Monday, January 7, 2008

Coming Soon: Matthew 3:13-17

This week I'll be preaching on Jesus' baptism. You can read the text here.
So my basic questions this week are:
1. Why did Jesus even need to be baptized? What's up with that cryptic comment in v. 15?
2. What does Jesus' baptism mean? What is the significance of all of this?
3. How does this connect with our every day life?
4. What about John the Baptist? Maybe there's a connection here with us not really understanding what exactly God is up to, but going ahead and obeying anyway.
5. I get the Trinity images of v. 16-17 (Jesus, Spirit, Father). I understand why the Trinity is an extremely important concept, but how do these verses in particular impinge on our life? What difference does all of this make? One possible point here is that Jesus was empowered for his mission by being filled with the Spirit (sound like Pentecost?) and that Jesus was affirmed as a beloved child of God (sound like Paul's writings and God's love for us?). Maybe part of the point here is that we also get to participate in the life and love and mission of the Trinity.

What are your thoughts out there?

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