Holy Spirit and Fire

In the last chapter we pointed out that the evangelist Mark begins his Gospel (1:1-15) with a passage structured as a “chiasm,” a form of concentric parallelism. Like any writer, Mark expresses his thought in linear fashion, from beginning to end. But he complements that linear flow with another movement created by a parallelism that progresses from the extremities of the passage (the “inclusion” and “conclusion” or beginning and end) toward the middle.

This produces a spiral movement, in which successive lines of the second half of the passage intensify or complete lines of the first half, leading the reader toward the center, which in this case is verse 8. This central verse represents the major theme Mark seeks to convey: John the Baptizer declares, “I have baptized you with water, / but He [the Christ or Messiah] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” //

Scholars are in general agreement that the evangelist Matthew (like St Luke) used Mark’s Gospel as one of his primary sources when he wrote his own Gospel. Often Matthew took chiastically structured themes of Mark’s witness and expanded them, either slightly or more fully, to produce his own testimony to Jesus’ life and the significance of His mission. One striking example is Matthew’s reworking of the chiasm composed of Mark 1:1-15.

The passage in question is Matthew 3:1 to 4:17. The first and last elements consist of parallel statements that are in fact identical, the first uttered by John the Baptizer and the second by Jesus: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” This summons frames the entire passage, just as Mark’s double affirmation frames his: “Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ // Repent and believe in the Gospel” And just as Mark moves progressively, but in a mere 13 verses, from John’s appearance, to the people’s baptism, to John’s proclamation concerning Jesus, to Jesus’ baptism, and to Jesus’ wilderness temptation (in fulfillment of Israel’s forty year wandering in the desert), so Matthew follows a similar pattern. The outline of Matthew’s much longer account takes the following concentric “shape”:

A (3:1f): John: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
B (3:3): Isaiah’s prophecy concerning John.
C (3:4-6): John in the wilderness.
D (3:7-10): Pharisees and Sadducees come to be baptized 
E (3:11ab): Jesus is mightier than John.
F (3:11c): “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire!”
E’ (3:12): Jesus will execute final judgment.
D’ (3:13-17): Jesus comes to be baptized.
C’ (4:1-11): Jesus in the wilderness.
B’ (4:12-16): Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Jesus.
A’ (4:17): Jesus: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The major themes developed by Matthew follow the order he found in the Gospel of Mark. Matthew has amplified the various segments with complementary material (the scene of Jesus in the wilderness, for example, where the long dialogue is added between Jesus and Satan). But essentially, Matthew follows Mark’s outline.

In addition, St Matthew has preserved the concentric or chiastic flow that he discovered in Mark’s Gospel. He has begun this extended passage with a command repeated at the end: John, then Jesus, summon the people to repent in view of the imminent arrival of the kingdom. Then Matthew moves to John’s ministry in the desert and to his proclamation concerning Jesus. Each of these elements (B, C, D, E) is paralleled in the latter half of the passage by similar themes (E’, D’, C’, B’). And, as with Mark, the “prime” parallels (marked with ‘) intensify, fulfill, explain, or otherwise “heighten” the original theme.

And, like the opening of Mark’s Gospel, the whole passage in Matthew spirals from A-A^’ to B-B^’, to C-C, and so on, to arrive at the central affirmation F (the last line of 3:11): “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

The focus is identical, with one significant exception. St Mark has centered his opening passage around Jesus’ “baptismal” activity, which, although Mark does not say as much, will be fulfilled at Pentecost. St Matthew, on the other hand, has added an apocalyptic element. His concern is to demonstrate that the kingdom that comes in Jesus’ person is the end-time manifestation of the Spirit (to fulfill the prophecy of Joel 2:28ff). Yet it also signals the coming of divine judgment. To the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, fire will be cast upon the earth: a powerful symbol of the judgment God was expected to execute once the Messiah had appeared.

Biblical authors (and many others as well) used this form of concentric parallelism to draw the reader step by step toward the central meaning or focus of their message. In this case, both evangelists proclaim that with the coming of Jesus, heaven itself has drawn near. And Matthew adds the ominous word that our true baptism consists not only of the gift of the Spirit. It also brings us into judgment before the holy and righteous God.

It is this focus on judgment that explains the urgency of the opening and closing of the passage according to Matthew’s tradition. The kingdom of God—divine presence and power—has drawn near in the person of Jesus. “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned,” Matthew declares in the words of the prophets. The way beyond darkness and death, he makes clear, lies in our acceptance of the call, uttered by both the Forerunner and the Messiah, “Repent!”