Week 1 - February 22 - Love Is A Gift

Luke 3:21–22

Now when all the people were baptized 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.”

While the Gospel of Luke begins with a well known and beloved story of Jesus’ birth, with angels and shepherds and swaddling clothes, followed by a brief interlude featuring Jesus as a somewhat prickly pre-teen, it quickly moves to the beginning of Jesus’ adulthood. That is, the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.

The transition is marked, as so many are, with a ritual moment. Specifically, a baptismal scene. John (aka, Jesus’ cousin, who we already know is going to be a big deal in the religious scene of the day) is going around preaching baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He is challenging people to change the way they live; to live, in fact, as if they are actually forgiven. “Bear fruit worthy of repentance!” he says, before telling them to share generously and to treat people fairly.

When the people start to think that maybe John is the long awaited Messiah, he quickly corrects them. “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” We know this will be Jesus (thanks to the angels of the birth narrative), but before John’s words about Jesus are fulfilled, Jesus himself is baptized by John.

In Luke’s gospel, we don’t actually witness the moment of baptism, like we do in Mark and Matthew. Instead, we are invited into the moment immediately after the baptism when Jesus is praying. It is here that Luke says, the Holy Spirit descends upon him, and a divine voice proclaims to Jesus that he is the beloved son, with whom the Divine is well pleased.

It is then, after his baptism and the heavenly proclamation, that Jesus begins his work.

His ministry, his work–all the teachings, and healings, and forgiveness, and redemption that he offers people throughout his life–up to his death, and finally his resurrection, begins with this moment of recognition. For the Gospel of Luke, it is less about the baptism itself (any developed theology around the ritual of baptism comes later as the church formalizes its liturgy and practices) and more about what that baptism marks: God claiming Jesus as God’s Son. And not just a son, but a beloved son, with whom God is well pleased. We do not know if anyone else hears it, as the voice uses the second person singular. But it’s clear that the message, whether audible to others or not, is for Jesus.

Jesus is claimed for no other reason than God desires to do it. Jesus does not earn his belovedness–his work of ministry hasn’t even started–it just is. Love, holy and sacred love, from God is a gift to Jesus. It is undeserved, unearned, and even perhaps unexpected.

A gift always says something about the giver. These divine words of love and connection and joy reveal a God who loves freely and wholly, without strings attached, without demands or conditions. God loves because that is who God is. In the same way that God claims Jesus as beloved, God claims us, as well. We are loved not because we deserve it but because God loves us. Period. It is a gift, and we need only to receive it.

How would your life change if belovedness came before achievement?
How would it change your relationships if you offered love to others as an unearned, undeserved gift?