The Barefoot Evangelist

Read Matthew 3:13-17 with your family.

Every time we talk about Jesus we talk about how important he was, how he taught us so many thing, and how he asked us to be good to other people. We always think of Jesus being in charge.

But in this story, we see jesus as he probably wanted us to see him… as a follower first, as a servant first, as someone who came to others to support them first.

John the Baptist asked Jesus “Why come to me for baptism when I should be Coming to you?”

John the Baptist understood Jesus was important and should be the one in leadership that day. However, Jesus had a different style of leadership.

Jesus told John, we are going to do it this way with you baptizing me in this ritual that removes barriers between me and God. That’s what John was Doing.

By receiving baptism instead of leading the ceremony, Jesus was telling John and all of us that every human being – even Jesus – needs to remove anything that is blocking us from understanding God before we are able to do God’s work in the world.