Israel Blog #11: Yardanit

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.  John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." - Matthew 3:13-17


We visited Yardanit, which is the spot on the Jordan River near the Sea of Galilee that commemorates Christ's baptism.  It is not the actual baptismal site, but nonetheless it was a neat place to be.

While we were there a family from Kentucky and Tennessee were getting baptized.  At least some of them were from an Acts 29 church.

One of the guys in our group decided to take the opportunity to join them and get baptized as well.

Baptism is a public declaration of faith in Jesus Christ.  A lot of people in my group were excited about the fact that Matt was getting baptized, and many of them weren't even Christians.

Like Jerusalem, I was a little disappointed with the religious commercialism. From the baptism site we were funneled into a gift shop.  The experience of watching people get baptized in the Jordan River was awesome.  To then be placed in religious consumer heaven cheapened the experience a bit for me.  That being said, it was neat to think that Jesus, and probably many other early Christians, were baptized in the Jordan River or the Sea of Galilee.  We went to both of those places, and it made me feel a sense of unity with early brothers and sisters in Christ.