JOHN BAPTIZES JESUS.

In the Book of Matthew, Chapter 3, we see John the Baptist, whose mother is related to Mary; they are cousins so he probably knew Jesus well! We find him in the Jordan river baptizing people in water. He was mentioned in Isaiah 40:3, an Old Testament Scripture, as the one who would lead the entrance of the Savior: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ’Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’ “ The religious of that time were also coming to see him, but he called them a bunch of hypocrites, a brood of vipers!

Then we see him receiving Jesus, after he says that One greater than him would come whose sandals he wasn’t worthy to carry. That He would baptize in the Holy Spirit and with fire! Jesus is then baptized in water by John through immersion and when He comes up a dove hovers over Him ( symbolic of the Holy Spirit) and a voice from heaven saying: ‘This is My beloved in whom I am well pleased’. This was His beginning to start in ministry for a period of 3 years! ”Jesus ministry begins in Galilee, where He teaches, preaches, heals and calls His first disciples.”1

Water immersion wasn’t new with John the Baptist as there had been the mikveh for awhile. In a class at TKU,2 I learned that the mikvah or water immersion is one of the oldest institutions in the Jewish community along with the Lord’s seder. The mikveh ( ritual bath for purification) are found in modern Israel, which is where Jewish people are immersed in water, symbolic of purification. They are also found in other parts of the world. So water immersion is not original with Jesus. With Jesus, He showed that we should be baptized in water as He did Himself, where He was completely immersed by John the Baptist at the start of His ministry here on earth. It represents for us being dead to sin and coming alive in the Spirit! Water baptism is a sign of faith. It indicates ‘something has happened’ to the person. When you are baptized you are being buried just as Jesus was buried, and raised just as Jesus rose again! And even to this day, all of Jesus’ followers throughout generations, have been baptized in water and if they believe in Jesus as Savior they receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire!

As we have seen most of these early chapters, before the apostles were picked and before there were disciples making part of Jesus’ ministry, probably Mary became the most important source of information. And of course later the apostles, one of them being Matthew, a tax collector. And of course, Old Testament Scriptures. But there were other historical Jewish sources, such as the writings of Josephus. “Josephus, who lived from CE 37 to about CE 100, is easily our most important source of information about the times of Jesus. He was a well-educated Jew who lived in Palestine until the Jewish War of CE 66-70.” 3

NOTES

1David Wenham & Steve Walton, Exploring the New Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001),210.
2Raymond L. Gannon, Reaching ‘All Israel’ with Yeshua, ( King’s University: Van Nuys, 2010).
3Exploring the New Testament, p.4.

LUGULUSU NA NZILA YA YEZU KRISTU!

Mutindu disolo ya Bukristu vandaka kukwenda na ntwala, zina ‘Yezu’ zabanaka bonso ‘Yahweh kele Lugulusu’. Tuka na bangindu ya Kuwakana ya Ntama ya Mfumu, Ngulusi, Ngulusi, Nzambi, bantendula yai me katuka na Yezu ti mutindu Bakristu vandaka kukwikila na Yandi. 1 Ya kieleka, na nima, beto ke mona ntangu yai Yezu bonso Ngulusi ti Ngulusi na masumu ti na mpimpa ya kimpeve, yina tiamunaka menga na kulunsi sambu na kufuta masumu na beto, kana beto kwikila! Mpi nde Yandi kele nzila mosi kaka ya ke nataka na Nzambi! Ebuna Yandi kele Ngulusi na beto!

Beto fwete vanda ntangu yai ti eksperiansi ya kubutuka diaka sambu na kuvanda ti bangwisana ti Yandi! Na Yoane 3:3,16 yo ke tuba nde: “ ‘Yezu vutulaka nde, ‘Ya kieleka, mono ke tubila nge nde, kana muntu me butuka diaka ve, yandi lenda mona ve Kimfumu ya Nzambi’….’Sambu Nzambi zolaka nsi-ntoto mingi kibeni, yandi pesaka Mwana na yandi mosi kaka ya kubutuka, sambu konso muntu yina ke kwikilaka na yandi kufwa ve’ luzingu ya mvimba na Yoane1 e. 25-26 yo ke tuba nde: “ Yezu tubilaka yandi nde: ‘Mono kele lufutumuku mpi luzingu.

Yo yina beto fwete kwikila mpi kubalula ntima na masumu na beto sambu na kuvanda ntangu yai ti bangwisana ti Nzambi yina ke kwisaka kaka na nzila ya eksperiansi ya kubutuka diaka ti Yezu Ngulusi mpi Mfumu na beto! “Luyantiku ya luzingu ya Bukristu kelombaka kundima nde muntu kele muntu ya masumu mpi kubaka lukanu ya kuyambula luzingu ya bwimi.”2.

NOTISI

1Bantu yina vandaka kusala mambu ya mbi, Davidi mpi J.I. Packer, bantu ya ke sonikaka, Diksionere ya Mpa ya Teolozi, (Kitini ya Banzo-Nkanda ya Nene, 1988), 610.
2Millard J. Erickson, Teolozi ya Bukristu, (Banzo-Nkanda ya Nene: Nzo-Nkanda ya Baker, 2006), 959.

TUBA KISAMBU YAI SAMBU NA KUBUTUKA DIAKA:
“Yezu mono ke kwikila nde Nge fwaka na kulunsi, .
kutiamuna menga na nge sambu na ndolula ya masumu na mono ;
Mpi yandi futumukaka na kilumbu ya tatu!
Mono zaba nde mono kele nsumuki. Pardo, lolula mono sambu na masumu na mono;
Pardo kota na ntima na mono!
Kwisa mpi vanda Ngulusi na mono mpi Mfumu ya luzingu na mono!
Matondo Yezu”