Story of Jesus, December 3rd

Luke Chapter 3

At this time, a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness. So John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River preaching that the people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
Clear the road for him!
The valleys will be filled,
and the mountains and hills made level.
The curves will be straightened,
and the rough places made smooth.
And then all people will see
the salvation sent from God.'”

Luke 3:4-6

When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax of God’s judgement is poised and ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

The crowds asked him, “What should we do?”

John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”

Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized, and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”

Soldiers came and asked him, “What shall we do?” John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your wages.”

The people were expecting the Messiah to come soon, and were questioning whether John might be the Christ. John answered them all by saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming. So much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

John used many such warnings as he preached the good news to the people.

John ended up publicly criticizing Herod, the ruler of Galilee, for marrying his brother’s wife and for his many wrong doings; and he locked John up in prison.

One day when all the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven saying, “You are my beloved Son; and you bring me great joy.”

The genealogy of Jesus was listed as Jesus being the son of Joseph, and tracking all the way back to Adam being the son of God.

At this point Jesus had started his ministry. He was about thirty years old.