Scripture & the Rosary:
New Testament Mysteries,
Old Testament Parallels

The First Luminous Mystery

Lesson 22 He Saw the Spirit of God Descending
the Gospel According to Matthew 3:1–5
the Gospel According to Matthew 3:13–17
the book of Exodus 14:21–29

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)*
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)*
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Rosarium Virginis Mariae (Rosary of the Virgin Mary)
ex libris (in our library)
cross references for Scripture & the Rosary
glossary for Scripture & the Rosary
next lesson: You Have Kept the Good Wine Until Now

This material coordinates with Lesson 22 on pages 84–87 in Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels. 

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”
—the Gospel According to Luke 1:46–49

welcome to our in-depth study of Scripture & the Rosary
We invite groups and individuals to become acquainted with Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible studies through Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels, which has been granted an imprimatur. Although no longer available in print, the first six lessons can be downloaded from our website. The remaining 20 lessons are posted throughout the liturgical year along with their related online study pages. Click here to access Lesson 22 through Lesson 26. If you have a Bible-related question or comment, you can contact our authors using one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons on any online study page.

open with prayer
It’s always wise to begin any Bible study with prayer, whether reading the Scriptures alone or meeting with others in a discussion group. You can pray using your own words or use one of the opening prayers on our website. We especially like the following:

Lord Jesus, you promised to send your Holy Spirit to teach us all things.
As we read and study your word today,
allow it to touch our hearts and change our lives. Amen.

making connections—passing from death into life
Lesson 22 begins the Luminous Mysteries. There are no stained glass images to accompany these final lessons in Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels because the windows at St. Augustin Catholic Church in Des Moines, Iowa, were installed in 1935, long before the Luminous Mysteries were introduced by Pope St. John Paul II in 2002. Illustrations in the style of the original windows are being created to accompany these five lessons. A number of parallels for the Luminous Mysteries, however, can be found in the Old Testament. We chose to look to the book of Exodus for parallel stories to accompany the Luminous Mysteries in this Catholic Bible study.

?  What Old Testament passage would you have chosen as a parallel to Jesus’ Baptism in the Jordan?

let’s look at the new in the light of the old
There are many visual representations of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan and of the Israelites’ passage through the Red Sea on the way to the Promised Land. Try to visualize each scene in your mind. The following questions will help you to compare the two scenes. Additional in-depth questions can be found on pages 84–87 in Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels. 

?  What elements are the same in each situation?
?  How do the scenes differ?
?  How is God present and active at Jesus’ baptism?
?  How does this differ from the way that God is present and active in the Israelites’ passage through the sea?
?  What is the purpose of Jesus’ baptism?
?  How might this purpose be related to the Israelites’ destination after they pass through the sea?
?  How is Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River related to the sacrament of Baptism?
?  How is the Israelites’ passage through the Red Sea related to the sacrament of Baptism?

supplemental Scripture
The first Luminous Mystery is Jesus’ Baptism in the Jordan, and the New Testament text is taken from the Gospel According to Matthew 3:1–5 and 3:13–17. The Old Testament parallel text is the account of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, which is found in the book of Exodus 14:21–29. A familiarity with the book of Exodus will shed much light on what’s going on in the New Testament scenes that make up the Luminous Mysteries. More information is available in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus. The account of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea is covered in Lesson 12 Deliverance Through the Red Sea. The account of Jesus’ baptism chosen for this lesson is taken from the Gospel According to Matthew , but it’s helpful to take a close look at the subtle differences in the ways that the writers of the other three Gospels (Mark, Luke, and John) treat the same material.

the mystery of the sacrament of Baptism
The following thought-provoking description of the sacrament of Baptism is from a homily by Basil of Seleucia, a bishop who lived in the 4th century.

