Belovedness

"Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'" (Luke 3.21-22)

There are Sundays when the scriptures that we read put us on edge. When they push us out of our comfort zone, challenge us with God’s demands for justice or remind us of the tensions in our lives and in our world.

But today is not one of those Sundays. Today is a feel-good Sunday, a day of special celebration. We will celebrate Greg’s baptism, a sacrament that reminds us of how precious Greg is as a beloved child of God. And this is a day when our scripture readings wrap their arms around us and give us a great big hug. In Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism we are told that when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened and a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

The words that the Father speaks to Jesus in that moment echo the language that God spoke through the prophet Isaiah in our first reading, words spoken to all of us, all those whom God created:

“You are precious in my sight, and honoured, and I love you.”

That’s what God is saying to Greg today in his baptism. “You are precious in my sight, and honoured, and I love you.”

“You are my beloved child. With you I am well pleased.”

Take a moment. Can you imagine these words being spoken to Greg today?

Yes?

Now, can you hear them being spoken to you? And deep in the depths of your being, do you believe them?

I pray that you do. The question of our own belovedness is one of the most important questions of our lives.  Yet often, we have a lot of doubts and assumptions that get in the way.

I was reading a commentary this week about Jesus’ baptism, about this account in Luke that we just read together.

When the voice from heaven speaks to Jesus with the words, “with you I am well pleased”, the commentator’s gut reaction is, ‘how can that be, Jesus hasn’t done anything yet!’ His work, his public ministry is still to come.

Isn’t that such a 21st century reaction!  Because in our day and age, so often we associate our worth, our belovedness, with our accomplishments and achievements. Show me what you’ve done, and then I’ll let you know if I’m pleased with you or not.

But with God, that’s not the way it is. Our belovedness has nothing to do with our CV. It’s not something we earn by being good.

Which is why I think that God uses the language of a “beloved child” to try to get through to us that we are precious and loved.

When a child is born, especially when our own child or grandchild is born, we don’t have to wait a few years, to see how it goes, to see what he does, before we determine whether our child is beloved or not. When my grandson was born, he was my beloved grandchild from the moment he was born, if not even before that. Greg’s parents aren’t waiting a few more years to decide whether Greg is worthy of love or not. Greg is their beloved child right now and always has been. With Greg, they are well pleased.

That’s the way that God loves us. Even though we may want to prove our worth, even though we might feel that we have to do things to be deserving of love, God says no, actually that’s not how it works. I love you and have always loved you, you are precious and worthy in my sight. You are my beloved child, with you I am well pleased. For you, I would go to the moon and back. Even give my life.

I suppose I could stop there. If that’s all you need to hear this morning, feel free to tune me out. But there are a couple more things that I’d like to add, a couple more themes in today’s gospel that are so prominent in the gospel of Luke that they’re worth mentioning, especially since we will be spending a lot of time in the gospel of Luke this year.

The first is to note that in Luke’s account, it is not as Jesus is baptized that the great epiphany occurs, that is, that the heavens open, the Spirit descends upon him, and the voice declares him beloved.

No, it is as Jesus is praying that these things happen. Did you notice that? As we work our way through Luke’s gospel, Jesus will turn to prayer over and over again. Prayer is the fuel for Jesus’ identity, his ministry and his relationship with the Father.

Praying matters for us too. It is one of the ways that we discover our own belovedness. It is when we pray that we give God the opportunity to convey to us that we are God’s beloved children. When we pray, we can set aside our doubts and our fears, leave our achievements and our CV behind, and simply be with the One who thinks that we are precious, who is well pleased with us and who loves us.

The other thing worth noticing in today’s reading is that as Jesus prays, he is filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke tells us that “The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.” Again, this is a recurring theme in the gospel of Luke. It’s something we’ve already encountered many times as we’ve worked through Advent and Christmas. Luke tells us even before his birth, that John the Baptist will be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes upon Mary. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Zechariah too, and Simeon. And in today’s chapter 3, it is Jesus upon whom the Spirit descends, and then again in Chapter 4 Luke will tell us that Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus will say of himself, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.”  And on it goes, right through Luke and Acts, the sequel. Because it seems like one of God’s signature moves is to fill his beloved children with the Holy Spirit.

We recognize this promise, this pattern, this signature move, in the sacrament of baptism. As John the Baptist himself reminded his listeners, I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And those who are baptized with the Spirit, who are filled with the Spirit, will be empowered by God to become part of the movement that Jesus calls the kingdom of God, the movement that will bring about God’s love and grace and justice on earth as in heaven.

In a few minutes, we will pray for Greg. And among our prayers for Greg, just before he is baptized, perhaps the most important words we will speak this morning, will be these:

“Fill him with your Holy and life-giving Spirit. Lord, hear our prayer.”

Pretty awesome don’t you think?

Through baptism, God will declare Greg to be his beloved child, with whom he is well pleased, precious in God’s sight and loved by God. As we pray for Greg, as we participate in this sacrament of baptism, we will see that these things are true for Greg.

May we also come to know that these things are true for each one of us.

You are precious in God’s sight. God loves you. You are God’s beloved child and with you God is well pleased.

Amen.

Homily Yr C Baptism of Our Lord, Jan 12 2025. Trinity

Readings: Isaiah 43.1-7; Psalm 29; Acts 8.14-17; Luke 3.15-17, 21-22

Image by Eva Bronzini