3: 21-38 One day, while John was baptizing others, Jesus came to be baptized. Jesus was not baptized for the forgiveness of sins, as the others were. Instead, he was baptized to identify himself with John the Baptist, who was sent as his forerunner. Jesus started praying as he was baptized and during his prayer, “the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, ‘You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.’”
All three persons of God are mentioned here: 1. The Father who said, “You are my dearly loved Son,” 2. Jesus, who was being baptized and 3. The Holy Spirit who was in bodily form like a dove. That must have been an amazing sight!
It took me awhile to understand the meaning of being baptized. Growing up, I saw infants baptized and thought, if baptism is a cleansing of sins, what sin could a baby possibly have? To me, baptism was something that Christians just did as part of being a Christian. It had no meaning behind it. It was just an act – like going to church. Baptism seemed to be a mark that someone did to their baby to indicate that the parents were going to raise that child as a Christian.
When I was in my early 20’s, I was in a physically abusive relationship. The night before Easter we got into an altercation, and he put his hands tightly around my neck. I was at one of my lowest points in life. I recognized that I was in an abusive relationship but did not know how to get out. I had tried several times, but we ended up getting back together. On Easter Sunday, I decided that life was not worth living – at least not the life that I was living. I drove around deciding what to do and ended up driving to a church that he attended. His car was not in the parking lot, so I decided to go in for some reason. The service had just started, and I did not want to disturb anyone by walking in late, so I decided to leave. As I turned around, an older couple approached me and asked me to come in and sit with them. The feeling of love they expressed to me at a time when I was at my lowest was one of the best things that had happened to me up to that point.
I continued to go to that church for a few months. Instead of attending in the sanctuary with everyone else, and with a chance that I could run into the man who I was in an abusive relationship with, I taught Sunday School to the kindergarteners. I thought this would give me a good opportunity to learn about God. I ended up getting baptized at the church through a sprinkling of water over my head. I thought that if I was going to church and teaching, that this is what I needed to do. It was not done to acknowledge my sins and to acknowledge that Jesus died on the cross and had risen three days later. This was a church where I was saved from potentially ending my life, so it felt right to do it there.
Shortly afterwards, I started dating a man who was Muslim and he would help me with the lessons that I was doing for the kids. I was amazed that he knew so much about what I was teaching. He knew more about Christianity than I did. I was impressed and started learning about Islam. I was looking for a direct path to God where I did not have to go through what I considered was a third party – Jesus. My life felt so messed up and I was searching for something that would help. To me, Islam felt fear based and I had a lot of fear in my life. I wanted to love God and not fear God, so kept searching.
I tried going to a few churches but felt so different from all the others who were there. I just didn’t fit in. All of the churches would talk about Jesus, someone I was unsure about. I wound up in a Science of Mind church and felt right at home with the teachings. They taught that there are multiple paths to God. They taught about the love of God. While at that church, I learned about many different religions, or paths to God. I learned about Buddhism and attended a Buddhist temple for a while. I had so many wonderful and amazing experiences during this part of my life and grew by leaps and bounds. Something was missing though, and I didn’t know what. I learned that what I experienced in life was a direct result of “my” thinking, and that if I didn’t like what I was experiencing, I just needed to change my thinking.
I learned about positive affirmations, and affirmative prayers, or treatments. If I wanted a different life, I could attain that life through constant affirmative prayers. This was a five-step prayer or treatment, used to realign my thoughts with the Truth. It was a cleansing of negative thoughts, doubts and fears and aligning myself with the God or Spirit that is within me. In the prayer, I was to recognize that God is all there is, that I am unified with God, then affirming what I want to experience and giving thanks for that and finally releasing the affirmation to God, believing that it is done (Letting go and letting God). This really appealed to me, I rapidly changed from being powerless to empowered and had some amazing experiences along the way. Something was missing though, and I could not understand at the time what it was.
Life happened again and I experienced a string of very challenging situations. All the positive affirmations I was doing began to weaken and it became harder to move through the challenges as they arose. I continued to barrel through them on my own, with blinders on, continuing to help others through my anger, fears and disappointments. When things got tough, I would go through some salt and sage as a way of cleansing my environment, I would move things around in my house to free up what I felt was stagnant energy, I would change out my rocks and crystals and activate them through the sunlight and moonlight and would meditate trying to clear my mind so I could communicate with God and ask him for help. Things had gotten so bad that I resorted to just existing. I was going through the motions of life hoping that at some point, all the challenges would stop, and I could just breathe for a while.
We had a wonderful woman live with us who was helping out with my son from the time he was a baby until he was 4yrs old. She watched him during the day so that I could work. She had gotten back on her feet and found an apartment in another city. We had to find a preschool for him to attend until he started Kindergarten the next year. We checked out several that were around us, but there were none that I felt comfortable with. A good friend recommended one at a local church. I was not wild about it being at a church, but decided to check it out. It felt right and we were out of options, so with the help of my mother-in-law, we enrolled him there.
