Mark 1:7 - 11
We recently enjoyed a three week visit from our nine-year old granddaughter. We have nineteen grandchildren and love them all, but this one is the youngest and we hadn't seen her in a year so we can be forgiven, I hope, for all the attention she got. But it got me thinking about love. When we and her other grandparents first met her, it was obvious that we loved her. Right now she’s like any nine year old; she knows how to push your buttons, and can charm most people she runs into. But she couldn’t do that nine years ago; she was helpless, totally focused on her own comfort or lack of it, and required a lot of attention. And still we loved her.
I remember a time in my life, back when I was about three or four. My mother worked as a nurse and my father was temporarily working in a different town after he got out of the army. I was being cared for by my dad’s parents. I have fleeting memories of this time, and my parents don’t play much of a role. Instead, I was aware of my grandparents and of being loved -- unconditionally, I guess. I don’t remember trying to get on their good side or acting cute or anything like that -- it seemed as though all that was necessary was for me to be myself. I would sit at the little table and chair that my grandfather had made especially for me, and enjoy my favorite lunch which usually involved some kind of soup. I would snuggle into a green blanket in my grandparent’s bedroom to take my nap, secure in knowing that my grandmother was in the next room. I experienced being loved.
As I grew older, and as my granddaughter grows older, most of us will learn that some behaviors are rewarded and others aren’t. When we are rewarded for behaving, we begin to confuse that with being loved. Some of us, myself especially, become overachievers because the response of parents and teachers and even my classmates feels a lot like love. But the danger is that we begin to define ourselves with our achievements, and when we experience failure, it can shatter our self esteem; it feels like we are no longer loved. During this season of Covid the suicide rate has gone up; alcoholism and drug use are off the charts and depression is a major public health problem. Covid has taken away the ability of many of us to engage in those behaviors that make us feel loved -- by those who depend on us, by our colleagues in business, and even by ourselves. The opposite of feeling loved is not feeling hated, it’s feeling superfluous, unimportant, irrelevant.
The baptism of Jesus always brings to mind the question, why did he need baptism? Isn’t baptism about the removal of original sin? And Jesus didn’t have that, for sure. The Gospel of Matthew, in fact, has John saying “It is I who should be baptized by you” and Jesus replies strangely, “Let it go for now, because it is proper that we fulfill all righteousness.” And of course the gospels make it clear that John’s was a baptism signifying repentance, not the sacramental baptism that Jesus introduced. Of course that doesn’t help either, because why does Jesus need to repent? And is he just going through the motions to give people an example? I don’t know. I could give you a lot of theories and even the writers of the New Testament are of different opinions. But one thing is certain; when Jesus comes up out of the water, he hears the voice from heaven: “This is my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” And he hasn’t done anything yet. He’s worked as a carpenter, probably took care of his mother, studied in the synagogue -- he’d led an ordinary life. Once he became a celebrity, people looked at him and asked, “Where did he get all this? Isn’t he the son of a carpenter?” But Jesus himself had heard the voice from heaven and realized, “I am loved.” And in that moment he knew that he was loved because of who he was, not because of what he had done or what he might do in the future. Right now in this moment the stunning revelation that he was the recipient of overwhelming unconditional love.
There are many effects of baptism. We are given the means to overcome original sin; we are forgiven our personal sins. We become members of the People of God stretching back to Abraham and Moses and David. We join a people set apart. But the Church tells us that we become adopted children of God, we become brothers and sisters of Jesus himself -- and in that moment, and in all subsequent moments, even when we sin, even when we break God’s law, if we listen carefully we will hear those words as well -- You are my beloved.
And then the Father stands back and awaits our response to his love. And some of us will walk away and other will be like me, sometimes trying, sometimes failing, progressing here and there, falling back -- and then there will be others who will devote their whole lives to responding to the love that was freely given, like Jesus himself, who gave himself up out of love for us, yes, but primarily out of love for the Father. Because if you are beloved, you know that nothing can harm you, and that the Father is always there waiting for you to return his love.
We are the body of Christ, and we too hear the voice from heaven, “This is my beloved” In this year of new beginnings let us resolve to respond to this love.
