Daily Dose of Good News from Noelle Fox, 

Director of Faith Formation Ministries

Friday, January 7, 2022

Jesus’ Baptism

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

 

A video recording of today’s Daily Dose can be found at https://youtu.be/uL24mmHMWS4

 

Good morning.  Today is Friday, January 7th and it’s time for our Daily Dose of Good News.  (Show pictures and videos of water).  You guessed it!  We’re going to talk a lot about water today.  Water covers over 70% of the earth.  Water is used for many things.  Many animals live in the oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams.  We wash our hands with it and we clean with it.  We drink it.  We cook with it.  And, we are baptized with water.

 

Today, we hear about what happened to Jesus when he was baptized.  This was an important event because Jesus asked his cousin, John, to baptize him.  We don’t know much about what happened to Jesus when he was a young child, but in this story, we find him in the Jordan River.  We think he was probably 30 years old when he was baptized.  Let’s find out what happens in the story of Jesus’ Baptism.  It can be found in Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 or beginning on page 242 of the Spark Story Bible.

 

15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,[a] 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with[b] the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved;[a] with you I am well pleased.”

At Jesus’ baptism, God sent a dove down from heaven.  When the dove came down, a voice from heaven said, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  God claims each of us.  What a blessing that when we are baptized God calls us His child forever.

When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, the whole world became cleaner.  God loves us and forgives us.  We can almost feel ourselves being washed in God’s love when we think about being baptized.  We are all children of God and God loves us more than we can even imagine.  Now, please pray with me.  

Dear God,

Thank you for loving us.  You bless us and wash us forever in your love.  We thank you for the gift of baptism.  Thank you for calling us as your beloved children.  Help us to live fully in that role.

In Jesus’s name we pray,

Amen.

 

I hope you have a wonderful day.  Happy Epiphany!