Consider what Baptism is and proclaim its grace. All blessings are contained in it. It purifies the world; it restores nature. It is a speedy redemption, a simple remedy, a liquid fire that burns away sin, a sponge that purifies conscience, a garment that never wears out. It is a womb that conceives without passion, a tomb in which those who are buried are born again. It is the ocean in which sins are drowned, the element that witnesses to the devil’s defeat. It is the seal of him who takes possession of the fortress, the unfailing advocate before the Judge. It is the stream that extinguishes the fires of hell, the grace that gives admission to the supper of the Lord. It is a mystery, both old and new, foreshadowed even in the time of Moses. To Christ our God be glory forever, through endless ages.

dove—you could look it up in our archives 
Biblical accounts of Jesus’ baptism fail to specify a dove and suggest only a type of bird. The dove probably is borrowed from the story of the Flood. To learn more, read Lost in Translation, an online column in which Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps helps readers connect with ideas expressed in the original languages of the Scriptures. New Lost in Translation entries are posted on Mondays, and past entries are archived on our website. Contact us if you’d like to receive Lost in Translation by email every week. Learn more about the dove in Lesson 6 The Great Flood & God’s Covenant with Noah in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis.

additional reflection about Jesus’ relationship with God the Father
Read the Gospel According to Matthew 3:16–17, the Gospel According to Mark 1:9–11, the Gospel According to Luke 3:21–22, and the Gospel According to John 1:32–34. Besides the dove, what other detail do all four of the Gospel writers include about the relationship between Jesus and God?

ex libris—find out what’s behind all those Marian feasts
Mysteries of the Virgin Mary approaches the task of increasing understanding of the theology behind Marian doctrine by looking at reasons behind Marian feasts throughout the liturgical year. Chapters cover the Birth of Mary, her Presentation, her Immaculate Heart, her Holy Name, and her role as Queen of Heaven, as well as her titles as Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and, of course, Our Lady of the Rosary. Read excerpts and learn more about Mysteries of the Virgin Mary and other works related to Bible study at ex libris—main bookshelf.

WHAT DO YOU THINK about the effect of Baptism in your everyday life?
Consider ways that the account of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River is illuminating for Christians.

?  In what way does Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan illuminate your own life?
?  In what way is the account of the Israelites passing unharmed through the Red Sea illuminating for Christians?
?  In what way does the account of the Israelites’ passage through the Red Sea illuminate your own life?
?  How might your day-to-day life would be different had you never been baptized?
?  How do you think that the sacrament of Baptism will affect your eternal life?
?  What promises are made on behalf of or by those being baptized?
?  What responsibility do you have as a result of being baptized?

Q&A—a comment about Baptism
We received the following comment about the sacrament of Baptism in connection with the Gospel According to John 1:12–13, included in the biblical text for Lesson 1 In the Beginning Was the Word in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth. One participant made this comment about Catholic teaching regarding infant Baptism, reflecting a viewpoint commonly endorsed in many Protestant communities. It’s worthwhile here to repeat the original comment and our response.

Q: I disagree with Church teaching regarding infant Baptism because there’s no free will on the part of the infant.

A: read the Catechism—Disagreeing with Church teaching is heresy, so in charity we’re choosing to treat this participant’s comment as a question of understanding. It’s not heretical to have questions about doctrine. Baptism is considered the first sacrament of initiation into the Church, and Jesus has much to say about it in the Fourth Gospel. The Catechism of the Catholic Church devotes 72 paragraphs to teaching about the sacrament of Baptism, but the most significant paragraphs related to infant Baptism and free will are paragraphs 1231 and 1250–1255.

Acceptance of Church teaching regarding Baptism is binding on all Catholics, and this includes acceptance of infant Baptism. This in no way precludes acceptance of adult Baptism, either those validly baptized into other Christian denominations as teenagers or adults or unbaptized persons who are baptized when they enter the Catholic Church. Such a high value is placed on the sacrament of Baptism that paragraph 1256 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church allows for the possibility of anyone performing this rite—provided they have the correct intention, water flows, and the Trinitarian formula is precisely followed.

Paragraph 1257 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which addresses the necessity of Baptism, contains this rather surprising statement, which should give all of us pause any time that we begin to assume we know how God is going to act in any given situation (the Catechism italicizes these words: “God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.”

On the face of it, the argument that an infant has no free will appears to make sense. For every case I know of in which a person was baptized as an infant and later fell away from the Church, there’s a case where a person wasn’t baptized until later in life and became serious about his or her faith. While I’m acquainted with many cases of infants baptized by sincere parents yet the children grew up and left the faith, I know of a number of cases of baptized infants whose parents fell away from the faith (or never really embraced it to begin with) and yet the children grew and became serious about Christianity. I fall into this latter category; Matthew was baptized Catholic at the age of 15. It’s both a blessing and a great mystery that God meets each of us where we are.

