You Are Beloved

On this weekend celebrating the baptism of Jesus, I find myself reflecting on my own baptism. I was just a baby so don’t remember it; but as Jesus had been presented in the Temple as a baby, my parents were proclaiming my life as God’s and our life as part of a larger church community.

As I grew older, I would formally make the choice to confirm my deepest belonging in God and commit to bearing God’s love, and to continue to do so as part of a church.

I know that many today are resistant to being associated with “church.” Not all experiences of growing up in the church, or one’s family for that matter, were loving and life-giving. But a healthy spiritual community provides the support we all need to keep faith in who we are at heart and to embody God’s presence in the world.

Much of Jesus’ growing up years are unknown. But we do know Mary and Joseph’s steadfast faith and trust in God and that of their community must have formed Jesus deeply. We know too by Jesus’ teachings that he was well schooled in God’s goodness, generosity, and justice. And by his life we see that he was steeped in the way of prayer and reverence for creation.

In Luke’s gospel* we meet Jesus as an adult on the cusp of public ministry. He joins the crowds of spiritually hungry people on the bank of the Jordan to be baptized by his cousin John who in the wilderness is calling for repentance and life change in accordance with the kingdom of heaven at hand. He speaks of one coming who will baptize with the fire of the Holy Spirit, who will reveal the fullness of God’s saving grace and liberating love in action.

As Jesus is baptized by John and rises from the waters praying, the Spirit descends upon him in bodily form like a dove, and he hears the voice of Heaven, “You are my son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Temptations and trial lie ahead for Jesus, but his community had prepared him well.