“You are my son, The Beloved; with You I am well pleased.”
God’s message to Jesus in today’s Gospel reading, though
seemingly miraculous, particularly in its delivery in the form of a dove, is
actually the same message that will be received by Rudolf and Samuel today as
they are baptised.
Though it probably won’t be delivered by the Holy Spirit, or
with a booming voice from the clouds, at least it wasn’t when I was baptised,
the message is still given and that is because we are all baptised into the
same faith by the same spirit as Christ.
As with Jesus, at our baptism we are first of all named by
our parents. “You are my son” “you are Samuel” “This is Rudolf”. It is also
through our baptism that we are called and named by God as His children and
disciples. As we heard God say in our first reading “I have called you, you are
mine” and this is exactly what God is wanting us to know and understand as we
are baptised. We are his and he knows us and wants to be with us. Our Baptism
is when we take hold of the already out stretched hand of God and walk with him
through our lives through the rivers and fires that threaten to overwhelm us.
The naming at baptism is so significant because it is with
our name that we are made an individual. We are not just another person, an
unknown entity or empty shell we are who we are. And who we are is special
because we are an individual. We all have things that make us unique,
particular gifts that we can share with each other to make the world a better
place and whilst they are not given to us at our baptism our gifts cannot be
put to their full potential unless we have been made a strong individual with a
strong identity.
It is not just a calling and name that we share with Jesus
through our baptism, we are also the beloved. Baptism is almost exclusively a
family affair. The family gathers round the person to be baptised to show
support. Why support? Because that person is loved by their family and they
wish to share in the joy of those to be baptised and their parents, the joy
that comes from being accepted into the most loving community of all, the
community of God.
Though we are an individual we are called into the community
with others, because it is with others that we become whole. Though we have our
own gifts that are unique to us we cannot go through life alone, no one has all
the answers or skills. So God calls us into communion with Himself and with
others who have also come to Him so that we do not have to be alone. The
smaller, weaker parts make up the stronger whole. And so by joining in
communion with others we each become stronger individuals.
Finally we come to the third part of God’s baptismal message,
“with whom I am well pleased”. It is easy to hear this and think “how can God
ever be as pleased with me as he was with Jesus who did such amazing things.” But
if we look at when His baptism appears in the Gospel, Jesus hadn’t started his
ministry yet and so all the amazing things that we think God is pleased with
him for haven’t happened yet. So God must be pleased with Jesus because he had
the potential to do such amazing
things. Jesus did not have to do anything for God to be pleased with him, just
as we don’t, God is pleased with us because we CAN do amazing things. God is
pleased with Rudolf and Samuel because they have the potential to go out after
their baptism and be as kind and loving as Christ.
And with the gifts they have as special individuals and the
love and support of their family, friends and community why shouldn’t they? Why
shouldn’t we all go out and be as Christ was, we all have the potential to and
God is well pleased with us, we are named, called and loved by God at our
baptism because of all the love and gifts that we have that we can use to make
everyone else feel loved. But it is not enough to keep our gifts here in
church, with God’s help we must take our new found status as His beloved from
the font and into the world.
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