It’s impossible to determine from our own experiences whether it’s preferable to baptize people as infants or when they’re adults. The Church has decreed that both forms are valid. One of the truly liberating things about being Catholic is that we don’t have to wrack our brains about this issue. The Church has decided, and we’re bound by that decision. The only difficulty is coming to accept the Church’s authority. I’m in no way attempting to discount how challenging a task that can be, but it’s a topic for another discussion.

I’d suggest that anyone who’s having difficulty accepting the validity of infant Baptism speak with a priest about his or her concerns, and pray asking God for more understanding.

do you know the spiritual fruit associated with the First Luminous Mystery?
Hint: It’s related to the Holy Spirit. You can find out what it is in the “Fruits of Prayer” box on page 85 in Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels. In what ways might this fruit benefit you in your everyday life?

visual meditation is a form of prayer
If you like to draw, consider illustrating your prayers for Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels. Check out the visual-meditation journal that Turning to God’s Word co-founder Tami Palladino created for The Letter to the Hebrews: An Explanation of the Mechanism of Our Salvation. Tami also illustrated Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers and The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness, and some lessons in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus and In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis.

the best Catholic commentary about Scripture
To find out more about how Church teaching is supported by passages in Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels, check out the Index of Citations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Links to the primary Scripture passages in the lesson (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition [RSVCE*]) and relevant paragraphs in the Catechism are provided here. Not every passage in the biblical text for this study is referenced in a Catechism paragraph, however, including the passage in this lesson from the book of Exodus 14:21–29.

the Gospel According to Matthew 3:3—paragraph 523
the Gospel According to Matthew 3:13—paragraph 1223
the Gospel According to Matthew 3:13–17—paragraphs 535, 1286
the Gospel According to Matthew 3:14–15—paragraph 608
the Gospel According to Matthew 3:15—paragraphs 536, 1224
the Gospel According to Matthew 3:16—paragraphs 536, 701
the Gospel According to Matthew 3:16–17—paragraph 1224
the Gospel According to Matthew 3:17—paragraphs 444, 713

ways our glossary might prove helpful
In addition to providing extra information about geographical locations, our glossary also points out when a person or place is mentioned in the biblical text under more than one name or more than one spelling. If you can remember a name but aren’t sure in which lesson it shows up, you can find it in the glossary, which lists every proper noun that appears in the primary biblical text in Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels.

to learn more, read more Scripture
When you’re having difficulty understanding a passage of Scripture, it can help to read the cross references—but looking these up takes time. We’ve compiled the cross references from the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE)—the same translation that we reprint in our study books. The list can be found at the top of every online study page, and it includes links to cross references in the primary biblical texts for all of the lessons in Scripture & the Rosary; New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels.

don’t forget about our indexes & extra online material
If you’re trying to locate information about a Scripture passage, you can look it up in the index at the back of the online version of this study. If you want to revisit a commentary, you can look it up by title in the topics index. If you want to learn more about another book of the Bible for which there’s a Turning to God’s Word study, you can read online commentaries and watch any accompanying videos by choosing a lesson from one of the study directories. (There are no lesson videos with Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels.) Finally, if you have a question or would like to make a comment about any of our studies, you can use the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” button to email our authors.

ex libris—Church documents & books about religious topics
Link to magisterial documents referred to in our Bible studies at ex libris—magisterial documents. This listing includes significant recent encyclicals as well as a number of historical Church documents. Recommended books related to Scripture study can be found at ex libris—main bookshelf.

memorize a favorite Bible verse (4:48)
Turning to God’s Word co-founder Tami Palladino has created a short video about the benefits of memorizing Bible verses. Choosing a passage that you find particularly meaningful will make the task easier. There are inspiring verses in every book of the Bible, but some people in our Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible studies like to memorize a verse from their lesson every week. For more ideas and helpful tips, check out Tami’s video, Why Memorize Scripture? It’s less than five minutes long.


