Jesus. All About Life.Sample

Reflection

Early in Jesus’ ministry, he went to see John the Baptist. As his name implies, John baptised people. He dunked them in water in the Jordan River as a symbol of turning their lives around to follow God and be cleansed. John had a serious question for Jesus: “why on earth do you need to be baptised? You’re God’s king – if anything, you should be baptising me!” Jesus convinces him to keep going, saying it’s the right thing to do.

Everyone watching this scene had come out to the Jordan River to be baptised by John. They were there to watch people be cleansed, follow God, and do it themselves. As Jesus comes up out of the water, heaven opens up. God’s Spirit, who comes to people throughout the Bible to enable them to do amazing things for God, comes and rests on Jesus as if to say, “watch this.” God himself from heaven says, “This guy. My Son. This one, right here. I love him. Listen to him.”

To all of us watching, wanting to follow God and be cleansed, he says, “Jesus. He’s the one life is about.”

Action point

God says this about Jesus twice: here and at the ‘transfiguration’ (Matt 17), where he says very clearly, “Listen to him.” Let’s listen carefully to the one God loves dearly, whether it’s the first time or the ten-thousandth time.

Prayer

Dear God, Thank you for sending Jesus, your Son, who you love. Thank you that he shows us how to be truly cleansed and fully turn around and follow you. Help us to listen carefully to him. Amen.

About the writer

Sam Freney is a translation consultant with the Bible Society of Australia. He’s a professional Bible nerd. He works as a specialist in the original languages of the Bible with several translation teams, helping them to communicate the Scriptures in their languages accurately.