and then?

One of the dumbest movies I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of dumb movies, is "Dude, where's my car?" It is a movie about two guys who partied too hard and, as you might have guessed, lose a car. As dumb as it is, there is still an iconic scene in which the two blickheads are ordering at a drivethru. They order one item and the clerk asks, "and then?" They order another item and the clerk asks, "and thne?" This continues until they are finished ordering and the clerk contines to ask "and then?" The scene climaxs with the clerk and the two dudes yelling back and forth "AND THEN?" "NO AND THEN?"

It's funnier in the movie.

Anyway, I'm thinking about the "and then" this morning as I ponder the baptism of Jesus and the interesting chapter verse situation added long after Matthew's Gospel was put to scroll. See, there is very much an "and then" to the scene with Jesus, John, the Spirit Dove, and the Voice. "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where he was tempted by the devil."

That is a serious "and then." An "and then" that makes this story less about Jesus and more about us. We live our whole lives in the wilderness of temptation, but because Jesus was baptized (like us) and spent time in the WoT (like us) then we (like Jesus) can draw on the strength of the Spirit to overcome trials, temptations, and (not like Jesus) sin.

I've elected to expand the reading for Sunday to include chapter 4 verse 1, the great "and then," because otherwise I'm not sure the baptism of Jesus makes any sense for us. It certainly didn't make sense to John, but that, I suppose, is an "and then" of a different color.