Mark 1:9-11

In the first 8 verses, Mark has started his "Gospel" by introducing us to John the Baptist.  Mark makes the connection between the coming of John and prophecies in the OT that a prophet would come who would be a forerunner to the "coming of the Lord".  John is that forerunner, and he came preaching that the Kingdom of God was near and that there was one who was coming after him, who was greater than he.  John prepared the people through a BAPTISM OF REPENTANCE.

Now we come to (v.9) and is says that Jesus came from Narareth and was baptized by John in the Jordan River.  Now, here's a question: Why was Jesus baptized by John?  Wasn't John's baptism a baptism of repentance for sin?  What does this tell us about Jesus, if he accepted John's Baptism?  Afterall, isn't Jesus the "Lamb of God" who was to be sacrificed for the sins of the world?  Doesn't scripture teach us that Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin on our behalf?  Why then would He accept John's baptism?  (It should be noted that in other accounts of this event, John tried to refuse baptizing Jesus.  Jesus' response was, "permit it at this time.  It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.")


Theory 1: Jesus was setting an example for his disciples (present and future) to follow.  Some would suggest that even though Jesus was not in need of repentance (because He was without sin), He allowed himself to be baptized as a model for His followers to emulate.

Theory 2: Because Jesus was taking the sins of the world upon himself on the cross, symbolically speaking, it was appropriate for him to accept John's baptism of repentance. 

While, I appreciate the thoughts that these two theories contribute, I think that there is a third, more important theory for why Jesus was baptized by John.  Look at what it says in (v.10-11).  John baptizes Jesus, and as Jesus is coming up out of the water, He sees the Heaven's opening and the Holy Spirit (like a dove) descending on him.  Then amazingly, he hears a voice from Heaven declare, "You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."  In other accounts of this same event, we discover that not only did Jesus hear this voice, but those who were there (like John) also heard this voice declaring Jesus as God's own son. 

Why was Jesus baptized?  To serve as a model to follow?  ok.  Because he was taking on the sins of the world?  maybe.  But one thing we know for sure is that as John was baptizing people, for NO OTHER PERSON did the heavens open and a voice declare "You are my son whom I love; with you I am well pleased."  This occurred only for Jesus.  And perhaps this is the greatest reason why Jesus was baptized by John....to make that distinction between Jesus, and everyone else.  While everyone else was coming to John and being baptized because they needed salvation from God, Jesus comes and when he receives that very same baptism, He is declared by the Father to be a Son and well pleasing to the Father. 

It can also be noted that all three members of the Godhead or Trinity, were present at this important moment.  Jesus was being baptized, The Holy Spirit was descending like a dove, and the Father was heard speaking from the Heavens.  There was no doubt that God was doing something big and it was centering around Jesus of Nazareth.  And Jesus baptism, was an inauguration of this great work of God through this man, Jesus.

This is a tough one, but here's my   Top 3 Greatest Video Games Ever Made:

Honorable Mention: NBA LIVE 95






I really wanted to put this in my top 3.  To understand this pick, you really have to have played ANY basketball game that preceded it.  Honestly, have any of you ever played "Double Dribble" or "Bulls vs. Trailblazers"?  The players ran like 0 mph...if you passed the ball to a player they would just stop...In Double Dribble, I think you could jump from the three-point line and end up shooting a layup!  Seriously, these games were whack.  Then came NBA LIVE...the FIRST NBA LIVE.  Honestly, it was like the heavens opened and out came the first real basketball game.  This game was light-years ahead of any basketball game that came before it.  Crisp game play...fast breaks, passing the ball in mid air, no look passes, alley-oops, tip dunks, actual plays...players even pointing in your face after they dunked on you!  I must have rented this game 5 times before I finally figured out that I just needed to buy it.  Any one who has ever played a basketball game that they liked, owes it to NBA LIVE 95.  The only bad thing about this game (like many sports games) is that it was too easy to beat the computer.  The top b-ball game right now is definitely NBA 2K8 which is just an awazing game, but honestly, it doesn't have much that wasn't in that first NBA LIVE.


