JESUS' BAPTISM

ABOUT six months after John begins preaching, Jesus, who is now 30 years old, comes to him at the Jordan. For what reason? To pay a social visit? Is Jesus simply interested in how John’s work is progressing? No, Jesus asks John to baptize him.

Right away John objects: “I am the one needing to be baptized by you, and are you coming to me?” John knows that his cousin Jesus is God’s special Son. Why, John had jumped with gladness in his mother’s belly when Mary, pregnant with Jesus, visited them! John’s mother, Elizabeth, no doubt later told him about this. And she would also have told him about the angel’s announcement of Jesus’ birth and about the appearance of angels to shepherds the night Jesus was born.

So Jesus is no stranger to John. And John knows that his baptism is not for Jesus. It is for those repenting of their sins, but Jesus is without sin. Yet, despite John’s objection, Jesus insists: “Let it be, this time, for in that way it is suitable for us to carry out all that is righteous.”

Why is it right for Jesus to be baptized? Because Jesus’ baptism is a symbol, not of repentance for sins, but of his presenting himself to do the will of his Father. Jesus has been a carpenter, but now the time has come for him to begin the ministry that Jehovah God sent him to earth to perform. Do you think John expects anything unusual to happen when he baptizes Jesus?

Well, John later reports: “The very One who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘Whoever it is upon whom you see the spirit coming down and remaining, this is the one that baptizes in holy spirit.’” So John is expecting God’s spirit to come upon someone he baptizes. Perhaps, therefore, he is not really surprised when, as Jesus comes up from the water, John sees “like a dove God’s spirit coming upon him.”

But more than that happens as Jesus is baptized. ‘The heavens are opened up’ to him. What does this mean? Evidently it means that while he is being baptized, the memory of his prehuman life in heaven returns to him. Thus, Jesus now fully recalls his life as a spirit son of Jehovah God, including all the things that God spoke to him in heaven during his prehuman existence.

In addition, at the time of his baptism, a voice from heaven proclaims: “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.” Whose voice is that? Jesus’ own voice? Of course not! It is God’s. Clearly, Jesus is God’s Son, not God himself, as some people claim.

However, Jesus is a human son of God, even as was the first man, Adam. The disciple Luke, after describing Jesus’ baptism, writes: “Jesus himself, when he commenced his work, was about thirty years old, being the son, as the opinion was, of Joseph, son of Heli, . . . son of David, . . . son of Abraham, . . . son of Noah, . . . son of Adam, son of God.”

As Adam was a human “son of God,” so is Jesus. Jesus is the greatest man who ever lived, which becomes evident when we examine Jesus’ life. However, at his baptism, Jesus enters into a new relationship with God, becoming also God’s spiritual Son. God now calls him back to heaven, as it were, by starting him off on a course that will lead to his laying down his human life forever in sacrifice in behalf of condemned humankind. Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:21-38; 1:34-36, 44; 2:10-14; John 1:32-34; Hebrews 10:5-9.

REFLECTION

▪ Why is Jesus no stranger to John?

▪ Since he has committed no sins, why is Jesus baptized?

▪ In view of what John knows about Jesus, why might he not be surprised when God’s spirit comes upon Jesus?

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JOHN PREPARES THE WAY

SEVENTEEN years have passed since Jesus was a child of 12 questioning the teachers in the temple. It is the spring of the year 29 C.E., and everybody, it seems, is talking about Jesus’ cousin John, who is preaching in all the country around the Jordan River.

John is indeed an impressive man, both in appearance and in speech. His clothing is of camel hair, and he wears a leather girdle around his loins. His food is insect locusts and wild honey. And his message? “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.”

This message excites his listeners. Many realize their need to repent, that is, to change their attitude and to reject their past course of life as undesirable. So from all the territory around the Jordan, and even from Jerusalem, the people come out to John in great numbers, and he baptizes them, dipping them beneath the waters of the Jordan. Why?

John baptizes people in symbol, or acknowledgment, of their heartfelt repentance for sins against God’s Law covenant. Thus, when some Pharisees and Sadducees come out to the Jordan, John condemns them. “You offspring of vipers,” he says. “Produce fruit that befits repentance; and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘As a father we have Abraham.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Already the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree, then, that does not produce fine fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Because of all the attention John is receiving, the Jews send out priests and Levites to him. These ask: “Who are you?”

“I am not the Christ,” John confesses.

“What, then?” they inquire. “Are you Elijah?”

“I am not,” he answers.

“Are you The Prophet?”

“No!”

So they become insistent: “Who are you? that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

John explains: “I am a voice of someone crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make the way of Jehovah straight,’ just as Isaiah the prophet said.”

“Why, then, do you baptize,” they want to know, “if you yourself are not the Christ or Elijah or The Prophet?”

“I baptize in water,” he answers. “In the midst of you one is standing whom you do not know, the one coming behind me.”

John is preparing the way by getting people in a proper heart condition to accept the Messiah, who will become King. Of this One, John says: “The one coming after me is stronger than I am, whose sandals I am not fit to take off.” In fact, John even says: “The one coming behind me has advanced in front of me, because he existed before me.”

Thus, John’s message, “the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near,” serves as a public notification that the ministry of Jehovah’s appointed King, Jesus Christ, is about to begin. John 1:6-8, 15-28; Matthew 3:1-12; Luke 3:1-18; Acts 19:4.

REFLECTION:

▪ What kind of man is John?

▪ Why does John baptize people?

▪ Why can John say that the Kingdom has drawn near?

 

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TRIPS TO JERUSALEM

Article #11

SPRING has arrived. And it is time for Joseph’s family, along with friends and relatives, to make their yearly springtime trip to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. As they leave on what is about a 65-mile [100 km] journey, there is the usual excitement. Jesus is now 12 years old, and he looks forward with special interest to the festival.

To Jesus and his family, the Passover is not just a one-day affair. They also stay for the following seven-day Festival of Unfermented Cakes, which they consider part of the Passover season. As a result, the entire trip from their home in Nazareth, including the stay in Jerusalem, takes about two weeks. But this year, because of something that involves Jesus, it takes longer.

The problem comes to light on the return trip from Jerusalem. Joseph and Mary assume that Jesus is in the group of relatives and friends traveling together. Yet he does not show up when they stop for the night, and they go hunting for him among their traveling companions. He is nowhere to be found. So Joseph and Mary go all the way back to Jerusalem to look for him.

For a whole day they hunt, but without success. The second day they cannot find him either. Finally, on the third day, they go to the temple. There, in one of its halls, they see Jesus sitting in the midst of the Jewish teachers, listening to them and asking questions.

“Child, why did you treat us this way?” Mary asks. “Here your father and I in mental distress have been looking for you.”

Jesus is surprised that they did not know where to find him. “Why did you have to go looking for me?” he asks. “Did you not know that I must be in the house of my Father?”

Jesus cannot understand why his parents would not know this. At that, Jesus returns home with his parents and continues subject to them. He goes on progressing in wisdom and in physical growth and in favor with God and men. Yes, from his childhood on, Jesus sets a fine example not only in seeking spiritual interests but also in showing respect to his parents. Luke 2:40-52; 22:7.

REFLECTION:

▪ What springtime trip does Jesus regularly make with his family, and how long is it?

▪ What happens during the trip they make when Jesus is 12 years old?

▪ What example does Jesus set for youths today?

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