The Baptism of Jesus

 This week for Come Follow Me we read three accounts of the ministry of John the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3, Mark 1, and Luke 3.  I think one of my main themes this year will be how New Testament writers purposely referenced the Old Testament in their writings.  This is never more evident than in the story of John the Baptist.  There are so many references, (and it is already 9:00 pm) that I won't go into a lot of details about each one.  I will just mention some I found or heard of this week. 

John is like Elijah: John's mode of clothing, in camel hair and leather, reminds ancient readers of Elijah in the Old Testament.  (Kings 1:8).  Elijah also had a connection with the Jordan River, where John was baptizing, because he parted the river by smiting it with his mantle.  They both lived in the wilderness and ate wild food. Elijah, like John, was a great prophet who cried repentance, and both men were followed by an even greater prophet who did more miracles.(Elijah-Elisha, John-Jesus)

The River Jordan: When the children of Israel fled Egypt, the wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and then entered into the promised land by crossing the river Jordan. After they crossed the river they entered the Promised Land and became a great nation. Egypt is often the symbol for both captivity and sinfulness. I think the gospel writers here are using the location of the story to show that forsaking sin and entering the waters of the Jordan (in baptism) marked the beginning of the establishment of the Kingdom of God, just as the house of Israel's escaping Egypt and crossing the Jordan signaled the beginning of the Kingdom of Israel.

Baptism in the Old Testament: Jews didn't have to be baptized to be considered part of the house of Israel.  They were part of the house of Israel because they were descendants of Abraham.  The reason people would have been baptized in ancient Israel was because they were Gentiles converting to Judaism, or if they had committed a serious sin and needed to go through ritualistic cleansing. (e.g. Lev 15:16-18 or 16:15) John knew that Jesus was already Jewish, so he didn't need to be baptized as a convert, and John knew Jesus was free from any serious sin.  That is why John asked Jesus why he had come to be baptized.  By being baptized Jesus was establishing a new law.  According to the new law,  someone could come into the Kingdom of heaven by being obedient and making a covenant to keep the commandments, whether or not they were a descendant of Abraham. 

The Sign of the Dove: A Dove first appears in the story of Noah.  Noah sent a dove to see if the waters of the flood had withdrawn. Later, doves were mentioned as acceptable offerings when a petitioner couldn't afford to offer a larger animal as a sacrifice.  In the first story, the Dove represented the hope of salvation after a long time of destruction and being "adrift".  Jesus was the hope of salvation after Israel had been adrift after the Babylonian captivity.  Doves were considered clean and were sacrificed (e.g. Lev 12:6) as sin offerings to make people clean.  Jesus was like a sinless dove that would be sacrificed as a sin offering. 

One more thing I mentioned to my primary class.  It has always seemed strange to me that God would send a dove as the sign of the presence of the Holy Ghost. It just seemed random...a bird flying down and landing on Jesus. Then last Friday as I was doing ordinance work in the temple, I put my hands on someone's head to give the initiatory prayers, and I thought of how my hands were kind of in the shape of birds wings, landing on the head of the person receiving the ordinances.  If you have your eyes closed, hands landing on your head, and a bird landing gently on your head... it doesn't feel that different. As a priesthood holder gently lays their hands on someone's head to give them the gift of the Holy Ghost, is it reminiscent of the dove descending on Jesus as a sign that he had received the gift of the Holy Ghost?