John Baptizes Jesus (God preparing His Son)
Theme: Good News to Share
Theme Verse: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10b NIV
Readings: Matthew 3, Luke: 21-23
Memory Verse: The Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." Luke 3:22
Part 1 (Matthew 3:1-2) Word received: The time was right for John to prepare the people for My Son's coming. John heard Me and obeyed Me. When you hear Me, I want you to obey Me.
(Matthew 3:3) Word received: John knew who he was and he knew what I wanted him to do. I have plans for each one of you and I want you to listen so that each of you will know what to do. (Word received: Ask Me for My blessing on your hearing and seeing. I want to be Lord of your eyes and ears.) Prayer: Lord, we ask you to be Lord of our seeing and hearing and our hearts. Deliver us and your church from blindness and hardness of heart. We ask for your Holy Spirit to work in our hearts to make us ready to respond to you in our day.
John's message to the people of God (remember that these were God's people -- his rebellious people) began with "Repent" (a word meaning literally to have a change of mind, to turn around. The Old Testament often called for repentance as "Returning". They had rebelled and wandered away from God.) John said in effect, you need to do this because God's kingdom has "come near" -- the time is short. In fact it was only about 3 years -- the length of Jesus' earthly ministry. (Matthew 3:1) Word received: People must have something to turn to (underline) if they are to turn from their sins. I want people to hear about My kingdom. It is essential to hear about what they are to turn to.
(Matthew 3:2b quoting Isaiah) "The voice of one crying in the wilderness" Word received: My church has become a wilderness and My people are lost in it. Pray that I will make a straight path for them. (Stop and pray this.)
People came from their homes and towns to hear John the Baptist and to be baptized, confessing their sins. (Matthew 3:5-6) Word received: I am calling My people to come out to Me -- to confess their sins. Admitting and confessing our sins to God is the first step in repentance. (Matthew 3:46) Word received: People were drawn to John by My Word and My Spirit. If you will allow it, you too will be drawn to Me by My Word and My Spirit.
John the Baptist's message to the Pharisees and Sadducees was what we'd call politically incorrect! "You brood of vipers..." What a warning, not just to the religious and political leaders of God's people but to us all! "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance!" In other words don't trust in your religious heritage (Abraham as our father) or in external religious rituals (even baptism). A true change of heart and mind will reveal itself in your actions. Jesus later said the same, "By their fruits you will know them." (Matthew 7:16) In our day we've heard the saying, "God has no grandsons." In other words, you may have a wonderful religious heritage but you have to come into a right relationship with God for yourself, and your life will reveal where you really are. Only God can see the heart but we are told to look at the fruits.
Now, as then, God has a time of accounting. Word received: There is wrath coming and there is blessing coming. Choose which you will receive by the fruit you bear in your life. (This is NOT being saved by works but our works will reveal our response.) Word received: That is the fruit I want in My people's lives. (Fruit that is in harmony with a changed heart and mind.) John pointed to the Coming One as one who would baptize (saturate, immerse) with the Holy Spirit and with fire, an internal baptism.
Part 2 Suddenly Jesus shows up and asks John, his cousin, to baptize him. John was scandalized and refused, but Jesus answers, "It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." To fulfill all righteousness means to do the Father's will. This was always Jesus' single-minded purpose. Two things were happening here. First, what Jesus is doing is a pattern, a model for us of listening and obeying and being baptized. Word received: Submit yourselves to Me. (As Jesus and John did.) Word received: I honor obedience. The second thing that was happening was that Jesus, who had always been full of the Holy Spirit, received a special anointing of the Holy Spirit, to carry out his ministry. It was something like the anointing, setting apart of priests and king. The "Messiah" means the anointed one.
