9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
Whenever I read this text I wonder, “Why does Jesus submit to baptism? He’s perfect. He isn’t spiritually unclean. He doesn’t need to repent of anything. If it’s about coming under the authority of the Kingdom, well, He’s the King for goodness sake! Is He just giving us something to imitate?” That is part of it, but the main thing I see is Jesus being obedient to the Father. He is showing us that the way to express love for God is to submit full to the Father’s authority. Jesus truly shows his Sonship through obedience, and the Father honors that obedience in as clear and public a way possible: Speaking a word of exuberant love. You are MY child, and I am so proud of you
I am a person who does a lot of thinking about faith and obedience. I hear in this a call to do obedience. To stop asking, “what act of mercy would you have me do today, Lord?” and instead seize upon any merciful and humbling act of submission that comes my way. Remembering that at my baptism the Spirit spoke to my heart saying, “I am so proud of you!” I want to obey Him more and more in response to His loving pride.
Morgan Murray, Pastor
Walnut Creek Presbyterian
Love the take away brother Morgan!
For myself, what strikes me this a.m., is the heavens being literally, “torn open.” I have an image of the Spirit urgently ripping His way from one realm (the Kingdom come) to the other, to come to my side (the Kingdom now). The Spirit comes to shore up my identity not in the many did’s or didn’ts of my life, but securely in the enlivening words of my Father. The enemy lures me to wrap my identity around performance, acceptance, ambition. At that moment the Spirit tears through with a now familiar and welcome voice. It is the voice My Father in heaven, “You ARE My son.” As that truth renews my identity and releases authority, the gates of hell are “torn open.” As rabidly as the Spirit has rushed in, the enemy more violently is slammed back to where he originates.
My do? Renewal in the voice from above, the life of the Spirit for me first today. Then, be the Spirit empowered one on mission. There is one particular person Father is showing me to go to, one who needs to hear His voice in a very personal way today. Firm in identity and authority Father use me to tear through the cloud of the enemy in the life of my friend. Come Holy Spirit, shoring up identity, securing authority and rising up in victory over the enemy.
. . .identity, authority, victory — powerful words. Thank you.
What I see in the passage is 1) the heavens “torn open” 2) the Spirit descending on Him 3) the Father confirming His identity and 4)Jesus following the Spirit’s lead. Jesus had been, was in this act, and went forth in obedience. He had earned a “this is My Son in whom I am well pleased” and would now continue in obedience regardless of where the Spirit might lead. That’s trust. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life…” Believing in Him–trusting Him–is walking in obedience, and our obedience is part now of seeing the heavens torn open–His Kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven. Today I am staring at a wilderness, and I choose to trust, to obey, and to follow Him in. I pray that as I walk in obedience I will see a little more of Heaven invading earth.
Two comments; 1) well said “our obedience … Seeing heaven torn open,” 2) good choice, may it be so
This is what happened to Jesus immediately after John baptized him in the Jordan River. When I was baptized there was a celebration. Another sacrifice by Jesus.
Definetly hearing lots today, yesturday and couldnt stop crying.I was feeling weary and tired I heard God saying to me through yesturdays passage Reach out Your not alone, you have family now….I thought for a minute swallowed my fear , embaressment and shame and I obeyed & trusted God and reached out to some sisters at my church an asked for prayer(the asking for help or simply enough prayer is very very hard for me).Within minutes peace came over me and I was in thoughtful meditation the remainder of the day. This was healing to me.
Today I am hearing well done Jami, you listened, you obeyed and you trusted …I showed you I am here now walk with me some more.As I walk out into the wilderness today I will carry yesturday with me and remember I am Not alone and healing is possible I just need to keep growing my relationship with my father….I will be confidant in who God is molding me to be and listen for God in my footsteps (not the enemy).
Father guide me today give me courage to withstand the enemy and be an example of healing and recovery in the darkness. Let me be unafraid to share my stories of healing with those I come in contact with today Lord as I know they are your gifts of hope. Thank you for the healing and rejuvenation yesturday iam growing closer to you and the family you set in place for me everyday .
What touched me is the response from Pastor Morgan. I constantly try to figure out and plan what God has in mind for me. Truthfully, that can turn into me trying to control my life rather than being obedient and letting God take control. Today my “do” is to not stress about a do. I am going to let God lead me and then at the end of the day reflect back on what opportunities God provided to me, and how well I responded to them. I will try to learn to keep my eyes open for God and to let God guide me.
