Baptism of Jesus
Jesus’ first public appearance was when he came out to the dessert to be a part of the repentance-preaching, comfort-disrupting, religious-unsettling meeting led by John the Baptizer. John immediately recognized Jesus, but not as someone who needed to repent of his sins, but rather the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world”. So, why did Jesus get baptized? Why did a man with no sin get baptized in the same way that the sinners were baptized? What did this symbolize to Jesus and to us?
Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3:1-23, John 1:15-34
Discussion topics
- As a group pick one or more of the passages that talk of Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3:1-23, John 1:15-34) and take time to read it either as a group or separately. Discuss what you read and, specifically, what did you hear or see in the passage that spoke to you personally.
- In most of the accounts of Jesus baptism we see that John pushed back on Jesus’ request to be baptized. Although John was fully in the ministry that God had called him, and he clearly knew how to hear and respond to the word of God, why do you think he missed this one? What does this portion of scripture tell us about our ability to hear from God? What does this tell us about God’s ways versus our ways?
- If you were to ask any kid that attends church, “What did Jesus do for you?”, they would probably say that he died on the cross for our sins. That is true but it is only half of the matter. Our redeemer doesn’t just have to die, but he has to live, to live a life of perfect obedience. Therefore, the righteousness in which he lived can be transferred to all that believe in him, in the same way that my sins are transferred to him on the cross. With that in mind, why did a sinless Jesus allow himself to be baptized in the same way that all the sinners were being baptized?
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