The Baptism of Jesus Bible story for kids

Out in the wilderness, beside a river, a man was calling out.

His name was John.

And here is a happy surprise, little one. Do you remember Elizabeth, Mary's relative? She had waited such a long, long time for a baby. And at last, a little boy was on the way. When he was born, his father wrote his name down for everybody to see. "His name is John."

And that little baby, all these years later, was the man out here by the river.

John lived out in the wilderness, a wide, dry, empty sort of place. And the Bible tells us exactly what he wore. Clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist.

Camel's hair! I wonder if it was scratchy.

And what did John eat? Locusts and wild honey. Locusts are a kind of grasshopper. So... crunchy grasshoppers, and sweet, sticky honey. Probably not what you had for supper tonight.

But it wasn't John's clothes that people came out to see. It was what he said.

"Repent," John called, "for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"

Repent means turn around. Stop going the wrong way, and come back to God.

And people came. From the big city of Jerusalem, and from all the countryside around, they came walking out to the Jordan River. Maybe grown-ups and grandparents, and even children, holding hands along the path. They came to say sorry to God for the wrong things they had done, and to turn back to Him. And John baptized them in the river.

The Jordan. The very same river God's people once crossed on dry ground, long, long ago.

Maybe you could have heard it that day, slipping past the reeds. Maybe the water was cool and gentle as it rippled along the bank.

And John kept telling the people that somebody was coming. Somebody much greater than him.

"He who comes after me is mightier than I," John said, "whose shoes I am not worthy to carry."

Imagine that! John didn't feel good enough even to carry this person's shoes!

Then one day, somebody new came walking down to the river.

He had come all the way from Galilee. From Nazareth, the same little town where an angel once visited Mary. I wonder how many days he walked to get there.

It was Jesus. All grown up now.

And he had come on purpose. The Bible says he came to the Jordan, to John, to be baptized by him.

But John tried to stop him.

"I need to be baptized by you," John said, "and you come to me?"

As far as John could see, it was all the wrong way round. You should be doing this for me!

Then Jesus answered. And these are the only words of his that the Bible gives us from that day.

"Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness."

That's a big, grand sentence. But it means something like this: Let's do it this way. It is the right thing. It is what God wants.

And the Bible says, "Then he allowed him."

Now, Jesus had never done anything wrong. Not ever. He had nothing at all to say sorry for. But he stepped into the river anyway, just like all the ordinary people who had come that day.

And when all the people were baptized, Jesus was baptized too, right there in the Jordan River.

Then Jesus went up out of the water. Another part of the Bible tells us that he was praying.

And then...

the heavens were opened.

I wonder what that looked like. The Bible doesn't tell us. It only says they were opened.

And Jesus saw the Spirit of God coming down, like a dove. Down, and down... and coming to rest on him.

And then, a voice. A voice out of the heavens.

"This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Beloved means dearly, dearly loved.

And think about this, little one. Jesus hadn't done a single miracle yet. He hadn't calmed a stormy sea, or fed a hungry crowd, or taught on a hillside. Not yet. And still, before any of that, God called him His beloved Son. Dearly loved. And God was pleased with him.

God's voice from the heavens. God's Spirit, coming down like a dove. And God's Son, standing by the river. All there together, on one day at the Jordan.

And maybe, after all that, the river went right on whispering past the reeds, just the way it always had.

Soon, Jesus would have friends walking beside him wherever he went. And not long after that, there would be a wedding.

But on that day, by the river, there was just this. A beloved Son. And a voice from heaven that said so.

And God was with him. God was with her. God is with you, too.

Feather-soft now, little one. May the same God who opened the heavens over the Jordan to say "my beloved Son"... delight in you, too, long before you've done a single thing.