ROUGHLY EDITED COPY CUENet AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION DOGMATICS 2 LESSON 55 Captioning Provided By: Caption First, Inc. 10 E. 22nd Street Suite 304 Lombard, IL 60148 800-825-5234 *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. *** >> Thank you. I would like to hear you speak then of the baptism of Jesus. What is its significance? >> DR. DAVID SCAER: One of the great contributions of the new hymnal in the three-year series which many of our -- most of our congregations is using is that our congregations for the first time are beginning to commemorate the baptism of Jesus. According to the old electionary, there was no Gospel reading having to do with the baptism of Jesus. So this has really given our preachers in the congregations an opportunity to think about it and then to preach about it. There are very few events in the life of Jesus which are recorded in all four gospels. Only two gospels have the birth narrative of Jesus. And they are different. But the baptism of Jesus is found in -- well, in all four gospels. Which kind of indicates a very -- what is a very important -- it was very important for all of the writers and for the early church. And now we have to ask: What is its significance? The significance of the baptism of Jesus is his own self commitment to God's plan. His baptism defines his whole ministry by which he submits himself to the will of God. And in this sense, the baptism of Jesus is the preparatory event for Lent. Because this begins the suffering of Jesus. It doesn't necessarily fall on the Sunday before Lent. But it anticipates the sorrows which Jesus will endure. And there are many thoughts that are in the baptism of Jesus. It reflects his passing through the Red Sea. His going through the Jordan River into the Holy Land. It indicates being drown in our sins. It indicates his relationship to God. It is this time the Father gives him his approval. "You are my beloved Son. You are doing what I want you to do." That's a very significant question. And I thank you very much. *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. ***