Prophet John’s Encounter With the Lord

Matthew 3:13-15 (NLT)

Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. But John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?” But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to baptize him.

This is Prophet John’s first encounter with Jesus, at the Jordan River. We see them having a conversation and we can learn so much about the relational attribute of the Lord as we study these verses.

1)   The purpose of their conversation was to get to a place of mutual agreement. John did not want to baptize Jesus because he deemed himself lower than Jesus. Yet Jesus said John should let it be so for now. So, we learn from here that when it comes to our relationship with the Lord, there is always room for a healthy conversation such that we can all come to a place of agreement. And this is really how the Lord relates with us. He does not impose on us; neither does he agree with everything we say. When He disagrees with us on any aspect, He has a way of carefully guiding us back to the truth. That is exactly what He did with the Prophet John. In this dispensation, our relationship is with the Spirit of God. In John 16:13a Jesus tells us that the Spirit of truth will guide us into all truth.  The key here is that He will “guide us” not “impose” on us.

2)   Mutual respect is also an aspect seen in their conversation. Although Lord, Jesus will not do that which has been assigned for us to do. We are told in verse 13 that Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. There is a sea in Galilee yet Jesus respectfully went to the Jordan River. There was nothing Jesus could not do for himself however, He still did not trespass when it came to authority and assignment. Amen.

3)   This leads us to the aspect of respect of boundaries. Jesus did not do what He ought not to do and He did not permit John to not do what He ought to do. Meaning, Jesus did not baptize Prophet John like he wanted and Jesus did not accept Prophet John’s refusal to baptize Him. Amen. Respect of boundaries. Everyone diligently completed their assignment.

4)   There was no abuse of power. Jesus the Lord has all power to do anything yet He did not take advantage of His power. Rather, he had respect for the process. He operated with example showing us that the kingdom is systemic. Amen.

This was Prophet John’s encounter. The relational attributes of the Lord that He encountered as seen in this portion of scripture were mutual agreement, mutual respect, respect of boundaries and zero abuse of power. Again, what are your experiences as you relate with the Father? Please share with us. Amen.