Morgan’s take to “seize upon any merciful and humbling act of submission that comes my way” and not spend a lot of time asking (or waiting) for the “right” act of mercy really resonates with me. I have long held that belief and I’m happy to see this confirmed in today’s devotion.
Like Art, I was immediately struck by the ‘torn open’ part, the violence with which the Spirit tears into our world. I read about the violence in Syria and think, how can people do things like this to one another? Are we not brothers and sisters who are meant to love God and one another? Truly, the Spirit does need to tear into our lives, but we need to quit tearing one another apart. My prayer is to let God do the tearing and let us all be still and gentle enough to let Him do His work.
I hear the Lord saying to remember that my baptism reminds me that I am “in Christ”.
I will pray during my conversations with people today, that it will be evident that I am “in Christ” in that moment.
These words from Morgan’s reflection stick with me,”…instead seize upon any merciful and humbling act of submission that comes my way.” Through yesterday and today I hear God saying attend the El Puente meeting(7:00pm at Park Haven Baptist) Tonight – so I’ll be there.
What spoke to me is that the Spirit sent Jesus into the wilderness, with the wild animals, to be tempted. I believe a Christian’s existance in this world can be considered being sent into the wilderness. We are tempted continually. I pray that I may be a good witness to my faith, to be obedient to Christ’s teachings and commands. To give strength and encouragement and hope to those in my life. But overall, to be obedient. Intentionally. Amen.
What I saw was that when one is fully obedient to God’s will, one can EXPECT to be thrown into the wilderness where Satan is at work and there are NO resources but the Lord. This brought to mind Peter Foster’s sermon yesterday morning, in which he told of feeling like the only point of light sometimes when teaching his class at the alternative highschool, and how hard and draining that sometimes is. Satan’s temptation to me also is to see only the wilderness and fall into despair, rather than asking God to open my eyes to see the angels he puts all around me. Today I am going to look for angels & thank God for each one I see!
Thanks Morgan. Your words reminded me of the “obedience of faith” spoken of by Paul and Jesus’ reply to the question “what shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”–“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
What I hear from Papa in this passage is similar to what Art shared–that Papa assured Jesus of His identity & His favor, and sealed this with The Spirit. Though His circumstance got rough (wilderness, temptation, wild beasts), these–His identity, Papa’s good favor, and His Spirit–remain solid. And then I hear Jesus, “As the Father sent me, so send I you.”
My do? Believe in Him whom Papa sent, believe that He has given me a new identity, His good favor, and His Spirit. No matter what my day looks like (or week, or month, or . . .), my identity, Papa’s good favor, and His Spirit all remain solid. Living in that place, undisturbed by circumstance, is the “obedience of faith”.
Sister Sheryl, I hear you about “stressing about the do.” Your words again remind me to wait upon the Lord, and follow His lead. I went back to my journal and found the words that Mike Breen (author of Covenant and Kingdom) said to me at the Renewal Project meeting at St. Matthew in February 2010. I went up for prayer. There were others offering prayers, but he happened to be the one that came over to me and put his hand on my head and said, “Like the eldest daughter, always worrying, striving to do what’s right, taking care of things, receive the Holy Spirit, and just enjoy being in God’s presence.” He did not know me, but I am an eldest daughter, always worrying and striving to take are of things!! God spoke directly to me that day! (But I need reminders again and again to patiently wait on Him.)
I heard in the passage today an issue of obedience that I will be asking God’s clarification on, to find out if I should act on it. But in the meantime, I wanted to send up praise and thanks for seeing God breakthrough in the life of my friend who professed to be wandering. After months (years?) of staying outside of Christian community, she made a step towards reconnecting yesterday. Praise God! My prayer is that God will continue to ground her in who she is, fill her with the peace and joy of being in the Lord’s presence, and protect her from the evil one.
Today God is reminding me once again that I am His beloved child and I am secure in His love. I believe God wants to me to refelct on this passage each hour of this day as I go to the places where wild animals and angels dwell.
obedience ,authority faith after reading this passage a couple of times these are the words i heard God saying to me.with my faith and obedience,comes his authority.and knowing now that i am a child of God and the enemy has no power over me
So this verse reminds me that God views us as his own, and he is well pleased with me. And for that I am so grateful. It reminds of just how much love has for me. After this it states the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness. Just like it everyday we are sent out into the world. And it’s to be expected that we will get tempted for Jesus did, for 40 days. Knowing that I will be tempted I must arm myself with the love of Jesus. Satan cannot defeat me when God is with me. And the closer i get to his word the more I surround myself with his love the better I can at dealing with temptation when it arises. Today was