Our family was joking that even though this Bible reading plan is to follow Jesus, we haven’t seen Jesus do anything but be born. But we will read Jesus do something today!
Before we read our passage, I asked the boys if they remember what Jesus did before he started his ministry. What is the first thing he does before he starts preaching and telling people about the Kingdom of God? After a few guesses, they remember he was baptized.
So we read our passage, and it starts with talking about John the Baptist’s ministry.
After reading the passage, we first talk about what baptism is and what it meant. Baptism is a way for people to repent and get right with God. During that time baptism was for new converts to Judaism, but John the Baptist makes it very clear that even if you are a Jew, you need to confess your sins and repent. God sees the heart, and it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or not. All people needed to confess their sins and repent, because all people have sinned against God.
But we read that Jesus who has no sin came to be baptized by John! Why?
Evan remembered that Jesus was baptized, so he can put on our sins and cleanse us. Jesus being the only person without sin, goes through baptism to be like one of us, and he is the one to stand in judgement instead of us. He is our righteousness!
This is also a special event where the Trinity is present together. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are all here to bless and start this great redemptive mission.
(For a shorter version read Matthew 3:4-6 & 13-17)