THINK TOGETHER.
Have you been baptized? Have you ever seen someone be baptized?
READ TOGETHER.
Matthew 3:13-17. 13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Every day Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, would meet people outside of the city, in the desert, near the Jordan River. Can you find the Jordan river on a map? Why did they gather around the river? To be baptized by John. Why did people want to get baptized? Because it was a way of saying I want my sins washed away.
Now most Jewish people back then went to the Temple in Jerusalem to be baptized. The Temple was where you made sacrifices to God. The Temple was where your sins were supposed to be forgiven. But the leaders at the Temple were very selfish and sometimes wicked men. That’s why John didn’t want to baptize people at the Temple, but instead would go out into the desert to preach and baptize. When people came to John for baptism they were rejecting the Temple, like John did. They were saying I want to be connected to what John is preaching – true repentance and true forgiveness by God.
That’s why it was so surprising when Jesus showed up one day to be baptized by John. Did Jesus need his sins washed away? Did he need to repent? Did he need to be forgiven?
The answer is NO. Jesus never sinned. Jesus never had to ask God to forgive him. Jesus was a perfect man because Jesus was also God. John knew this. John knew that his cousin was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (see day 7). That’s why John said I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?
So why did Jesus get baptized?
Although Jesus was not a sinner, Jesus wanted to show that he would connect himself to sinners. Just like people wanted to be connected to John’s message, so they had John baptize them, Jesus wanted to be connected to us. So connected to us that he will die for us on the cross. Why? So that we can be so connected to him that we can live with him in Heaven forever.
Are you connected to Jesus? Do you trust that he died for you on the cross? If so, then maybe it’s time to get baptized too.
Because of Jesus God can be connected to us.
With Jesus we can live our lives connected to him.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Talk about baptism together. Mom and dad, are you baptized? What does your church require for baptism? What age do they recommend?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you connected your life to mine so that I could have my life connected to yours too. Help me to have the courage to obey like you did, and one day get baptized. Amen.
TLICfamily 