Not a New Thing

Sometimes I have to wonder where my head is.  You would think that connecting point A and point B would be an easy process.  But it's not always easy or quick.  And I admit I often feel foolish for not seeing the connection right away. This week I learned two interesting facts that fit this scenario.

All these years I never connected that baptism was a form of washing. You might remember I previously mentioned the people washing before entering the temple. By the way it was demonstrated on an episode of Days of Discovery I should have seen the connection. (People walking through the pool water, immersing themselves and then walking out 'clean.' Duh, that's a form of baptism.)

And, for years I was under the misunderstanding that John introduced baptism, but he didn't; it was already a practice. And, it wasn't new to non-Jews either.  The Chronological Study Bible mentions that other religions had some form of baptism in their ritual practices. In all cases it symbolized a kind of cleansing, a step in a new direction, a purification of sorts. What was new was being baptized in a river, away from the Temple, for the purpose of getting right with God without a sacrifice attached to it. That would have gotten everybody's attention.

The other fact I learned was in regard to the statement Jesus made in Luke 4 about the physician healing himself. I never understood why he pointed out doctors to a group of villagers who weren't doctors. Well, according to CSB people use to gather in public areas and discuss what was ailing them. They'd compare treatments.  What was working. What wasn't working. So in a sense, the people were their own doctors. Now, I can see the connection. 

What's funny is that we still do this to some degree today, don't we? How many times have you seen or heard people discussing their ailments and treatments at church, or at work, or in the middle of the neighborhood street? I guess in many ways the proverb still holds true, and we are still physicians trying to heal ourselves.