Baptism of our Lord                  Matt. 3:13-17                                    1/9/05

                                                                  “Beloved” 

Have you ever had someone call you his/her “Beloved”?  Perhaps because we claim to *love* so many things, from any of a number of girl/boyfriends to a favorite pet to a popular pizza palace, to a car, a local football team, love seems to have lost its specialness.  On the other hand, to be someone’s “Beloved” creates a sense of real connection, a unique relationship, emotion directed in a particular way.  As we see in today’s lesson, being beloved is not limited to romantic relationships. 

God speaks from heaven and declares for all the world to hear, Jesus is God’s Son, the Beloved, with whom God is well pleased.  There are some important details here that we need to consider.   

First, God speaks for all to hear.  In Mark and Luke, only Jesus hears this affirmation.  Matt., on the other hand, wants everyone to know that this Jesus who calls the people of the Church to discipleship has a special status.  Even God publicly acknowledges Him.  People need to know that this was a very important event.  It was an epiphany – an appearance by God to His people. 

Then, we hear God say that this is His Son.  You may remember from a few weeks ago when I was preaching on Joseph’s relationship to Jesus and acceptance of Him, that I highlighted the importance of a Father publicly claiming His Son.  When a man held his son up and acknowledged paternity, he also committed all that he had as an inheritance to that son.  This would be his heir and the people present were witnesses to the will. 

Could God have been any clearer that He intended Jesus to be his heir.  Jesus, who appeared to all like just another man, was to inherit God’s power and glory.  He was to carry on the family business of establishing a covenant relationship with God’s people.  He was to take on the responsibility for saving the world.  Being declared God’s “Beloved” was an awesome designation, but it was also an awesome assignment. 

And finally God states that He is well pleased with Jesus.  Now, in a way this is a mystifying phrase.  Jesus hasn’t even begun his ministry yet.  He hasn’t (so far as we know) done anything special that would cause God to express His pleasure.  This isn’t God being like a father who owns a huge corporation and has watched his son work his way up through the ranks, a father who is now ready to say, “This is my son, with whom I’m well pleased.  He’s ready to take over the company.”   

No, it would seem that what Jesus has done to please the Father is to come for baptism.  He has shown Himself willing to so totally identify with God’s people that He will even receive the baptism of repentance.  That this is an exceptional action is made clear when John resists Jesus desire to be baptized.  As portrayed in Matt.  John knows that Jesus doesn’t need the baptism of repentance because Jesus is without sin.  But, Jesus who will carry the full weight of all our sins to the cross insists on receiving a sinner’s baptism.

Thus, He truly is Emmanuel, God With Us.  He is called to empty Himself of all Godly glory and become a human, but a human who is also God.  And in that He becomes “The Beloved” with whom God is well pleased. 

God may not speak with a voice from the heavens, but we too hear ourselves called, “The Beloved”.  We hear it when we are baptized and every time we return in memory or imagination to that baptism.  God says, “Ida, John, Elnora, Art, Chanda, or whatever our name”, is my daughter or son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. 

Just like Jesus, we haven’t done anything to deserve this designation.  Unlike Jesus, most of us didn’t even choose to come for baptism.  In fact, some of us may have come kicking and screaming the whole way.  But, no matter how or when we came, God does with us as He did with Jesus.  He declares us to be His children and heirs with Jesus of all that He has.  He proclaims for all the world to know, we are His beloved with whom He is well pleased...and why not. 

God made us in His image.  God redeemed us, washed us clean with the blood of His Son.  God placed His own Spirit in our hearts so that we could always find our way home to Him.  There is something very special in this that I think we give too little thought to.  God’s declaration that we are His beloved means that no matter what we may do, no matter how we may fail, no matter how we may feel about ourselves, no matter what others may think of us or we of ourselves, NO MATTER WHAT, we can always return to our baptism and lay claim to our status as His beloved.   

This was Luther’s chief comfort.  Whenever he felt tempted by Satan or felt beaten down by his own self-criticism or attacks by others, Luther would flee to his baptism and declare, “I am baptized”  Notice, he didn’t say, “I have faith”, he said, “I am baptized”.  That was his assurance – it wasn’t something he needed to do, even have faith, but entirely something God did and continued in him.  Luther even advised his followers to return daily to their baptisms for comfort, assurance and strength.   

We need to hear regularly and frequently that we are God’s Beloved. There are so many forces that try to tell us that we are unacceptable.  Our culture is constantly telling us we are not good enough.  People, even family members or fellow Christians may say things that make us feel we are not acceptable. And how many times do we hear our own inner voice saying we are not good enough.  Thus, we need to daily flee to our baptisms and hear God say, “You are my beloved with whom I am well pleased.”  

But, notice that the story doesn’t end with Jesus baptism.  Jesus doesn’t come up out of the waters and take His place behind the big corporate desk, put His feet up and say, “Now, I’ve made it.  I can kick back and enjoy my status.  I can run things my way.” 

No, as we will see in the next couple weeks, baptism is just the beginning for Jesus.  After a kind of ritualized struggle with temptation, Jesus gathers believers and gets on with the ministry He was called to.

The same is true for us.  In gratitude for being made the Beloved by God, we go out into the world to declare the Good News of God’s love to others and invite them to become followers of Jesus, we reach out a healing hand to people who are hurting from all kinds of life events and we seek to do God’s will wherever we are.  And, wherever we go we continue to hear, “This is my son (my daughter), the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.  Amen.