Recently, I've been thinking about the events surrounding Jesus' baptism. We've all heard the story but during one of our pastor's recent sermons, I began to see a few things I had never seen before. There are parallels for us that have helped me to have a fresh understanding of our own lives with Jesus. Today, let's begin a short three-part series, starting with a passage from the Gospel of Mark:

One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” (Mark 1:9-11)

In this passage, we learn that Jesus came to His cousin John the Baptist to be baptized. In one sense Jesus didn't need to be baptized by John. It was a baptism of repentance and Jesus lived a sinless life but He came to John anyway. Why would He do that? In Matthew's gospel in Chapter 3 we read that John objected to baptizing Jesus but Jesus responded, "It must be done to fulfill all righteousness."  We can understand then, that Jesus' baptism - like our own baptism - was an act of obedience. This baptism took place at the very beginning of Jesus' public ministry. When we come to Christ, you and I publicly embrace Jesus' death, burial and resurrection in baptism. Jesus said, in Matt. 28, "Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you."

And that's the beginning of our life with Jesus, following Him in baptism. On Wednesday, we'll listen to what happened next. But today, take a few moments to remember the beginning of your own journey with Jesus and your own baptism. What a fresh new start you had in life...and what Good News that was!