You Are My Beloved
We know this story. Perhaps we know it all too well and miss
what’s really happening. Since the
Troubles surrounding his birth, beginning with the visit of the three magi from
the East. They had stopped to see Herod, the King of the Jews to ascertain
where the child had been born. Herod’s own wisemen had said it must be in
Bethlehem home of David, King of the Jews, and so it was. Yet, the visitors
could tell Herod was not at all excited to hear the news of the child’s birth,
so instead of returning to Herod to confirm the location, they went home by
“another way.”
Meanwhile, in a dream Joseph was warned to take the child
and his mother to Egypt. Of all places! That’s where the story began, but by
fleeing out of Egypt to get the people of God out of bondage to Pharaoh. But to
Egypt they fled, and a good thing too. For Herod sent his most savage forces to
Bethlehem and the surrounding region to kill all children under the age of two
– and any and all parents, aunts, uncles and so forth who dared to get in the
way. Much innocent blood had been shed. The child born to be king would grow up
with no cousins, and few other family members.
A messenger again appeared in a dream to give Joseph the all
clear signal: it was safe to take the child back to Bethlehem. But when they
got there and saw what had happened, and that another more fierce descendent of
the House of Herod was now in charge, Joseph took the child and his mother to
Nazareth in the northern region of Galilee. This is where the child grew up. His
name was Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.
When he was around 30-years old, Jesus had heard of a man
named John, down south, on the banks of the River Jordan, outside Jerusalem,
leading a revival meeting that attracted all sorts of people from the region of
Judea. John was hearing their confessions and baptizing them in the river,
turning people back to live in the Way of the Lord. Some Pharisees and
Sadducees, who thought of themselves as holier than the Lord God, came to watch.
John chased them off, calling after them, “You brood of vipers! What makes you
think you can escape the wrath to come!” Even John did not know that the “wrath
to come” would be a kind of forgiveness and love the world had never seen. That
the wrath of God is God’s relentless compassion and love, pursuing us even when
we are at our worst. [i]
Soon after the arrogant ones had left, Jesus came walking
down from Galilee to join with the people who were confessing and being
baptized and starting their lives anew. John recognized something authentic and
true in the young man before him. John said, “No!” John said, “It is you who
should be baptizing me!” No, said the young man, I have been sent by my Father
to live among God’s people. I want to bathe in the waters of repentance just
like everyone else. John saw there was nothing to do but to baptize this Jesus
from Nazareth in Galilee.
That’s when it happened. As Jesus came up out of the water,
the Holy Spirit descended and landed upon him like a dove – like the dove after
the flood. And if that was not enough, a voice came out of the heavens above, “This
is my Son, my Beloved; with whom I am well pleased.” [ii]The
crowd around John all stopped. They had seen and heard something. Some, as
reported by the evangelist John, thought it was thunder! Others thought it was
angels! Jesus said, “No, it was not thunder, nor was it angels. It was my
Father, my God and your God. My father and yours. I’ve been sent here to teach
you to pray to our Father and live in his Way.”
See what happened there? In these few spare sentences of Matthew’s,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all on stage at the same time. The
Holy Family of the Blessed Trinity are all there, down by the river. John
surely saw it as plain as day. Everything had just been made new!
It was as Isaiah had said all those many years ago: “Here
is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put
my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations… He will not
grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth… Thus
says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread
out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it… I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I
give to no other, nor my praise to idols.
See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.” [iii]
And that is just what Jesus set out to do – bring forth
justice for all peoples and to tell people that the old ways have already
passed, and the new news is good news for all people, for God my Father shows
no partiality. In every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is
acceptable to him.[iv] Jesus
then gathered come companions (which means those who share bread), beginning
with Peter and his brother Andrew, and John and his brother James. They were
all fishermen, but Jesus asked them only to follow him and fish for people.
Together, as a community of God’s people, they healed
people, fed people and taught people the Way of the Lord’s love and
forgiveness. And they baptized people in the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit. Although Herod thought he had put an end to this Jesus on a Roman
cross, alas, after three days in a borrowed tomb, having no home or tomb of his
own, he began to appear to his companions. He handed over his Spirit to them.
He breathed on them! And after being in hiding for several days, they set out
to tell the story, to proclaim the news to all people everywhere, showing no
partiality.
For now, Jesus was in them. They were in him. And everyone
who joined in sharing the bread of companionship with them and with Jesus came
to know a deep and important truth: Like Jesus, they too were God’s Beloved!
God was well pleased with them! Right on down to this very day the news continues
to spread: You are God’s Beloved. God is well pleased with you! Be still, let
loose, and know, says the Lord, that I am God, and you are my beloved children.[v]
And I breathe on you my life and my love for you to share with others, all
others. Everywhere. All the time.
That is what happened down by the River Jordan that day when
Jesus walked down from Nazareth of Galilee to join with all the people being
baptized by John. New things happened. And new things continue to spring forth,
as former things have come to pass! For the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
are all here, right now, all the time! All shall be well. All shall be well.
All manner of thing shall be well! Amen. Amen. Amen. Alleluia! Alleluia!
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