3. Tecmo Super Bowl



I've played many football games over the years (Madden, NFL Blitz, etc) but none has ever come close to this one.  This is the Super Nintendo sequel to the original Tecmo Bowl for NES.  I can't tell you how many freaking nights I spent playing this game.  This is still the only sports game I've ever played that I was actually able to play through a whole season several times.  And the best thing was that as you progressed from the beginning of the season towards the playoffs, the game got harder.  It's very hard to create a sports game with the right level of difficulty, but this game had it right.  Sometimes you won, sometimes you lost....sometimes you wanted to throw the TV out the window!  PLUS, you could have multiple people controlling different teams in your season....setting up match-ups with your friends throughout the season and maybe...in the Superbowl.  Honestly, I almost want to buy an SNES again just to play this game. 

2. Mike Tyson's Punch Out!



This might seem like a strange pick to you, but really this is one of the great games.  First, you have to remember that this game was for the old school NES.  I mean, this game is from the earliest era of Nintendo....but it's still fun....and there are many people who have never beaten it....maybe never even made it to Mike Tyson.  Now here's the weird thing...this game has just about NOTHING to do with real boxing.  I mean, your character (Little Mac) is like 3' tall and he's fighting people that are like 7' tall and are definitely questionable for HGH.  I mean, really, who the heck designed the concept for this game?!?!  He jumps when he's punching people?  But really the game is golden.  Every character was unique.  It was almost like a puzzle, because each opponent had a key to beating them that you needed to figure out (remember this is pre-internet days, people.  You couldn't just go on wikipedia to figure out all the tricks).  And even if you knew the tricks....some of these guys, especially at the end, were still really tough to beat and required very quick reflexes.  And plus, at the end you got to fight Mike Tyson!  Now in a lot of games, where there's some sort of celebrity or superstar athlete....you get all hyped about facing them, but they're just pushovers and you beat them in like 10 seconds.  But this game really delivers on that final bout with Iron Mike.  I mean, he is WAY tougher than any opponent in the game.  It's hard but not impossible....though it feels like it's close to impossible at times.  If I had an NES, I could still play this game today and it would still be fun. 

1. Street Fighter II



Is there any gamer out there who doesn't know about Street Fighter II?  I mean, if I say to you, "I'm going to hadouken your face" everybody knows what I'm talking about!  Do you remember ever waiting in line for an arcade game the way you did for this game?  You could go to any arcade, or any 7-Eleven with Arcade games and there would be a huge crowd around any Street Fighter II machine.  In fact, there was no point in having an arcade without a Street Fighter II machine for most of the 90's.  Do you remember putting your quarter up on the machine to get next game....and there would be like 5 quarters up on each side?  And remember when the game was coming out on a home system for the first time!?!?  I actually bought a SNES just so I could play Street Fighter II!!!  My left thumb still has a permanent indentation from playing Street Fighter II.  And this is what was so brilliant about the game...it's all skill.  What made the game so dang addicting, was because it was almost like a sport or something.  You couldn't just play the game for the first time and win.  Most likely, the first time you played, you were likely not to hit the other guy more than 2 or 3 times.  Why?  Because it was skill-based.  You had to practice....you had to sit there and watch the real players play and learn how they did it.  And you had to go find a machine that was not being played so you could practice before you could even think about playing against real people.  The game was all timing, reflexes and strategy.  And it was great because if you won, then you got to keep playing.  You could play the whole day on one quarter if you could keep winning.  Some games, it's more luck than anything.  But there is no luck to this game.  You were not going to play against a good player and just get lucky.  The people who designed this game deserve some kind of award or something because the responsiveness, strategy and physics to this game was so precise.  The only downside to this game might be a few cheap moves that seemed unblockable, but other than that, the game is flawless.  Mortal Combat, Fatal Fury, Samurai Showdown, Capcom vs. Marvel...all of these games owe their existence to Street Fighter II.  This is BY FAR the greatest game ever made.  Shoot, they even made a freaking movie about it with Van Damme.  (by the way, they're making another Street Fighter II movie about Chun Li starring Kristin Kreuk <aka: Lana from Smallvile> as Chun Li).  Now how can you top that?