John points to who Jesus is -- the one who is mightier than he is, the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. It is the same Holy Spirit who anointed Jesus for ministry who is available to us. Doves are gentle and sometimes so is the Holy Spirit but he can also bring the fire of God. "Did not our hearts burn within us while he (Jesus) talked to us...."(Luke 24:32)
A winnowing fork is what those farmers used to toss the grain stalks which had been pounded in order to separate the wheat and the husks (chaff). In the present time the Lord is speaking to us about this. Word received: Pray for the day of My threshing. Pray that none of the wheat will be lost with the chaff. Pray for My little ones who are being led astray by lies. Pray for My will to be done. A time of winnowing is a time both of judgment and of blessing. We will need more of the Holy Spirit to equip us to bear fruit for God, to listen and obey the Lord and receive the blessing.
After Jesus was baptized and was praying (Luke 3:21) the heavens were opened ("to him") and he saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, alighting on him and a voice from God saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I have "found delight". (Literal Greek) This voice of Jesus' Father in Heaven is additional confirmation to Jesus that he is doing the Father's will. It is also something to strengthen Jesus on the difficult days ahead. (Notice that the voice of God in Luke and Mark is addressed to Jesus and the one in Matthew is addressed to people in general.) It is obvious that this story was told by Jesus to his disciples but some standing by, like John, may have heard something too. Sometimes when God speaks the message is tailor-made for specific people.
Echoes from the Old Testament
There are some interesting things to notice about this story. First, we see the Trinity working together here: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Second, we see echoes of the Genesis creation story. When God created the world, the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God spoke (His Word). Then as God created things
He saw that it was good and he spoke approval. Here God the Father is speaking his approval of Jesus. Jesus is called the Second Adam ("Adam" means man) by Paul in Romans 5. What we see here is the inauguration of the New Creation that the 2nd Adam is going to make possible, to undo the rebellion of the first people God created to have fellowship with himself. God is beginning the process of restoration of what He intended for people in the first place.
Notice that later after the first man's sin, rebellion, wrong choices, God's creatures hid from him. Here the Pharisees and other leaders also made a bad choice by rejecting God's purpose for them (Luke 7:30), that is, they chose to put obstacles between themselves and what God had prepared for them. Isaiah and John cried out for them to make straight paths for God, to get rid of the obstacles. In 1 Corinthians 1:23, Paul talks about the cross of Jesus being foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews. The biggest obstacle here is pride and refusal to repent, to choose their own way over God's way. We need not only to repent once but, like Jesus, to choose day by day to live a life of obedience to God and in relationship with him. We need to take time to ask the Lord how we are doing.
Footnote: Three other interesting parallels are
1. the word Adam ("adham") means mankind and "adhamah" means dust/ground and shows man's relationship to the ground he farms. In Jesus' incarnation, the Creator, the Potter (Jeremiah 18:6) and the clay come together.
2. In Jewish literature of the period (ex: the Dead Sea Scrolls) is filled with ideas of the Spirit of God hovering over the Messiah.
3. In Malachi 3:1-3 the passage seems to refer to John the Baptist, and Jesus' sudden arrival -- and its consequences.
Teaching Ideas for Lesson 17
Please read the Study Guide first. Go over Memory Verse to make sure the children understand it and then if they have memorized it.
Remind them their parents need to sign a report slip monthly if they have read the lessons, so they will get credit at the end of the year.
A word received: Honor your father and mother. Honor them by listening. Honor your father in heaven. Honor him by listening.
Make sure they know what happened in the story. Get them to tell you.
Basic points of the lesson for little ones:
1. John the Baptist was preparing people to receive Jesus. There are times when God does something special. Right now, God is asking us to be ready for what He wants to do.
2. When we do something that isn't right God wants us to tell Him and ask forgiveness. When we ask forgiveness and mean it, God will always forgive us and wants us not to do that again.
3. Jesus was obedient to His Father when John baptized him. God want us to be obedient to Him too. That gives God our Father, pleasure.
4. God sent His Holy Spirit on Jesus when he was baptized. God wants to give us His Holy Spirit also.
5. God wants us to listen for His word to us. God also speaks to children (like the boy Samuel and the boy Jesus). We honor God when we listen to Him and obey, just as we honor our parents when we listen to them and obey.
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