One day a man walked down to the river to be baptized by John. Multitudes were doing the same: John was a sensation. The man caught no one’s eye but John’s–was the Baptist already familiar with him, or did they just meet? Had the man spent his earlier adult years among the Essenes or some other holy separatist group, or was he quietly working in his father’s carpenter shop? No one can say. Except for one striking incident in Jerusalem, recorded by Luke (who probably got it from his mother), Messiah had lived his life in the shadows, like the vast majority of Galileans. Then he stepped out of the crowd.
What did his baptism mean? And the strange interlude in the wilderness that happened directly after–what was that about?
John was famous; this man was not. But John was continually pointing to someone coming along after him, and now Someone was here. But where would he go next? John had his own ideas, but even though he was the greatest of the prophets, those ideas turned out to be wrong . . .
For the .pdf download of this week’s reading challenge, with scripture passages, thought questions, and activities, click here:
Bible Reading Challenge Week 36:
Messiah – Baptism & Temptation
(This is a continuation of a series of posts about the “whole story” of the Bible. I plan to run one every week, on Tuesdays, with a printable PDF. The printable includes a brief 2-3 paragraph introduction, Bible passages to read, a key verse, 5-7 thought/discussion questions, and 2-3 activities for the kids. Here’s the Overview of the entire Bible series.)
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