Greetings! This week’s journal is by Diakonia/Belimbing on the baptism of Jesus. Today also marked the birthday of our young sister, Jessmyn.
As we look back at how we approach storytelling, we always have to be mindful that our listeners may be non-believers and we have to craft our stories in a way that can be understood.
This week we discussed another strategy – apologetics. This week’s passage (Mark 1:9-12) is much shorter than the parallel passage found in Matthew 3:13- 4:3. As Mark was writing to the Gentiles and Matthew to the Jews, Mark needed to make editorial decisions to cater to the Gentiles’ limited knowledge of the God's word. Thus, the apologetics mindset.
Our group discussed three difficult questions which could be posed by our listeners:
If Jesus is God, why did He need to be baptised?
Who is the Holy Spirit and why are there now three persons – God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit?
Why did Jesus allow Himself to be led away by satan into the wilderness to be tempted?
After some deliberations, we came out with the following answers:
Jesus was baptised to set a good example, aligning himself with God’s will and plan for salvation and to identify himself with humanity.
The Holy Trinity: God the Father is holy and though He loves us deeply, we are unable to approach Him directly. But we can through Jesus His Son. However when Jesus died and rose to heaven, He gave us His Holy Spirit to be with us.
Jesus chose to be led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He had a choice but chose to be obedient to the Father. He chose not to give in to the devil. Being fully human, he showed that it is indeed possible not to succumb to the devil, with God as our strength.
May we be more like Jesus day by day, making the right choices to worship the one true God.
Love,
Diakonia/Belimbing
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