John the Baptist | Sunday School Lesson

Wading in the Jordan River!
Imagine being baptized in the Jordan River
just like John baptized Jesus!
People are still baptized there today.
Photo: Alicia Bramlett

John the Baptist was Jesus' cousin. His mother was Elisabeth whom if you remember, was pregnant with John when Mary went to her to tell her she was going to have a baby. You can read this part of the story in Luke 1:41-44 KJV.

⁴¹ And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:

⁴² And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

⁴³ And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

⁴⁴ For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

While the above verses is a full Sunday school lesson in itself, we are not going to focus on that part of the story.

Instead, we're going to focus on the part of John the Baptist's life when Jesus came to be baptized. Many folks don't realize the importance of baptism. Hopefully, this lesson will help teach your class about Jesus' example through the story of John who became known as 'John the Baptist'.

John the Baptist - Baptism of Jesus

John wasn't always known as John the Baptist. He was born as a baby just months before Jesus' was born in Bethlehem and guess what - he was Jesus' cousin!

When they grew up, John began telling the people about the coming Messiah.

Ask the kids, "Do you know who the Messiah is?"

Wait for answers.



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The Messiah is Jesus. That's right - Jesus is the Messiah that John the Baptist was telling everyone about.

John preached to people all the time. John was actually born to preach. Of course, there was something different about this preacher.

He didn't have his own church. He didn't even preach in the towns near a church. Instead, he would go to a river (the Jordan River) and start telling anyone who would listen about the coming Messiah.

One day, when John was telling the people they should ask for forgiveness for their sins and be baptized, Jesus came walking toward him.

Jesus was there to be baptized by John.


John looked at Jesus and said, "You should baptize me. You've never done anything wrong. You don't have to ask for forgiveness of your sin and most certainly don't have to be baptized."

Jesus wanted to set an example to everyone. You see, baptism is to show others outwardly what has happened inwardly.

What does this mean?

It means that when you have asked for forgiveness and Jesus has come to live in your heart, you are baptized to show others what has happened. You are showing that you are now a child of God and want others to know it to.

After the Baptism of Jesus

After John Baptized Jesus, the holy spirit came down from heaven in the form of a dove and God spoke from heaven.

He said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

You see, God was very proud of his Son, Jesus. Jesus was setting a example for us to follow even today.

If you have asked Jesus to come into your heart, have you been baptized?

If not, talk to your kids about baptism a bit more and if anyone wishes to be baptized, be sure to talk to their parents and your preacher.