Jesus and the Baptist


Gospel According to John
3.22-24
"After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judea country side and he spent some time there with them and baptized.John was also baptzing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there;and people kept coming and were being baptized. John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison."
One may wonder what is the significance of baptzing.God has created man in his image and he belongs to him. He is his creation.Baptizm is a way of purification of our activities, we have accumulated lots and lots of impurities in our mind.Baptizing with water purifies our mind.Of course it is a symbolic act in that pouring an amount of water on our head or body does no more than wetting the surface.The meaning of this symbolism is that our mind is being washed or purified by the power of the Spirit.The Spirit of the God descends and dwells on us when we accept God in our life.Once the impurities are cleared, washed away, God chooses the body to dwell in it.The Spirit of God or the presence of God radiates in him who wholeheatedly receives God in his life.
Water symbolises the bounty of nature.And it is offered to all freely and is abundantly available in nature.But the modern world faces the shortage of water.A water crisis may soon overtake the problem.The climatic changes and global warming aggravate the problem of clean drinking water.The Lord of the Earth is to provide us with water, that is bountiful rain and the storing of water in the ground earth.

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