sake, all the man did was stand there in a river and get some water poured over his head. Or maybe he was dunked; it’s not clear. What really concerns me is that heavenly voice, booming affirmation over the river and across time and space.
Forgive me for being thickheaded, but “pleased’ with what? What exactly has Jesus done to date to elicit such high praise from his heavenly Father? Search your Bible high and low and try to discover a single example of exemplary behavior recorded in any of the Gospels prior to his baptism. You’ll find a good bit about his birth, a single story from his childhood (Luke 2:41–51), but little else prior to this watery event—no miracles, no teachings, no impressive deeds at all. Zilch. And if Jesus had been a rather precocious teenager, an up and coming young adult, I’d say somebody would have written it down. And none of the Gospels do.5 Which means Jesus lived a fairly normal, nondescript life in those early years, nothing flashy or noteworthy.
So forgive me for asking what seems like an impertinent question, but what exactly is this heavenly voice so pleased about? What has elicited these divine cartwheels? It must not take a whole lot to make God happy, for the divine Father is absolutely beside himself with delight and pleasure for reasons that are altogether unclear to me. Jesus is standing there in the water, dripping wet, in need of a towel, and heaven goes nuts.
Please notice this watery story where Jesus is drenched in divine delight and showered with God’s good pleasure. Notice it well because it just doesn’t fit our modern notions of behavior modification and reward. “Now Johnny, first you learn to use the potty properly without messing your pants and then I’ll give you an M&M.” “That’s right, Vivian, since you’ve been selected Student of the Week and are such a good little girl, you get to dust the erasers today.” “Stewart, our profits are way ahead this year thanks to your hard work. Here’s a little Christmas bonus to show our appreciation and there’s more where that came from, if you know what I mean.”
As far as I can tell, God must have failed “Behavior Mod 101” in college because his divine pleasure at the river with the man standing in the water has nothing at all to do with Jesus’ performance record. For God is apparently delighting in (and pouring his spirit into) a son who has no miraculous vita, no impressive resume, and not a single recorded good deed to date. Not only does this tell us a lot about God, it also tells us loads about baptism.
Pastors, as you might guess, have to walk into a rather large measure of human misery on a fairly regular basis; it’s part of the territory. But we also get to view some pretty remarkable things on a regular basis. Like watching two parents hold a new baby in the first days of life, just delighting in their child—just gazing in wonder and pleasure. I have a pastor friend who regularly visits the maternity ward on his hospital rounds (even if no one from his church is there) to remind himself that death and woe do not have the last word. Love has the last word.
Wasn’t Jesus loved in just this way? With equal and surpassing delight? Jesus was doused with water that day, but he was also bathed and surrounded by God’s good bliss and pleasure—which leads to a theory.
Have you ever noticed that it’s only after his baptism that the miraculous works of Jesus begin? I’ve come to believe that Jesus’ radical ministry of good works, his feeding of the poor, and his inclusion of people who were neither popular nor powerful are all a direct result of his clear identity as God’s beloved. He was free to love others (even to the point of giving his life) because he knew of Another who loved him indescribably and infinitely. Ponder this: perhaps God’s lavish, unconditional pleasure in Jesus empowered him to love so radically and freely; a love poured into him at baptism.
More pondering: what if the same Spirit poured into Jesus at the Jordan is also poured into Christ’s church via baptism? Baptism is not some magical ticket to heaven we get punched when the water is poured. As a result of baptism, our lives will begin to resemble the life of Jesus.6
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A recurring problem in our relationships arrests the growth of so very many people. The unhappiest people I know (the most wounded people I know) fear deep down that no one delights in them; no one takes pleasure in them. They fear that they always have to earn approval, acceptance, and love. They’ve heard only criticism, never blessing.
It’s impossible for such people to just be. They have to perpetually justify their existence to others. This is what it truly means to be self-absorbed—sadly spending much of our time trying to get others to love us. Never confident that love is there without condition, many fill their lives with trivia and trinkets and shallow friendships. Such people are often a hurt waiting to happen. Such a person is blocked from true love of others because they themselves do not feel loved.
The church’s gospel invites us to love others, even those who are difficult to love. “You are my Child, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Yes, that was the voice that echoed across an old river centuries ago. But what if that same voice echoes across the waters of your congregation’s font at every baptism? Here’s one of our main callings as disciples of Jesus in his church: to let the baptismal delight drenched upon us by a glad God flow through our lives to others.
This specifically means that we’ll spend a great deal of time blessing others: building the spiritual esteem of children; telling people how special they are and what gifts you see in them—in short, taking sheer delight in one another. There are so many opportunities to do this every day with a variety of people.
It took me a long time to learn this as a father. I guess I thought it was my role to always correct and guide with a strong hand; to morally instruct and always be the discipline guy. I missed a lot of opportunities to simply bless and commend and tell my children how delighted I was with them. This is such an important part of being a Christian, a baptized follower of Jesus—maybe more important than anything we do. Please, do not keep silent. When we bless and take pleasure in others, we are reflecting the very delight of God.
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Remember: God went plumb bonkers over Jesus before he’d “done” a blessed thing. He was so proud of his Son. “This is my child, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Do you believe those words were intended also for you? I hope and pray so. Because only then, from that clear and vocal identity of acceptance, can we slowly learn to love as Jesus loved. His ministry began in the water upon listening to the clear voice of his Father. Ours begins there, too. We are the walking wet; drenched in divine delight.
Who can we build up with a kind word? Who can we gift with the very delight of God? Anyone coming to mind?
Some advice: tell them.
For further reflection:
1. Why is it often so difficult for us to begin with affirmation rather than correction or criticism?
2. If you’ve been baptized, do some research on the date and circumstances of your baptism and begin celebrating the date with at least as much gusto as your earthly birthday.
5. There are some rather bizarre examples of notorious childhood behavior (including an odd story of Jesus turning a bully into a bird!) in various apocryphal Gospels.
6. See Rom 6:1–11.
3. Walk on By
“. . . and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here
