Baptism of Jesus

Read Mark 1:4-11.

This Sunday in the church year is known as the “Baptism of our Lord” Sunday.  We hear the story of Jesus’ baptism by his cousin, John the Baptism, in the River Jordan.  We remember that God claims us through the waters of Holy Baptism and makes us forever a part of God’s family.  We also receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life.  Today we will learn about Jesus’ baptism and our own.  Let’s begin by watching the video about Jesus’ baptism.

Watch this video together:

Read:

Three of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) all tell about the baptism of Jesus.  Through baptism, all of our relationships have new beginnings.  Each day, the promises made at our baptism continue and all of our relationships are filled with God’s grace and love.

When Jesus came up from the water after being baptized, God said, “This my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”  God said Jesus was God’s Son and Jesus was marked by love.  When we are baptized, we are marked by the love of God, too.  There is nothing that can ever change that.  That’s why we only need to be baptized one time.  Once we are baptized, we are part of God’s family forever.

People can be baptized at any age.  Most Lutherans are baptized as babies.  It doesn’t matter how old we are, because we don’t have to do anything to be baptized, it is God who does everything to make baptism real.  If you were baptized as a baby, ask your parents or someone else who was there what it was like.  Ask them who was there and to share any other details they can remember.

The most important detail, though, is that at baptism you were made part of God’s family forever, you were forgiven of your sins, and you were given the gift of new life.  You are a child of God and God loves you!

Discuss

• What happened when Jesus was baptized?
• What animal came down from heaven?
• What happened when you were baptized?

Song

Never Let God of Me  LifeTree Kids.

Activity

When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven like a dove.  Watch the video below and follow the instructions to make a simple origami dove:

Activity

Martin Luther wrote about Holy Baptism in the Small Catechism.  Read what Luther wrote in order to expand your knowledge of Holy Baptism.

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY BAPTISM

I

What is baptism?

Baptism is not simply plain water. Instead, it is water used according to God’s command and connected with God’s word.

What then is this word of God?

Where our Lord Christ says in Matthew 28, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

II

What gifts or benefits does baptism grant?

It brings about forgiveness of sins, redeems from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe it, as the words and promise of God declare.

What are these words and promise of God?

Where our Lord Christ says in Mark 16, “The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.”

III

How can water do such great things?

Clearly the water does not do it, but the word of God, which is with and alongside the water, and faith, which trusts this word of God in the water. For without the word of God the water is plain water and not a baptism, but with the word of God it is a baptism, that is, a grace-filled water of life and a “bath of the new birth in the Holy Spirit,” as St. Paul says to Titus in chapter 3, “through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is sure.”

IV

What then is the significance of such a baptism with water?

It signifies that the old person in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned and die through daily sorrow for sin and through repentance, and on the other hand that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

Where is this written?

St. Paul says in Romans 6, “We were buried with Christ through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

“Luther’s Small Catechism with Evangelical Lutheran Worship Texts.” Copyright © 2000, 2006 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.
From sundaysandseasons.com.
Copyright © 2021 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.

Activity

We are claimed by God through water and the Word in Holy Baptism.  Consider adding a drop of blue food coloring to vanilla pudding and mix it up to make it look like water.  Remember your baptism and enjoy a snack!

Prayer

For our closing prayer today, use water and trace the sign of the cross on one another’s forehead and say, “ (Name), you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”

Pastor Dan Fugate, Assistant to the Bishop for Discipleship in the Indiana-Kentucky Synod, ELCA, put this lesson together for Sunday School @ Home.  There will be a new one for each Sunday while we are unable to gather together physically in our congregational buildings.  Contact him at dfugate@iksynod.org.