Today is a very special day in the church calendar, although many Christians rarely celebrate it. This is the Sunday on which we commemorate the occasion of Jesus’ baptism, an event that happened when Jesus was about 30 years of age. Perhaps one reason we don’t give more attention to this day is because the event is controversial. Let me tell you the story.

            Several years before Jesus began his public ministry, a prophet named John, son of Zechariah, became very popular in Israel. The nation had not had a true prophet for roughly four centuries. The people of Israel were hungry to hear someone with a message that seemed direct from God. John was that kind of person.

            In many ways, John reminded his listeners of the prophet Elijah, who was perhaps the most beloved of Israel’s prophets even though he left behind no collection of his teachings. Like Elijah, John was unconventional. He dressed in an outfit made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around the waist, and he ate a peculiar diet of locusts and wild honey — which meant that he got a proper amount of protein but in an unlikely way. Furthermore, again like Elijah, he was absolutely fearless. He didn’t care if he offended some of his listeners and he was not impressed by authority or position. All that mattered to John was to speak the truth as he saw it.

            Against all common sense, he went out into the wilderness to preach. Ordinary judgment says that if you want an audience you’d better go to where the people are. Not John. He went away from people and expected them to come to him. He stationed himself near the Jordan River, because he wanted water near at hand for baptizing. That’s why we call him “John the Baptist.” John had one basic message: that people should repent of their sins and be baptized for the forgiveness of

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