The First Luminous Mystery - The Baptism of Jesus - Coloring Page

I’m a little later than I planned, but I finally have the First Luminous Mystery of the Rosary Coloring page for you to print!

The First Luminous Mystery The Baptism of Jesus Coloring Page

(Please download to your computer and open in a .pdf program like Adobe Acrobat before printing for the best results!)

This last week was a busy one- my husband was out of town so I had the 3 kids on my own, plus I took them camping. Don’t worry though, I wasn’t completely by myself; it was the first (of many I hope) homeschool campouts for a group of us Catholic homeschoolers in Northern AL. The weather was wonderful, the kids were awesome and it all went really better than expected. But you probably don’t want to hear about my excuses for being 3 (or 4?) days late on posting the Luminous Mystery coloring pages! The first one is The Baptism of Jesus.

“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 fulfil all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son,with whom I am well pleased.”

Matt 3:13-17

If baptism is washing away original sin, why was Jesus baptized? Wasn’t he sinless? I never wondered that until I just wrote those verses above. Even John the Baptist himself questions Jesus’ baptism when he says “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” The answer lies in the full life of Jesus, and his baptism only makes sense at his crucifixion. He takes on all of humanity’s sins so that he can be the sacrifice for them, thus he forshadows this in his baptism. Check out Romans 6:3-5:

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

And finally the Catechism says “Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection. The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become teh Father’s beloved son in the Son and “walk in newness of life” CCC537.

That’s all probably a little more than you need to share with your kids as you pass them this coloring sheet. Really, all I mentioned was that “Jesus was baptized just like you were!” They don’t ask the same types of questions as I do. Their questions are more like “Do locusts taste good? Can I eat one? Why did John the baptist eat locusts?” and then they follow it up with about 10 more “why”s.

However you use these coloring pages, I pray that they help you and your children grow closer to Our Heavenly Father.