I am just an ordinary man who grew up in Nazareth. I may be an ordinary man, but I have lived an extraordinary life. Not really because of anything that I have done; but rather because of the one that I know. I am a follower of the man who was believed to be the Christ. Before he was revealed by John the baptizer, he was known as Jesus of Nazareth.
So as not to cast any unwanted attention on myself, I am not going to reveal my name. I am only one of the followers that were with Jesus from before the time of his baptism until he was taken up from us. I was not one of the chosen 12 apostles. There were many of us who followed this man that were not chosen as apostles........John and his brother James were really something while we were growing up. We spent many evenings playing games out in the wilderness. Many times John and James’ cousin would play with us. He had a great imagination and was so much fun. Their cousin became the most famous person ever. Their cousin was none other than Jesus himself. That’s right, Jesus was there cousin. You see, John and James’ mother was Salome who was the sister of Mary, Jesus’ mother. We had no idea growing up that Jesus was the Son of God. He was a normal kid like the rest of us. Well, except that he never seemed to get into trouble like the rest of us. The rest of us were taken back behind the donkey shed many times to be chastised for our mischief......... I will never forget this one particular day that John was at the river preaching the coming of the Lord and baptizing. I had gone down to hear him several times. I also went down to let him baptize me. On this day there was a feeling in the air. I had such a feeling of expectancy. We all expected the coming of the Messiah and soon. But I didn’t expect him on this day. As others were being baptized and while John was speaking to the crowd, Jesus stepped forward to be baptized. “Oh look,” I said, Jesus was going down to be baptized. John being the cousin of Jesus knew him only as his cousin. When Jesus approached John to be baptized, the look on John’s face changed. John realized that Jesus was not just his cousin, but was the Messiah. John said “Who am I to baptize you, I need you to baptize me.” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now, it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented and baptized him. What was that all about? Why would John want Jesus to baptize him. ‘This was to fulfill all righteousness.’ What did Jesus mean by that? What is going on? I was confused about what I was hearing and seeing.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water. At that moment Heaven was opened, and we saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Jesus. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Did you hear that? Oh my God, Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ; the Son of God. I was speechless. My head was spinning out of control. I have to say it again, Oh my God, Jesus is God. Right there, I knew that my life was about to change forever. I cannot explain how it feels to know that one of your lifelong friends is the Son of the Living God. The eternal everlasting God! How do you wrap your mind around that? My friends were more than friends. John is a prophet of God and Jesus is God. What an awesome day that was. I just want to shout every time I remember that awesome day.