|John the Baptist|9

|John and the Pharisees|9
Jesus had been a carpenter for quite
a few years when he heard that his
cousin John had begun to preach near
the Jordan River, east of Jerusalem. 
John lived simply: he ate wild honey
and grasshoppers (which are actually
a good source of protein), and he
wore a rough coat made of camels'
hair.

His message was simple, too.  John
told people to repent (turn back to
God) so that their sins would be
forgiven.  And when people said,
"Yes, I want to obey God," John would
baptize them in the Jordan River.
That is why he was called John the
Baptist.

It was surprising how many people
came from Jerusalem to listen to
John.  But when the |Pharisees|1 came
to see him |gum|4, he called them a
bunch of snakes who were trying to
sneak away from God's anger.  He told
them that being a Jew wasn't enough
-- not even being a Pharisee and
keeping the law was enough!  They
had to prove that they had repented
by doing good deeds!

John knew that the people were won-
dering if he was the Messiah.  But he
kept telling them |brick|5, "I'm not the
|Messiah|2 -- but he's coming after
me, and he will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit instead of with water."

|John and Jesus|9
But then, one day, John looked at the
people listening to him, and he saw
Jesus standing in the crowd.  He
pointed to Jesus and said, "Look, the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin

of the world!  He is the one I was
talking about!"

And then Jesus asked John to |baptize|d
him (even though he did not need to
repent!), and when John did, the sky
opened and the Spirit of God came
down like a dove and rested on Jesus.
And a voice came from heaven that
said:  "This is my Son; I am very
pleased with him."