The Beloved Scene

~~~The Baptism of the Lord~~~

~~~Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7~~~Psalm 29~~~

~~~Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38~~~Mark 1:7-11~~~

On coming up out of the water he saw

 the heavens being torn open 

and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.

And a voice came from the heavens, 

“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The only 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 accurate 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 one 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 Father came from the cloud.

If you are intently watching a movie and all of a sudden

 there is a loud voice it is natural to be startled or even frightened. 

So when the invisible voice came unexpected 

it must have made a huge impact.

I 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 whom I 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.

Through the Baptism of Jesus

all of the waters are made holy...the Spirit descends 

upon Jesus and the voice of the Father is heard.

The Trinity is present in the way our senses

 are touched in this scene.

Blessings as we reflect upon the

beauty of the Beloved Scene

of Baptism.

~~~Peace~~~