The excellent things Jesus did

Stephen Graham

At one time, many people thought that John, Jesus' cousin, was the special man they had been told was coming to save them from evil (see Matt. 3:13–17; Mark 1:9–11; Luke 3:21, 22; John 1:29–34). This might have been because John washed people in water, not just to make them clean on the outside, but to show that they were clean on the inside, too. It was called baptizing. That's why he was often called John the Baptist.

Now, John was a special man, but he wasn't the Messiah. He knew that he, himself, was not the man God had sent to save the world. One day Jesus asked John to wash him in the Jordan River. John thought it should have been the other way around—that Jesus should wash him. But Jesus was very humble. He said it was important on that day for him to be the one who was baptized. And after he was washed, John saw that God had blessed Jesus. He said God's blessing was like a dove coming down from heaven, landing on Jesus.

Jesus did many great things to show the people God's love for them. One of his first great works took place at a wedding. His mother Mary was there, and so were his disciples, people who wanted to follow him and learn from him. At this marriage there was a feast, and in those times it was very important to serve good wine for the guests. But the bride and groom ran out of wine, which was very embarrassing for them. So Jesus told the servants to fill some pots with water. And when the servants went to serve what they had drawn from the pots, they poured out wine! Following Jesus' instructions, the servants gave the wine to the ruler of the feast. When he tasted it, he was surprised to find that it was the very best wine, better even than the wine they'd started out with. This is how it always was with Jesus. What he did was the best it could be.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Spiritual affection removes burdens