"You Are My Beloved" - Sermon for Baptism of Our Lord Sunday

You Are My Beloved
Baptism of Our Lord – Narrative Lectionary 3
January 8, 2017
Grace, Mankato, MN
Luke 3.1-22

...and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3.21-22)

Whenever I read the story of Jesus’ baptism, I am always reminded of some stories about my father. One night when I was young, my father took me along to his bowling night, something that rarely happened because he bowled on a school night. It was my father that taught me to bowl, so this was special. That night he introduced me to one of his bowling buddies who said, “Carl, I know he’s your son; he walks just like you!” I was so proud; I was my father’s son and I walked just like him! My chest puffed out a few inches and I paid close attention to how I walked thereafter.

 Fast forward about 25 years later. At my father’s funeral, a number of people told me how proud my father was of me. Again, my heart swelled with pride, but it was also a little bittersweet. I found myself wishing that he had told me that he was proud of me.

We don’t know what was going on inside Jesus at his baptism, whether he swelled with pride, only that he was praying. The heavens open, the Holy Spirit in the form of dove descends and God the Father speaks those incredible words, “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Now, we also don’t know why Jesus came to be baptized, though much ink has been spilled over the question. I suspect that his baptism was more for our benefit than it was for his, which is usually the case in some of these Jesus stories. Though Luke has told us repeatedly in the first two chapters who Jesus is and what he is going to mean for us, here we have heavenly affirmation that fact.

We’re also pretty sure that John’s baptisms weren’t like ours. They were probably some form of a Jewish purification rite. Even so, I think these verses, sparse as they are, are deeply significant for us today. God the Father’s words to Jesus are at least as important for us as they were for Jesus. To get at the meaning for us, we have to put our Trinitarian hats on, which is not hard with the Holy Spirit present. We confess that there is one God manifest to us in three persons, who have been in relationship with each other for eternity. We also confess that one of those persons emptied himself to take on human flesh.

However, as important as the work of the various persons of the Trinity is, I believe it’s identity that’s key in our passage today. Jesus is beloved to God the Father not because of what he does, but because of who he is. This is a profoundly important message for those of us who have been baptized into Jesus. Baptism is many things: healing of our broken relationship with God; a washing away of our brokenness; the promise of new life, now and forever; and becoming part of God’s family. Yet, tying all of this together is promise that God calls us beloved children, no matter what our situation.

I want all of you to know today that no matter what you have done or not done, you are beloved daughters and sons of God and that love will never be withdrawn or diminished. We live in a culture that measures us by what kind of jobs we have, how much money we make, how good our children are, what kinds of products we consume, and which way our politics or gender swings. Those things are important to God, but not in the way we think. You see, because we are God’s beloved, we don’t have to fake it anymore. We we are freed by God’s love to become the children God has created us to be. We can open ourselves up to one another, be vulnerable and take risks to have deep and abiding relationships, with God and with each other. I want Grace Lutheran Church to be a place for that to happen.

I know that my Dad loved me for who I was, even if he didn’t agree with all that I did. I know this because I have two daughters of my own. Even as I praise my daughters for their accomplishments, I try to tell them I love them no matter what. And I’m determined that this message is clear to everyone connecting here at Grace. You are God’s beloved children and you are welcome here to experience that love, especially if you have been beaten up by messages that say otherwise. You are God’s beloved and God delights when you hear it. Amen.