Baptism & the Temptations
READ: Mark 1:1-13; Matthew 3:1-4:11; Luke 3:1-22, 4:1-13; John 1:19-34
PRAY: “I give thanks, O God, that through water and the Holy Spirit you give your daughters and sons new birth, cleanse us from sin, and raise us to eternal life. Sustain me today with the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both now and forever. Amen.”
(Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Service for Holy Baptism, p. 231)
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PONDER:
Why was Jesus baptized? Why were you baptized?
What is different about Jesus baptism and our baptisms? What is the same?
What sorts of things tempt us in our society? Think of a time you resisted temptation. What helped you get through? Where was God in this experience?
What helps Jesus get through Satan’s temptation in the wilderness? Has the word of God ever helped you resist a temptation? If so, describe the experience. What words from Scripture helped you through?
Our church is engaging in an initiative called, “Opening the Book of Faith” dedicated to “reclaiming the first language of our faith” – the Bible. What does it mean to talk about the Bible as “the first language of our faith”? In what ways does it need reclaiming?
How can you make the Bible a more important part of your language and life, so that it can provide comfort and guidance to you when you need it? Identify one specific thing to try this week.
DO: Enter the following words on any internet search engine: money, authority, protection, Holy Spirit, baptism, and God. How many results show up for each word? What does this tell you about our priorities as a society? What priorities does God want for us? How can the Holy Spirit help?
Lesson 29 – Baptism & The Temptations
The Big Idea: Jesus is God’s son and our Savior.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The image of the dove is first used to demonstrate the dry land in Noah’s story (Gen 8:8). With the invocation of the Holy Spirit, it recalls creation (Gen 1:2). In Greco-Roman culture, the dove was understood as a servant of Zeus. There was also a common Greco-Roman cultic belief that interpreted the appearance of certain birds as predictions of special standing or fate (this practice was called augury). Here, Jesus is God’s servant and a new creation is under way because the world ordered by Rome is not God’s will” (New Interpreter’s Study Bible, p. 1752).
The heavens torn apart (Mark 1:10) is an apocalyptic image (cf. Ezek 1:1; Isa 64:1) and is used only one other time in Mark, to describe the temple curtain after Jesus’ death (Mark 15:38). The Lamb of God references the Passover lamb and is a symbol of Israel’s deliverance (Exodus 12:1-3).
The Spirit, present at Jesus’ baptism, also leads him into the wilderness (away from powers and authorities, and traditionally, a place of demons). The forty-days recalls a traditional testing period in the Old Testament. For example: the forty-years the Israelites wandered the wilderness before reaching the promised land (Exodus 16:35), Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28), and Elijah’s flight (1 Kings 19:4-8).
The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:3; 7:29). This idea of washing away ethical wrongs was accepted in Jewish tradition (Isaiah 1:16-17, Ezekiel 36:25-26) and may also have been drawn from a contemporary practice for initiating new students of the faith. In any case, this baptism required sinners to repent of their sins, then do good works to prove their repentance (Luke 3:8) and thus was incomplete (Acts 18:24-26; 19:1-7). This baptism of repentance was in preparation for the baptism of Jesus, which would be one of redemption, and come later (Luke 12:50; Acts 10:47-48; Matt 28:19; Rom 6:4; 1 Pet 3:21).
TEMPTED IN THE WILDERNESS
Why is Jesus tempted? What is the devil testing? What does the devil accept as fact (note: the Greek text in Luke 4:3 could better be translated as “since you are the Son of God”; cf. also Ps 91:11-12)?
What is temptation (cf. James 1:12-19)?
Could Jesus have done what Satan asked (cf. Matt 14:13-21; 28:18)?
Where does Jesus get the power to resist temptation (cf. Deut 8:3, Deut 6:13, 16)?
Where do we get the power to resist temptation?
What is different / the same in the temptation accounts? How might this be significant?
ONE BAPTISM: FOUR ACCOUNTS
In Mark, Jesus baptism marks the beginning of his ministry and is in many ways a personal experience. However, the same voice that Jesus hears in Mark 1:11 is later heard by his disciples as well at his Transfiguration in Mark 9:7).
How does Jesus “grow into” his ministry in Mark’s account?
How does God continue to prepare and reveal new things about our own ministries to us and others?
In Matthew, Jesus baptism happens “to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt 3:15). This is the same motive that drives Joseph in Matthew 1:19. To be righteous means to act rightly according to God’s will. In Matthew’s account, this is a quality acclaimed in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:6, 10; 6:33) and of John (Matt 21:32). Thus, Jesus’ baptism expresses his faithfulness to accomplish God’s will for him.
What is righteousness?
What is God’s will for us?
In Luke, Jesus’ baptism itself becomes less important of an event than the coming of the Holy Spirit and its interpretation as his anointing for divine service. See Luke 4:18-19 and Acts 10:37 (cf. also Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1).
In what ways are Luke and Matthew’s accounts similar / different?
What parallels do you see with our own liturgies for baptism & confirmation?
In John, Jesus’ baptism is not mentioned. Instead, Jesus appears in the midst of John’s preaching and is immediately acclaimed by John as the “Lamb of God.”
John also omits the story of Jesus’ temptation. Why would John leave such stories out?
What does this mean for understanding John’s account of Jesus’ ministry?
What does it mean for us?
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