Mark 1:9-13 Jesus’ Baptism
Take time every day to communicate with God through prayer and Bible study.
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: December 25 and 26, 2017 Mark 1:9-13
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
(Understanding the Passage) Mark is concise, yet that conciseness focuses in on some details that I overlooked in the other gospels, or maybe they are not there although I have read that Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source document. For example, here it says that when Jesus came up out of the water, He immediately saw the heavens being torn open. My cross reference refers back to Isaiah “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—”(Isa 64:1). According to Strong’s dictionary, the word for torn open is /schizō/ skhid’-zo which is “Apparently a primary verb; to split or sever (literally or figuratively): – break, divide, open, rend, make a rent.” The Thayer definition is “1) to cleave, cleave asunder, rend 2) to divide by rending 3) to split into factions, be divided” Thus, not only did a dove come down, but there was some kind of change in the sky that could only be described as opening up or being rent. We know that when God shows himself in his power, that there are reactions in the air. For example, in Ezekiel’s vision of cherubim and God, he said “I was amazed to see a wind storm blow in from the north, consisting of a massive cloud and fire that was flashing back and forth, surrounded by bright light. From deep within the cloud something was shining that appeared to have a color like bronze that had been placed in fire until it glowed” (Eze 1:4). Thus, it is not surprising that this appearance of the Spirit would cause something to happen in the sky. However, I never focused on that before. The movies and paintings all make it seem just like the dove was coming down from a bright light, but Mark does not mention that light-only that the heavens were split apart.
Another focus here is that it was the Spirit that drove Jesus into the wilderness. This was not some carefully thought out plan. It was an action that was forcefully directed by the Spirit. Maybe Jesus needed time to adjust to being a little more whole again. At one time, he was totally one with the Father and Spirit. Then, they separated a little so that Jesus could become a human baby. He grew up as a normal human would in knowledge and maturity. Thus, while he had a normal (like humans before sin) connection with God, He was not connected in the way that He had been before. When He was baptized, that connection may have reattached in a stronger way as the Holy Spirit filled Him. It might have been necessary for Him to be separated from other humans and learn to be Himself once more. There may have been a difference in the Jesus before and the Jesus after baptism. I don’t know. This is speculation and probably not important for me to know.
Jesus was in the wilderness without any people around for 40 days which is about a month and ten days. Other gospels say that he fasted for that time period-“After fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, he finally became hungry” (Mat 4:2). This sounds a little funny because of course he was hungry. It becomes a little more meaningful when I look at the original word for hungry which according to Strong was peinaō /pi-nah’-o/ “From the same as G3993 (through the idea of pinching toil; “pine”); to famish (absolutely or comparatively); figuratively to crave: – be an hungered.” In other words, He was very, very hungry or famished. I’m not sure how He could have gone that long without eating. One explanation is that He did not continuously fast, but that He fasted, then ate, then fasted some more, repeat. Another explanation is that God sustained Him. Another explanation is that it was not totally without liquids, i.e. He drank water and maybe the juice of some plants. Luke agrees with Matthew, but John does not mention the temptations of Jesus at all. Why was it necessary for Jesus to fast that long? I personally have a hard time understanding fasting. I have tried it a few times and because of my low blood sugar, I just feel like I cannot think clearly. Maybe He was communing with the Father and just did not think about eating.
(Revelation about God) The Bible says that Jesus was with the wild animals and that angels were ministering to Him. I wonder if this was a time to become reacquainted with some old friends among the angels. I bet the angels were excited to be able to speak with Jesus again. Jesus said in one place in the Bible that His food was doing the Father’s will. “Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, have something to eat.” But he told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” So the disciples began to say to one another, “No one has brought him anything to eat, have they?” Jesus told them, “My food is doing the will of the one who sent me and completing his work” (Joh 4:31-34). Thus, food may not have been that important to Him while He was able to commune with the Father. He may have been so focused on His Father and friends, the angels, that eating was irrelevant. Or maybe food would have interfered with the connection. When that intense communication was finished, and it was time to return to ministering to humans, Jesus may have finally listened to the demands of His body which by that time was weak with hunger.
(Prayer and Application) Jesus loves His Father intensely and passionately. He loves me intensely and passionately also. I do not understand that kind of love. I protect myself and stop myself from loving too deeply for fear of being hurt. Also, I have not seen that kind of love in action among humans, so it is difficult to understand. My love tends to be more cerebral, and I am always surprised to find emotions attached to it. I pray to learn to love the way that God designed me to love. It is a command of Jesus that I want to follow, but I am weak and fearful. I pray to love as Jesus commanded.