.  Though the image of Jesus as a prophet with a winnowing fork may seem fearsome, yet that our Messiah is such a prophet is good news, for kings cannot forgive...  And in us dwell all the effects of sin: in us there are wounds that call for healing, there is blindness that desires sight, there is captivity that yearns for release, there is despair that seeks hope, there is death that calls out for life.  Sin affects us all, and this prophet Jesus, who baptizes “with the Holy Spirit and fire,” will save us from our sins (1:21).  He will heal us and make us whole, he will lead us out of bondage into freedom, he will restore us to life.

I wonder, why not this Advent allow Jesus more fully into our lives, to let this “new Moses” thresh and clear and baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire?  Jesus’ winnowing fork and baptism may not always be comfortable, but they are always freeing.  Matthew—from whom we hear today and from whom we will hear for the coming year—assures us that our prophet messiah Jesus will be with us, that he will save us from our sins, and that it is through Jesus that we will find the connection and intimacy for which our hearts yearn, for through him we can see God face to face.

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