When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, his most familiar sermon, he was working close to home. In fact, most of his life happened in a country the size of Vermont or New Jersey.

He had been born in Bethlehem, a small town a few miles south of Jerusalem. He was taken to Egypt as a young child, fleeing religious persecution. After a couple years, he returned to Nazareth, a rural area about 65 miles north from Jerusalem geographically and a million miles culturally and socially.

We don’t know much about what happened from the time his family returned to Nazareth and the time he started the preaching part of his life. Luke gives us the only glimpse. At age twelve, we find Jesus debating with and confounding the other rabbis and teachers of the law (Luke 2:39-52).

Around the age of thirty, he finds his relative, John. We know him as John the Baptist. He was called that because he lived near the Jordan River, and he baptized people. They repented from their sins, and he dipped them in the river. It symbolized the sins being washed away.

Jesus came one day to be baptized. John recognized him and wanted to change places, to be baptized by Jesus. After all, Jesus didn’t have sins to repent from. Jesus refused. He wanted to live out the routine. He was baptized by John. There was a voice from heaven and a dove.

In addition to baptizing, John preached. The elevator version of John’s message was simple: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” And then John got specific about what to repent of. His preaching got the attention of Herod, the son of the Herod the Great, the one who talked with the wise men. John spoke out about Herod’s marriage. Herod locked him up.