Day 102 - The Day That Changed the World

Thinking about the day that changed the world.

John the Baptist was speaking with Jesus Christ:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be given baptism by him. But John would have kept him back, saying, It is I who have need of baptism from you, and do you come to me? But Jesus made answer, saying to him, Let it be so now: because so it is right for us to make righteousness complete. Then he gave him baptism. And Jesus, having been given baptism, straight away went up from the water; and, the heavens opening, he saw the Spirit of God coming down on him as a dove; And a voice came out of heaven, saying, This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3.13-17 Bible in Basic English (BBE))

John baptized Jesus, and God sent the Holy Spirit as a dove and confirmed with his voice from Heaven that Jesus was his much-beloved son to all who were there.

Most of us have seen this in movies and closed our eyes to envision this moment. It is pivotal in the Christian faith journey. Did the people understand what they saw and heard? Did they realize that the world and all that lived on it would be changed for eternity? Whether your ancestors were Christians or some other faith, they were still affected by this moment. That was the day the world changed, and the expectations of humans changed. The potential for everlasting life was made available to everyone by choice due to God's declaration and Jesus's resurrection. The world changed.

Prayer:

Father, on the day Jesus was baptized, you declared him your loved son. It would have been a bittersweet moment for a human. I suspect it was for you also. You had reason to have great pride in what you had made. At the same time, you knew what would come. Even though you knew Jesus's death would not prevail, it must have hurt to know what a difficult path he still had to journey through. My heart aches thinking about it. There have been times in my life when I had to allow pain so that something that needed to occur would happen. That was painful, yet it doesn't begin to mirror what you experienced. I better understand that sometimes loving means allowing pain for the more significant result because I have considered your journey. Thank you for providing the example. I know it hurt you. You understand it is difficult for us to learn without visually seeing or hearing a story, so you provide it. Thank you for that and all of your sacrifices to help us. Amen.