John Immerses Jesus
1 It was in those days that John the Immerser went to the Judean wilderness to announce, 2 “Turn to God, for the kingdom of the heavens has arrived!” 3 He was the one mentioned by the prophet Isaiah: “A voice calls out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the road for the Master! Straighten his paths!’ ” 4 John dressed himself with cloth made from camel hair, his belt was made of leather, and he lived on locusts and wild honey.
5 Then people came to him from Jerusalem, Judea, and the area around the Jordan. 6 He immersed in the Jordan River as they admitted their sins. 7 But when he saw many Pharisees coming to where he was immersing, he said to them, “You den of poisonous snakes! Who warned you to run away from impending doom? 8 Prove that you’ve changed your ways. 9 And don’t think that being descended from Abraham gets you off the hook, because God is able to raise up children for Abraham out of these stones!
10 “The ax is already poised to strike the root of the tree, and any tree not producing good fruit is to be chopped down and thrown into the fire. 11 I do indeed immerse you all in water to signify that you changed your minds. But someone is coming, someone stronger than I am, whose shoes I am unworthy to carry, and he will immerse you in the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 He has a broom in his hand, and he’ll sweep the floor clean! He will collect his grain and store it away, but the chaff will be burned in a fire that can’t be put out.”
13 Jesus came from Galilee to be immersed by John in the Jordan. 14 But John objected, “I’m the one who needs to be immersed by you, yet you come to me?”
15 “It has to be this way for now,” replied Jesus, “for we must do what is right.”
16 So he consented to immerse him. And immediately as Jesus came up out of the water, suddenly the heavens opened up, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and landing on him. 17 At that moment there was a voice from heaven saying, “This is my dear son; I am quite pleased with him!”