Thursday, June 19, 2014
Matthew 3:16-17 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
BELOVED SON
This is a Scripture reading often used for Trinity Sunday because all three persons mentioned in our baptism are seen at work in connection with Jesus' baptism. And at the very center is the Beloved Son.
When Jesus stood on trial before the Sanhedrin, the high priest Caiaphas put Him on the stand saying, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."
Jesus answered: "You said it!" (Matthew 26:63-64).
Caiaphas promptly tore his clothes and pronounced judgment.
But Jesus was not the only One who testified to His being the second person of the Godhead. Already at His baptism, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and rested on Him. And the voice from heaven identified Jesus as "my beloved Son," but, unlike Caiaphas, continued "with whom I am well pleased."
Now we too are well-pleasing to God in connection with Jesus Christ, who died in our place, rose from the dead, ascended from this earth, and "will come in the same way as (they) saw him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). He says, "Behold, I am coming soon ... I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:12-13). He into whose name we were baptized is able to hear, able to heal, able to help, able to save. Let us call upon Him with a confident "Amen!"
