Daily Gospel Devotional: January 25

Matthew 3:13-17 / Mark 1:9-11 / Luke 3:21-22

Baptizing Jesus…

Jesus was saying something that John didn’t seem to understand. John had been telling people to be baptized and he emphasized how unworthy the religious leaders were. He said come on you snakes, you get baptized too, you are definitely deserving of condemnation, you are definitely not worthy of the kingdom of God. John said they should be looking for the Christ and yet Jesus steps up and says here I am to be baptized.

John started to resist. Jesus is not a sinner, He has not broken God’s law, but Jesus said it must be done. He says that because He is identifying Himself with you. He is proclaiming and dramatizing what will happen to Him when He turns Himself over to be arrested, indicted, crucified, and buried. God is enacting in advance what will happen when He raises Jesus from the dead and declares Him to be the Son of God with power (Romans 1:4). God voices His acceptance of Jesus, visibly sending the Holy Spirit as a sign.

Jesus not only died the death we justly deserve but lived the life we should have lived (Romans 5:10, 19). On the cross, God treated Jesus as if He lived your life so He could treat you as if you lived His life. That’s the Gospel (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The physical represents the spiritual. You are identified with Jesus through water (Galatians 3:27). You are baptized into His body (1 Corinthians 12:13).

Jesus is identified with you through submission (Romans 12:1-2 / 1 Peter 4:12-19). He is baptized into your body (Galatians 2:20).

Are you baptizing Jesus, or do you resist?

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©