Day 9: March 4

Readings:

And they come again to Jerusalem; and as He is walking in the temple, there come to Him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and say to Him, By what authority do Thou these things? And who gave Thee this authority to do these things? But Jesus answering said to them, I will also ask you one thing, and answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men? Answer Me. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; He will say, Why then did you not believe him? But if we shall say, From men—they feared the people, for all held that John was truly a prophet. And they answering said to Jesus, We know not. And Jesus answering says to them, Neither do I say to you with what authority I do these things. (Mark 11:27-33)

John the Baptist, who was sent beforehand to prepare people for the church the Lord was to found, preached repentance at the same time as he was baptizing. His baptism was therefore called a baptism of repentance, because baptism means spiritual washing, or being cleansed from sins. He did this in the Jordan, because the Jordan meant being brought into the church, since it was the first boundary of the land of Canaan, which was where the church was. (True Christian Religion 510:2)

Reflection:

The Pharisees did not want to listen to John because he called them to repent. Jesus too taught that repentance was the start of becoming a Christian. Repentance can be hard because when we look into all our faults it can be overwhelming. The Lord says start small, pick one thing to work on doing better. What is one unkind or selfish behavior you can start to change?

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