Jesus identifying with and leading His flock - Matthew 3:13-17 -

 


Signs are important.  They are usually placed in strategic places to warn or inform us ahead of time of what is coming up.  This one is on the way up to the Adam's Falls in the Rocky Mountain National Park.  This one is a warning and prepares us to be very alert of our surroundings.  Others are informative like what attraction is ahead that you have been anticipating or the distance it will take to get there.

In our passage, Jesus makes a journey from Galilee to the Jordan to have an encounter with John the Baptist.  The Messiah is making His way to the Messenger.  You can sense this is a purposeful trip.  Jesus will find John the Baptist baptizing many in the Jordan River as they are coming confessing their sins.  They are turning from their sin and following after God.  They are heeding the sign of John the Baptist which reads, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"  Interpreting the sign, "Turn because He is here!"

Jesus also provides a sign by coming into the water to be baptized by John the Baptist.  It is first confusing to John so he asks the question, "Shouldn't this be the other way around?  Shouldn't You be baptizing me?"  Jesus gives His answer to John that this act is fitting and fulfilling and John responses with actually baptizing Jesus.  Jesus is the Messiah, the Sinless One, the Anointed One, the Chosen One, the Beloved Son of God.  It makes no sense to baptize Him because He is divine and He is without sin.  

For me this points more strongly that this act (sign) was for them to see and for us to read.  Jesus will do other things that seem unnecessary for Him but very necessary for us.  He will speak at times saying that what you heard was not for My benefit but for yours.  His baptism falls into this category so we can follow our Savior's example into the water after the confessing of our sins.  We make a public statement that we have turned from our sin and now turn to follow after our Savior.  Jesus was endorsing what John the Baptist was doing.

The Trinity appears in this passage also.  There is the Father's voice from heaven; the Son in the water; and the Spirit hovering in between.  Many times the Trinity is described as one essence and three persons, one God and three Persons.  God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, maybe confusing to grasp but how God is presenting in the Scriptures over and over.  It always makes me aware of when I see it pop up in other verses like John 14:26-27 which reads,

When the Advocate comes,

whom I will send to you

from the Father,

the Spirit of truth

who proceeds from the Father,

He will bear witness

about Me,

and you will bear witness also,

because you have been with Me from the beginning.

The 3 are intertwined to benefit us.  As the Spirit bears witness to us of who Jesus is, we in turn bear witness of Jesus to the world.  Let's do that today!

Adam



A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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