Mark 1: 9-13 (In which Jesus get’s baptised and and tempted).
Start by discussing people’s experiences of being baptised or not. Where and where did you get baptised ? Who baptised you ? Why did you get baptised ?
The Passage
9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
Mark 1:9–13 (NIV)
The Spirit
Pop Quiz (for fun) : What birds are on what dollar notes in New Zealand ?
- How different would it be if it was a different bird as a symbol of the Spirit ?
- What connections can you make with the Dove as a symbol of the Spirit ? What does that tell us about the spirit ?
Note that while the Spirit falls on people on occasion in the Old testament. It/He/She doesn’t stay. In Jesus’ baptism, the spirit falls (fulfilling the anointing promised in the title Messiah) and stays.
Who are you ?
Read this our loud “You are my Son/Daughter whom I love; with you I am well pleased“.
Another Translation says “You are my wonderful son; you make me very glad”. Read this quietly to yourself a few times and then pause.
Tom wright says “The whole Christian gospel could be summed up in this point: that when the living God looks at us, at every baptized and believing Christian, he says to us what he said to Jesus on that day. He sees us, not as we are in ourselves, but as we are in Jesus Christ”.
- What do you think of that ?
- Is this at the core of your faith, of our faith ?
- Is this overwhelming sense of being loved, regardless of what we do what we are known for ? How might we make this better.
- As a child did you know this kind of approval ? As a parent did you manage to pass this kind of approval on ?
An observation.
Jesus left us with two rituals.
Baptism and Communion. Neither can be done alone.
We are baptised into a church by someone, and we take communion with someone.
What does this tell us ?