Please Read Chapter 23 Jesus’ Ministry Begins, and Matthew 3-4:11, Mark 1-3, Luke 8, John 1-4
Timeless Truth: Jesus: The Messiah you’d never expect.
If God’s prophets
were meant to be peculiar, John the Baptist did not disappoint. Eccentric is
too mild a description for this wilderness dwelling preacher who wore odd
clothes and lacked both a sense of tact and a balanced diet. His message, though, was right in step with a
long line of prophetic predecessors. He called for Israel’s repentance and
baptized the penitent in the Jordan River.
John was awestruck
when Jesus came to be baptized by him. Then he watched in amazement as heaven
opened wide and the Spirit of God came to rest on Jesus. John and those with
him were astonished to hear the voice of the Father Himself broadcasting His
divine approval. The community of God had gathered to bear witness to their
incarnation. The Spirit then led Jesus to a lonely wilderness, where he spent
the next 40 days in one-on-one combat with Satan, the enemy of God. He
confronted Satan’s evil allurements and proved Himself obedient to the Father
and triumphant over sin.
John the Baptist
denied claims that he was Messiah, pointing to Jesus and announcing, “Look, the
Lamb of God.” Andrew heard John’s
message and rushed to tell his brother, Simon Peter, and others that Messiah
had come. Jesus gathered His band of
followers and began training them with marvelous words and miraculous
ways. His first miracle took place when
He went to a wedding in Cana with his mother, Mary, and his disciples. The wine
ran out, so Mary turned to Jesus to remedy the embarrassing state of affairs.
Jesus simply instructed the servants to fill six jars with water and serve the
guests. When they did, the guests
marveled that finest wine had been kept such a secret until now, and Jesus’
disciples caught their earliest glimpse of the One who shared creative power with
His Father.
The disciples
became increasingly aware that Jesus was indeed their long-expected Messiah,
but others were not so sure. A religious
leader called Nicodemus had a clandestine encounter with Jesus to find some
answers. Jesus’ simple reply was, “You
must be ‘born again’….of the Spirit. For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Jesus had a similar conversation with a Samaritan woman who had come to
draw water from a well. With her, he
spoke of ‘living water,’ but the message was the same: accept His gift and be saved. When she mentioned the Messiah, Jesus
confirmed His identity. She believed and
shared the news with her entire village, as the second missionary of the new
Messiah.
Jesus traveled the
area, taught in the synagogues and healed the people. He ousted demons and cleansed socially exiled
lepers. The crowds grew and so did His
critics. On one occasion, four men dug
through the roof of a house so they could bring their paralytic friend to
Him. Before he healed him, Jesus forgave
the man, while the religious teachers grew indignant over such claims. But Jesus validated His authority by
commanding the paralytic to get up and walk. The Pharisees missed the miracle
and were incensed that Jesus had violated tradition by healing on the Sabbath.
This Sabbath
infringement, coupled with his absurd claim to be the Messiah Himself, on top
of his questionable social circles, quickly turned the establishment against
Him. And so the conspiracy to kill Jesus began. While many debated, questioned
and wondered about Jesus’ identity, one thing was certain: Jesus was
controversial. Some saw hope, but others
hated Him and wanted only to be rid of Him
John the Baptist had loved Him from the beginning but now, languishing
in prison, he began to doubt as well, demonstrating that even the best of us
have our faith tested under difficult circumstances. But throughout this
chapter, His baptism, His triumph over temptation, His miracles and His message
confirm Him as the long expected One who confounds expectations, is drawn to
the least and the lost, and whose message is indeed for all, from the graduate
professor to the immoral woman to the leper – the Anointed One indeed.
Questions
- Identify the ways in which the God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit appear at Jesus’ baptism (p. 266). Look up Isa. 11:1-2, 42:1 and Ps. 2:1-7.
- What does Jesus’ example teach us about how to resist temptation?(p. 266)? (See Eph. 6:10-17 for further insight.)
- Upon what did the original disciples base their belief in Jesus (p. 268)?
- Nicodemus and the woman at the well both had conversations with Jesus (p. 269-272). Why do they represent such a contrast?
- How do the biblical Satan and other evil spirits compare to popular depictions of demons in films, television, literature or art?
- Jesus was constantly interacting with different types of people: curious Jews, antagonistic Pharisees, tax collectors, and society’s castoffs. What can you learn about how to respond to different types of people from observing Jesus?
- The faithful friends of the paralytic carried him to Jesus (p. 273). If you are comfortable, share with your group a time in your own life that you had to totally depend of the faith of a Christian friend to get you through.
- Jesus clashed with the Pharisees who hoped to catch Him violating the Sabbath (p. 274). Doing work was punishable by death according to the Law (Ex. 31:14, Isa. 56:1-2). Who is actually guilty of violating the Sabbath in this encounter?
- John the Baptist who had earlier proclaimed, “Look, the Lamb of God,” was now languishing in prison where he began to wonder about this Jesus (p. 275-276). Look up Isaiah 35:5-6 and 61:1. Why did Jesus answer John the way He did?
- John has his moment of doubt. Can doubts and faith co-exist? Do our circumstances today affect our view of Jesus’ credibility, as it did with John?
