The year 29. A.D. John the Baptist and Jesus Christ begin their life-work

In the year 29 A.D. John the Baptist and Jesus started their public ministry. Both were 30 years old then. John started his preaching in the spring of the year 29 and Jesus followed half a year later in the autumn.

John the Baptist traveled from place to place in the areas on both sides of the river Jordan. He called upon the people to repent of their sins. People who really repented and were determined to mend their lives drastically were baptized by him. Through total immersion in water.

That in those days many people were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah appears from the fact that many men and women thought that John the Baptist was the Messiah. But John consistently rejected this notion and told everybody that he was only preparing the way for the real Messiah who would appear after him.
BR> When John had been doing this work for half a year Jesus came to him one day. When he saw Him John realized right away that this was the promised Messiah for whose life work he had done preparatory work. Jesus asked John to baptize Him. Because John knew that Jesus had never sinned he would not do this at first. But Jesus insisted and was baptized by John. This baptism did not have the meaning of forgiveness of sins, but it meant an anointing. When Jesus came up from the water power from God descended on His head in the form of a pigeon and anointed Jesus as God’s Messiah, God’s anointed one, the savior and king that God had promised. To add extra impact and glory to this anointing Jesus’ Father spoke to Him from heaven and told Him: “You are my Son, whom I love very much. I have approved of You”.

Filled with God’s power, anointed by God as savior and king, and strengthened by the words which His father had spoken to Him, Jesus now started to do the work for which He had come to the earth. It was the early autumn of the year 29.

Before starting his public ministry Jesus first withdrew into the wilderness for 40 days. During those 40 days he did not eat or drink. At the end of these 40 days of fasting in the wilderness He was approached by Satan the devil. Satan tried to get Jesus to worship him, the devil, instead of his heavenly Father. Satan offered Jesus everything that is attractive for people, but Jesus resolutely rejected all proposals.

In the meantime John the Baptist had started to try to convince the people of the unique meaning of Jesus. He taught the people that Jesus had had a pre-human existence in heaven. In those early days he already called Jesus the lamb of God which could undo he sins of people and the consequences of these sins. He also told everybody that JHWH, who had ordered him to start preaching and baptizing, had told him that the man on whose head he would see God’s power descend, would be His Son. In short: John preached plainly and frankly that Jesus was the expected Messiah, the Son of God and the great savior and king.

Right from the start of His public ministry Jesus began to gather disciples around Him. During the lifetime of Jesus a few of them traveled through the country with Him. And after His death they continued His work. From the beginning the disciples recognized Jesus as the one about whom Moses and the prophets had written. They also acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God and their future king.

Shortly after his forty days of fasting in the desert Jesus and His friends attended a wedding party in Kana in Galilee. On that occasion Jesus performed His first miracle. Half way the party they ran out of wine. Mary, who knew that Jesus had started His public ministry, asked her Son to solve this awkward situation by means of a miracle. After some hesitation Jesus ordered the servants to fill six big jars with water and He changed the water into wine. After this first miracle Jesus performed many more as signs through which people could see that He was God’s son and their promised savior and future king.