The God StorySample

Beloved

Father God, what I know of You will only ever be a fraction of who You are. Jesus, open my mind to see You and understand the Scriptures. Spirit, move my heart from familiar to fascinated until it is ablaze with Your unfailing love.

Read: Psalm 114:1-3

Yesterday I meditated on the moment Mary said yes to becoming the mother of God. Today I am reflecting on the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, the miraculous child she birthed and raised. It all starts with Mary’s nephew John, a prophet, calling Israel to repent and be baptised, to get ready to meet their King…

Read: Matthew 3:13-17

‘This is the moment John has been waiting for all his life. He has seen the One all of Israel had been waiting for. Incredibly, however, it seems no one else is caught up in the drama! Jesus … has followed the crowds into the wilderness and casually joined the back of the baptismal queue. Imagine Jesus, meekness personified, standing in the line of sinners.’*

If I imagine myself in this scene, where would I be? Am I in the baptismal queue, waiting to repent and be washed clean? Am I standing with John, amazed and confused by what Jesus is doing? Or am I standing on the bank, witnessing an incredible display of God’s presence and the shared love of the Trinity?

Pause and pray

I imaginatively take the place I’ve chosen in the story and approach Jesus. What do I want to say to Him today?

Pause and pray

Jesus is baptised in ‘the River Jordan, the same river Joshua led the Israelites across 1500 years earlier. This time though it’s not the waters which split open but the heavens. As Jesus comes up out of the water, divine delight pours forth as the Eternal Family dances over the River Jordan; a stunning expression of their loving union breaking out on the earth.’**

Jesus, I struggle with pride and a sense of entitlement. But You, the only perfect human, who was entitled to all power and praise, chose to set it aside in order to invite me into Your loving family. Today, teach me to live with a little more humility and increase my awe of Your eternal love.

Amen.

* Adam Cox and Alain Emerson, The God Story (London: SPCK, 2024), p. 131.

**Ibid p. 131-132.