Holy Boldness

Chapter 6 T he B aptism of J esus - F ulfilling A ll R ighteousness

After Jesus’ tense interaction with His parents at the temple at the age of twelve, Luke records two quick facts about Jesus: 1. That Jesus continued to be in subjection to His parents and 2. significantly, Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. (v. 52) Restriction on the outside will lead to increased blessing internally if one is willing to submit to it. Those who cultivate the fear of the Lord know this to be true. Walking in God’s presence, whether one is in difficult, restricting places, or in places of liberty, will always generate peace and confidence about the future. That brief commentary from Luke is all the information that is recorded about Jesus for the next 18 years of His life. He was from Galilee, the unsophisticated part of Israel in the 1st century. His father, Joseph, was a carpenter and Jesus would have most likely learned the carpenter trade from him. However, there is no record of what happened to Jesus’ father after the episode at age 12. He is never mentioned again in the Gospels though Jesus’ mother Mary is mentioned numerous times. We do not know anything about what transpired when Jesus finally left his home to engage His calling and purpose. We only know that He showed up inconspicuously in front of John the Baptist as the prophet issued a call to all Israel to repent and to be baptized for their sins in preparation for what was coming.

Jesus did not start a movement but joined one already in progress

It is highly significant that when Jesus came on the public reli gious scene He did not start a movement; rather, He joined one already in progress .

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