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When Jesus arrived He waited for all of the other people to be baptized first. Then He approached
John the Baptist.
Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized . . . (NASB) Luke 3:21 Jesus did not arrive and demand to be the center of attention. The eyes of the crowd did not turn to Him.
People did not let Jesus go first. Jesus waited! This is a great lesson for us today in the “me first” culture
in which we all live. Jesus waited until all the people had been baptized first. How many did He wait for?
We do not know - but He waited.
Trying To Be Baptized. After the last person was baptized, Jesus approached
John and asked to be baptized. But John did not want to baptize Him.
But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” (NASB) Matt. 3:14 The Greek word translated as “prevent” means “hinder, restrain, or prohibit.” The word is in the imperfect
sense which means that John repeatedly tried to stop Jesus from being baptized. We are left with the picture
that John kept disagreeing with Jesus again and again.
John had rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matt. 3:7) for wanting to be baptized, because
their lives were sinful and their attitudes were wrong. But John was not rejecting Jesus because His life was
sinful, but because John felt that he (John) needed to be baptized by Jesus. Some have said that John said
these words because he knew that Jesus was the Messiah and that Jesus was holy. But the gospel of John gives
us a different picture. |
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| Life & Heart of Jesus | |||||
