Theme: The Baptism of Jesus

Reading: Matthew 3:11-17

¹¹ “I baptize you with water to show that you have changed your hearts and lives. But there is someone coming later who is able to do more than I can. I am not good enough to be the slave who takes off his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹² He will come ready to clean the grain.^[a] He will separate the good grain from the straw, and he will put the good part into his barn. Then he will burn the useless part with a fire that cannot be stopped.”

Jesus Is Baptized by John

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River. He came to John, wanting John to baptize him. ¹⁴ But John tried to stop him. John said, “Why do you come to me to be baptized? I should be baptized by you!”

¹⁵ Jesus answered, “Let it be this way for now. We should do whatever God says is right.” Then John agreed.

¹⁶ So Jesus was baptized. As soon as he came up out of the water, the sky opened, and he saw God’s Spirit coming down on him like a dove. ¹⁷ A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the one I love. I am very pleased with him.”

Footnotes

1. Matthew 3:12 clean the grain Meaning that Jesus will separate the good people from those who are bad.

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