Twelve Days of Christmas Reflections - Day 7

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.” Matthew 16-17

I'm going backwards today, maybe its appropriate since it is the last day of 2013 and everyone tends to look back. I have one more title given to Jesus by someone else and this was before He started His ministry. When Jesus was baptized the Spirit of God, our first look at the Holy Spirit, descended like a dove. At the same time a voice said that Jesus is His beloved Son. Matthew tells us the voice came from heaven so the presumption is that it is God speaking. What better authority than God? Do we need more?

What does it mean to be God's beloved son? According to Merriam-Webster "beloved" means "dearly loved" or "dear to the heart." Precious, favored and special are all synonyms. If something is precious to us we hold it close, protect it and put it above other things. So this means that Jesus is held close to God's heart above all others. Not only that but God claims Jesus as His son. In first century Jerusalem a son inherited everything the father owned; land, possessions, money, animals and people. To be a son was to be a representative of the father.

It's clear that God is telling those present at Jesus' baptism that Jesus is His precious representative.  In effect God is telling us the Jesus owns everything since God is the creator of the universe. If Jesus owns everything we are just using the gifts He has given us. We should be using those gifts according to His wishes. There is no question of what His wishes are in this matter; again and again Jesus told us to love God and love one another so we should use our gifts for that purpose.

I think that God chose to add the word "beloved" before son to let us know how important Jesus is to God. Not only is He important to God, but Jesus is to be important for us too. We are to treat Him as the precious Son. We are to hold Jesus dear to our hearts too. I think this is what God meant in Jeremiah when he said, "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts." (Jeremiah 31:33) If we hold Jesus close to our hearts we will know God's way.