wondering how to pronounce some of these words?
The following links are to readings from the New International Version (NIV) Bible. To listen, click on the audio icon above the printed text. Although not taken from the translations used in our study materials, the NIV readings provide an audio guide to pronunciation of words in this lesson’s primary biblical texts. A close online version of the translation of the Bible used in Catholic liturgy in the United States as well as an audio guide for daily Mass readings for the current month can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

the Gospel According to Matthew 3:1–5 (NIV)
the Gospel According to Matthew 3:13–17 (NIV)
the book of Exodus 14:21–29 (NIV)

close by praying the First Luminous Mystery
Many of our study groups like to conclude discussions of Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels by praying a decade of the Rosary devoted to the Mystery that’s the focus of their lesson. A number of Catholics include a request for an increase in the spiritual fruit associated with the mystery. You can find out what’s associated with the First Luminous Mystery in the “Fruits of Prayer” box on page 85 in Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels.

We invite you to pray along with Turning to God’s Word co-founder Tami Palladino and her daughter Anne Marie on their prayer video featuring the First Luminous Mystery of the Rosary. The prayers and videos for all 20 mysteries are accessible year-round at how to pray the Rosary, and you can access a link to Tami and Anne Marie’s how-to video to learn what’s important about praying the Rosary. Clicking on the diagram (above) will take you to the website page with the Rosary prayers.


Lesson 23 You Have Kept the Good Wine Until Now (the Second Luminous Mystery, the Wedding at Cana)—the Gospel According to John 2:1–11 and the book of Exodus 17:1–7
Lesson 21 A Woman Clothed with the Sun (the Fifth Glorious Mystery, Mary Is Crowned Queen of Heaven)—the book of Revelation 11:19—12:6 and the Book of Esther 8:3–8

you also may like our study of the book of Exodus
You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus, a 28-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, provides an in-depth look at how significant events in biblical history that occurred thousands of years ago to descendants of Jacob remain relevant and even critical for present-day Christians to understand. The deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and the giving of Ten Commandments are examined along with the development of Moses’ relationship to God. Click on the book’s cover to view a sample lesson.

start a Turning to God’s Word Bible study
Thank you for your interest in Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels. Information about beginning a Turning to God’s Word Bible study can be found at start a Bible study. Tami, Matthew, and I are available to answer your questions and to offer support. You may use this email to contact us directly if you’re interested in starting a Turning to God study or in having your study schedule listed with other TtGW study groups on our website. —Jennifer

*There are seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament—the Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and First and Second Maccabees, as well as some passages in the Books of Esther and Daniel. Protestants usually refer to these works as “apocryphal,” a word that means “outside the (Protestant) canon” because they’re excluded from most Protestant Bibles. The word “deuterocanonical” means “second canon”; Catholics use that word to refer to any section of the Catholic Old Testament for which there are no extant, or existing, Hebrew manuscripts. All of the deuterocanonical books appear in the Septuagint, the earliest remaining versions of which date to the 1st century B.C. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was in common use by Jews at the time of Jesus. Learn more by reading How Do Catholic & Protestant Bibles Differ?

Turning to God’s Word printed Bible studies use the 2006 Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation for all Scripture references except those to the Psalms, which are taken from The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and published in 2020 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). All Scripture links for the digital version of Scripture & the Rosary: New Testament Mysteries, Old Testament Parallels are to the 1966 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) translation. The New International Version (NIV) audio recordings follow the same chapter and verse numbering as the RSV Catholic translations, but the NIV translation doesn’t include the deuterocanonical books and passages.

The 1966 RSVCE uses archaic pronouns and verb forms such as “thee,” “thou,” “didst” in the Psalms and in direct quotations attributed to God. The 2006 RSV2CE replaces these with more accessible English. The few significant translation changes in the RSV2CE include rendering almah as “virgin” in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 and restoring the term “begotten” in the Gospel According to John 3:16.

Numbering varies for some passages in this Bible study. Turning to God’s Word studies follow the numbering in the Revised Standard Version Catholic translations (RSV2CE and RSVCE). Discrepancies in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) are noted in the Index of Scripture Citations.

You can learn more about the Psalms by viewing a sample lesson from the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers. The second part of that study, Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume II: Vigils, Day Prayer & Compline, is scheduled for publication in 2025. Some verse numbers may vary in different translations of the Psalms.