Matthew 3:13-17
Lead in: When the Spirit came down upon Jesus at the Jordan, God empowered his Son to be a servant for his people. The anointing of baptism prepared Jesus for his mission to bring justice, peace, and healing for the world.
Prompt: If Jesus’ mission was to bring the justice, peace, and healing of God’s Kingdom, what does this say about the church’s role in the world?
Prompt: What does that say about our role as his baptized followers?
Lead in: In Matthew’s Gospel, God calling Jesus his Son anticipates the name Jesus will use to
address God in prayer. “Father”. Teaching his followers to use this same name for God encourages us as believers to recognize the intimate relationship we can have with God.
Prompt: How intimate does your relationship to God feel these days?
Lead in: At Jesus’ baptism the voice of the Father heard from above offers us a glimpse to the window of heaven. Jesus’s baptism also offers us a glimpse to the window of a world broken by sin and in need of redemption. Such is the struggle of keeping our eyes on the kingdom yet daily facing the brokenness of our lives.
Prompt: Where in your life, even in the brokenness of your sinful patterns, do you see the rays of redemption shining through the window of God’s undeserved grace?
Lead in: Jesus’ baptism is an affirmation of God’s love for us and a reminder of our own baptism when the community of the church claimed and affirmed us as God’s beloved son or daughter. On entering church, every time we dip our hand into the waters of the baptismal font we remember that baptism calls us to walk with Jesus as the one we follow.
Prompt: Where in your life today is it most helpful to remember that Jesus is the one who you follow?
Prompt: Where is it in your life today that you are most susceptible to letting some other god be the one you follow?
Lead: Isiah 42 speaks of being “a light”. But, to be a light doesn’t mean that we have to be shining stars who do all things perfectly. In fact, the minute we think we are that shining star, that is precisely when we get in the way of being used as a light for others.
Prompt: Reflect on a time when you were able to get out of the way so that God could use you to be a light to others.
Prompt: Reflect on a time when you struggled to keep the light shining on God and not on you.