The Beloved

Today's reading is the Baptism of the Lord. "After the Lord was baptized, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and the voice of the Father thundered: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Mt. 3: 16-17

The other time Jesus is referred to as the beloved was at the Transfiguration.
It is such an endearing statement...my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Every child longs to hear that they are loved by their parents. Many times, as parents we say words that do not project the emotional content. In some cases the words do not even match the emotion; they are simply empty words. The letters of the words are only outlined with nothing inside. Children have this uncanny ability to see through hollow words and often reject the person.

In this passage God saturates our senses with vivid details. Visually we can picture the clouds billowing apart swirling about until a clearing is revealed. We are given another more beautiful image in the Spirit descending like a dove. We can easily picture a beautiful white dove, wings outstretched, fluttering down upon Jesus. God gives us this image so that we have something tangible to identify the Spirit. God wants us to be able to accept what is taking place. He gave us eyes so that we can see and believe. sometimes the Spirit comes like a wind, but this time it is a dove.

...the voice of the Fathered thundered...thundered is such a powerful word. If you are intently watching a movie and all of a sudden there is a loud sound it is natural to be startled or even frightened. So when the invisible voice came unexpected and like thunder it must have made a huge impact.

I want to invite you to place yourself into this scene and confidently hear the Father speak these same words to you. This is my Beloved daughter/son (add your own name here too), in whom I am well pleased.

Isaiah records in chapter 42:1 the Lord saying, "Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whomI have put my spirit...". He continues in verses 6-7 with a beautiful image "I have grasped you by the hand". If we place our hand in the hand of the Father we will only want to do what pleases him as we walk together.

The original image was of a white dove amidst the clouds. I chose this kaleidoscope image because to me it captures the beauty of being a 'beloved' child of God's.

Walk hand in hand with the Lord.