He loved it there and I got to know several of the staff who worked there. We felt a great deal of love from everyone who worked there and from the parents of the friends he made at school. While sitting outside waiting for him to come through the doors, telling me about all he did on the ride home, I would talk with some of the staff, teachers and the minister of the church. I would ask questions and did not feel judged. The kids who attended preschool had a Christmas play at the church. It felt very strange sitting in an actual church after all the not so great experiences I had at churches over the years, but at the same time, there was a feeling of love and acceptance that overpowered all the other feelings.
I kept asking questions and learning. The group of people I was talking to expanded from the staff and teachers at the preschool to the minister and members of the church. I still felt very different from those who attended the church, which kept me from sharing or talking with the majority of those I met. There were a select few that I did open up to and I was met with love, not judgment. I attended a meeting with others to learn more about the church and what their beliefs were. During that meeting, I got separated from the group when I went to my car to retrieve a phone my husband brought (I left home without it and needed it to call a client I had a meeting with afterwards to let them know I would be running late). The doors had locked behind the group when they went back into the church following a tour of the property. As I sat out on the porch trying to figure out what to do (my purse, keys and computer were inside where we were meeting) I felt a nudge from God to read the Bible, attend the church every Sunday and that I would be baptized there. I made the commitment to follow through. Shortly afterwards, a member of the church pulled up and had keys to let me back in!
The meeting was at the end when I got back to my seat. I talked to the minister afterwards asking when there would be another class. The discussion of being baptized came up. I thought it was ironic as I had just had a conversation with God outside on the steps where I was informed I would be baptized at that church. I responded that I probably needed to read the Bible before being baptized. Up until that point, baptism seemed like an obligation one did when they decided to become a Christian. Baptism in this church meant being submersed in water, not just a sprinkling of water. The baptism I had done in my early 20’s would not meet this new church’s requirements. It felt like I should at least read the Bible through before being baptized.
Over the next few days, I received a very strong feeling that it was time to get baptized – and now. I called the minister and gave in. I set up a day and time to be baptized. On the day of the baptism, I had fear come on me like never before. My heart was beating very fast and I realized I was going through the motions from a voice that was in my head. I started to wonder if this voice was actually God, or was just my mind playing tricks on me. I sat there in a room, with a robe on, in the presence of one of the elder’s wives and the minister. They began to pray for what was about to happen. There was no way out. I realized in that moment that this was not just an act that someone did to show they were Christian, or that they wanted to raise their children as Christians. I realized the meaning behind it, and it hit hard. This was Jesus washing away my sins and giving me eternal life. I did not feel worthy of this. I messed up – a lot. I had sins that I did not feel could be forgiven. I ended two lives. How could that be forgiven? How could I go through with this?
I wanted to run as all the fear started to wash over me, but I was stuck in a small room, leading into a tub of water where I would be baptized. The minister was praying as he, myself and the elder’s wife held hands. The fear had nowhere to go but out. I tried very hard to keep the tears back, but they came out. I tried to get a grip and control things afterwards and took several deep breaths. It was time for me to walk into the water to be baptized. As I was baptized, I felt a great deal of love, and that everything would be OK. God was there and had been patiently waiting for me to do this. It felt like a weight had been lifted afterwards. A weight I had been carrying around, trying to do things on my own. As wonderful as it felt, it took some time to talk to God about my past, to ask for forgiveness and to learn to walk with him through life challenges as opposed to doing everything myself. It took time to learn about who Jesus was and how I could talk to him about things as well. It took time to break old patterns and habits. It took time to trust others and open up to have discussions about what I was reading and learning with them. Through all this, I was very quiet and a bit standoffish. Through all this, I also found my inner joy and happiness and I now had someone to walk with me through life’s challenges, loving me along the way.
I finally understood what baptism is and what happened that day John the Baptist baptized Jesus. John the Baptist was sent to pave the way for Jesus. He taught people to recognize what is in their hearts and to begin making the changes needed to live an eternal life. He taught that these changes are more than just words, but actions that come from the love within.
When Jesus arrived to be baptized, that was the start of his ministry. The path that John the Baptist paved flowed into the ministry of Jesus as he continued to teach. John the Baptist baptized with water. As Jesus was baptized, he was praying and “the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” As Jesus baptized others, he baptized with the Holy Spirit.
This is what I felt as I was baptized. The life I had prior left me as I was escorted under the water. When I was lifted up, God was with me and I can only imagine how happy he was that I finally listened! I moved from doing things on my own, to having someone walk with me through life’s challenges, leading me and guiding me along the way in a very loving manner.
The Ancestors of Jesus
Luke traces Jesus’s ancestry from his earthly father Joseph, all the way back to Adam to relate Jesus to all of humankind. He ends this lineage with “Seth was the son of Adam,” and “Adam was the son of God.” Adam is called the son of God here because he was directly created by God.