Today’s study takes us to the Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Gennesaret in the Bible.  This is a freshwater lake located in the northern region of Israel (Galilee).  In Jesus’ day, fishermen regularly worked on this lake.  Read the portion of today’s text contained in Luke 5:1-11.  Our story opens with Jesus standing near this lake while people are crowding around Him to hear Him teach the Word of God.  Jesus was becoming somewhat well-known already for His teaching and His miracles and He could usually draw a crowd. 

Have you ever been away from home for a long time?  It’s so good to get back, see everyone again.  People want to come and say hello, catch up on old times, etc.  It can be an exciting time.  That’s what is happening in our text today.  Jesus is about one year into His ministry, and He has been in Galilee for a little while ministering when He decides to stop by His hometown of Nazareth.  It is a small town and people there will know Him from the 30 years before His ministry began.  He grew up there.

We know from our previous lesson that Jesus was on His way back to the area of Galilee in northern Israel to begin His Galilean ministry.  To get there, He had to travel through Samaria.  He had stayed two nights in a town called Sychar which is near Jacob’s Well in Shechem, ministering to the Samaritan people there (John 4:40).  Read today’s text.

Today’s text tells us about Jesus’ most early ministry.  Read today’s text.  Jesus had just finished teaching Nicodemus about the new birth.  Our text tells us that right after that, Jesus and His disciples went out into the Judean countryside where He spent some time with them in ministry and people were being baptized.  Who was doing the actual baptizing (John 4:2)? 

Today’s text tells us of a man named Nicodemus.  He was a Pharisee.  A Pharisee was a member of a Jewish sect that strictly followed both the written Torah and traditional oral laws.  They were considered experts in religious matters.  Nicodemus was also a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of ancient Israel.  Read verses 1-8 of today’s text.

Jesus is beginning His public ministry.  We are about to witness a very public first act.  Read our text for today.  It was just before the Passover began and Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate this festival.  Why Jerusalem (Deut 16:5-6)?  It was predicted, in Malachi 3:1-4, that Jesus would cleanse the Temple, before He was even born.

Weddings are such celebrations of love.  A man and a woman making a life-long commitment to each other.  Today’s text tells the story of a wedding in Cana, a town about 4 miles northeast of Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown.  What a fitting setting for Jesus’ first miracle.  Read today’s text.

Up until this point in time, Jesus’ life has been private.  I am sure that He has been busy studying and praying in the synagogue and ministering to His family’s and neighbors’ needs while working with His father as a carpenter.  He would have been leading a quiet, normal Jewish life in Nazareth of Galilee.  I am sure He would have had many friends and acquaintances among His neighbors there.  It is now time for Him to enter public ministry.

Baptism is a public declaration of our faith in Jesus Christ.  It represents the washing away of our sins, the death of our former life of sin, and the raising to a new life of following in His ways. It is an act of obedience to Him.  It says to the world, ”I have committed my life to Christ” and it should be the first thing we do when we become a Christian.

We’ve all heard of John the Baptist… the voice of one calling in the wilderness.  He was sent to prepare the way of the Lord.  He was the forerunner of Jesus Christ.  Today we will look at his ministry.  It is told about in all of the Gospels.  Let’s look first at the account in Matthew’s Gospel.