January 12, 2020

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for January 12th: Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17; Theme: Baptism of the Lord Matthew: This is the second week of epiphany, the time where we stop to think about what it truly means to follow Christ. What does it mean to be a Christian. This week we look at the start of Jesus public ministry, his baptism. It would be easy for us to think that this story is also about our baptism. But it is not. Jesus gives us instructions about what it means to be baptism, but those instructions are actually at the end of Matthew, when Jesus has been resurrected. In this story, John the Baptist is telling his countrymen to repent of their sins. Jesus sees this as a chance to show others that he has been called to serve God. When John does baptize him, God confirms that he is on the right track – God is with him as he goes forward in his ministry. The lesson for us is that Jesus is indeed the messiah, and we are to follow him into ministry of service. But that service starts with repentance of our sins. Acts: There are times when the words of the bible are just as relevant for our time as when it was written. The first things that Peter says in this verse is that he is learning that God loves all people the same. God does not show favoritism for any of us. When Peter started his ministry, he tried very hard to be a good and observant Jew. But he started to realize that the strict rules of his religion were holding him down from reaching the people that God was interested. He had been taught that they were God’s Chosen people that is why those rules were in place in the first place. But as he met other people and learned other cultures, he realized that God loved them just as well. It was important for them to know the story of the gospel. In order to reach those people he had to put aside his preconceived notions about himself, other people and even about God. Questions: How does baptism call you to serve God? What have you done this year to show repentance? What preconceived notions do you need to put aside?