Nativity-Epiphany and Baptism

At the blog, I co-write at https://justmebeingcurious.wordpress.com I have been musing on the life of Christ from his birth forward, his birth in the landlord’s own quarters at the Inn. There is no Stable mentioned in Luke, and we cannot seriously believe that in David’s Royal City, Bethlehem, where Joseph was born, there was nobody to take them in?

And, so Jesus was born in the home of the Inn Keeper and his family and laid in the stone manger which would have been placed between the two levels of the home, where the animals could reach their food.

The Guest Room was the Inn and the Family Room where family and friends lived, and, depending on the arrangements there was a room for the animals downstairs.

O.K this is where the shepherds came to view Jesus and where the Kings came about 40 days after Jesus was born. – The Epiphany or Manifestation to the Nations.

Now, some 18 years after Jesus caused such a kerfuffle in the Temple comes his Baptism – another Epiphany event, Manifest to his own People and those nearby the Jordan and acknowledged by God as God’s only son, whom God loved.

Mark 1: 9At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” NIV

Luke 3:21 ‘When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’”NIV

Matthew 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” NIV Readings available at https://biblehub.com/niv/

Why was the sinless one baptised?

Jesus has always been our example, even when he was making clay birds fly away on the Sabbath or even killing a child who disagreed with him. For children, and we who have been children Jesus was the example of the naughty, precocious child of all that a child might be with an untamed, uninformed conscience. (recounted in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas) Did he come to the Jordan to clean his slate? From the age of 12 Jesus slate had been clean, the last mischief recorded is his disappearance from the family group on the way home to Nazareth. From then on he was about his Father’s business and this wasn’t Joseph’s business.

Jesus greatest Manifestation is as the incarnate God, allowing all those who came into contact with him to know God and to see God if they had eyes to see.

Where had he been between 12 and 30?

I very much suspect that Jesus spent his time assisting Joseph in the workshop both after Synagogue School and later once he had finished at the Temple school. Read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education_in_ancient_Israel_and_Judah

We sing of his skill on the Plane and the Lathe perhaps without realising that the hymn meant that Jesus was the everyday working Craftsman who crafted the very creations that were made through him.

Lord of all hopefullness, Lord of all joy

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,
Whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe,
Be there at our labors, and give us, we pray,
Your strength in our hearts, Lord at the noon of the day. https://namethathymn.com/hymn-lyrics/viewtopic.php?t=728

No secret trips to India or to Qumram where an ascetic sect of Jews lived in the Judean Desert near the Wadi Qumran, along the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. Wikipedia. No! Jesus was no ascetic he was the one who came (Luke 7:33) eating and drinking, about whom was said, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. An ordinary guy with ordinary actions, one like us!

Jesus didn’t suddenly come across the fishermen and called them to follow him, they were probably his playmates and friends. He didn’t just stroll back into town after an absence of 18 years and expect everyone to treat him as if he had never been away!

5 comments