Water Made Holy

~~~ The Baptism of the Lord ~~~

~~~ Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 ~~~ Psalm 29 ~~~ 

~~~Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7 ~~~ Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 ~~~

Here is your God!

Jesus humbly submits himself to Baptism.
His humanity was plunged into the very waters created by God.
Jesus submerged in the waters for Baptism by his cousin, John.
From that day forward all waters were made holy.
The person of Jesus human and divine touched the waters.

Here our God purifies the waters
for us to continue to use for Baptisms.
Jesus did not need to subject himself to the cleansing
 waters of Baptism.
Since we are born with original sin
our Baptism is very significant.
It is an outward sign of what takes place in our soul.

Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;

in his arms he gathers the lambs,

carrying them in his bosom,

and leading the ewes with care.

Jesus is the shepherd of our soul.
His love for us causes him to gather us close in his arms.
When you are held that close to a person
you can hear their heart beat.

This is precisely how much you are loved by God...
he holds us tenderly near to his own heart.

I invite you to contemplate this nearness to the heart
of Jesus during this week.

He holds us with great tenderness.
There is only peace and calm in his arms.

The Lord will bless his people with peace.

When the shepherd is near
there is no need for fear or anxiety.
All is Calm...All is Bright...
All is Right in our hearts.

There is reason to have JOY!
Blessed in the waters of Baptism!

~~~Peace~~~

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~~~

You are Also 'Beloved"

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

~~Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7~~Psalm 29 ~~Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38~~Matthew 3:13-17~~

John reluctantly allows Jesus to be baptized by him
 in the penitential waters of the Jordan River.
Jesus, though sinless, enters into our sinfulness and submits
himself to the ritual cleansing.
He willfully enters with us into our darkness.
He humbles himself so that we may be
brought to his life giving waters of salvation.

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;

As Jesus approaches the banks of the river he experiences
 the smells of the area.
He feels the coolness and wetness of the water.
He hears the voice of the Father...

The voice of the LORD is over the waters,
the LORD, over vast waters.
The voice of the LORD is mighty;
the voice of the LORD is majestic. 

He sees the Holy Spirit appear above his head as the dove.
He is the beloved Son, who is with us.

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.

The Trinity comes together over these cleansing waters,
these baptismal waters...
these waters that remove sin and cleanse the soul.

And a voice came from the heavens, saying,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Jesus became like us in all things except sin
so that we could become children of the light.

The Trinity comes together at the baptism of the Lord.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit converge together to validate
and confirm the salvation for all of us.

At our baptism we are also called 'beloved' by God the Father.
We are saved by the Son through our baptism.
We are strengthened through the Holy Spirit at our baptism.

We are surrounded by blessings through our Baptism.
Peace.

Humility of Our God

~~~Feast of the Baptism of the Lord~~~

~~~ Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11 ~~~ Psalm 29 or 104 ~~~ Acts 10:34-38 ~~~ Luke 3: 15-16, 21-22 ~~~

Today officially marks the close of the Christmas season.

We have been reminded since Christmas that all nations and peoples

 came to adore the Infant Child.

We have seen that this Christ Child walked the Earth as one of us.

He brought hope to the suffering.

He actions were motivated from his heart.

Today we see Jesus subject himself to Baptism.

Baptism is for sinners.

Jesus came before his cousin John, entered into the waters of the Jordan,

and was Baptized with many others.

The pure unblemished Jesus physically blended in with the others

seeking to be cleansed of the sins that day.

His soul, however, was far from needing to be washed of sin.

It is a well known fact that the best way to learn a foreign language is to immerse

yourself in the language...living with the people.

This exactly what Jesus did; he immersed himself into humanity.

While still retaining his being God; he became fully human.

He subjected himself the helplessness of a baby and

today we see him subjecting himself to something reserved for sinners...

Baptism.

Jesus could have skipped plunging into the waters by John, 

but he did not.

Human nature would not have embraced this with such humility.

Jesus modeled so much of what it means to be the best human being.

I dare say most humans I know would not have subjected themselves

to something they did not need.

Spiritually the soul of Jesus did not benefit from his Baptism.

We are the ones who benefited.

We were allowed to hear the Father validate

Jesus as being his 'Beloved' Son.

Beloved,

the most endearing term of affection.

Today I am reminded of the lengths to which Jesus went to 

be one of us not to simply live among us.

The humility of our God is mind boggling.

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.