For such a short passage there is an incredible sense of layers of meaning, which will really help as we fashion our Family’s Worship after Sunday’s service. If you take a look at the Introduction I’ve written for this week’s Home Groups Bible Study you’ll see how Jesus’ baptism is the fulfilment of Lev.8 and the ordaining of Jesus to His Priestly ministry (hence Luke’s including Jesus’ family tree here after the account of the baptism – you could draw / map out your own family tree, or at least a couple of generations as a active way into the passage). If you listen to my sermon from Sunday you’ll see that other OT passages are finding their fulfilment here. Noah, Moses leading the people through the Red Sea, Psalm 2, and others are all in the background. This makes these 2 or 3 verses an incredibly visual and rich moment to reflect on as a family…
If ‘Jesus as priest’ is where you’d like to focus, then the key thing to realise is that the Priest’s job included teaching, dealing with anything unclean in the camp, and sacrifice. picking out a handful of passages from Luke’s Gospel that show Jesus doing each of these would be a great way to show our Great Priest in action!
Why does the Holy Spirit descend in the form of a Dove? There are many other images associated with the Spirit throughout the Scriptures, yet He chooses this one. The scene evokes a memory of Noah’s Ark, with Jesus as a greater Noah, who comes through the water of judgment (i.e. baptism) into a renewed creation. There are plenty of activities you can do that will show the link with Noah’s Ark and help your child(ren) begin to understand how some of those OT stories work as they point towards Jesus. Or here is a ‘dove craft’ if that’s where you’d like to put the emphasis. There’s plenty more online.
Or perhaps the fact that this is John’s baptism catches your imagination. Why is Jesus undergoing a baptism that is all about repentance – He doesn’t have anything He needs to repent of. The idea of baptism as cleansing if a powerful one for children to grasp. Simply drawing the analogy with washing might get the point across. Alternatively, a simple craft activity: sprinkle some Icing Sugar on a baking tray. Draw or write in the sugar things that we need to be forgiven of. pour some (warm) water in and watch it dissolve the sugar – and whatever is written in it. Maybe get out your children’s baptism certificate, or photos of their baptism and reflect on what it means for them to have been baptized. You might want to use a confession that we use in Church, so that there are some familiar words that help our kids make the connections!
Part of the imagery here is that Jesus is identifying with us as sinful humanity. In the Incarnation (the Christmas story) Jesus becomes human. But he remains without sin. Here, Jesus is getting into the water which everyone else’s sin has been washed into. This is where He begins to ‘take on’ – maybe absorb (?) - our sinfulness. It’s part of the reason why Jesus will later call the cross His baptism.
Of course, you may want to take a different line. Something about God as Trinity, or to reflect more fully on the question of baptism... but hopefully these few ideas will give you something to work with!
