Beloved Son

And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” ~ Mark 1:11

Before the first miracle, before the first healing touch, before the scrutiny of the religious leaders, before the waves of public opinion ebbed and flowed, God spoke words of affirmation and love into the soul of His Son. While there were certainly people at the baptism of Christ who overhead this incredible cosmic monolog, it seems clear that God was speaking to His Son, His beloved. This endorsement of the first thirty years of Jesus, skin-cloaked life is a moment of profound significance.

God was pleased with Jesus.

Again, this is before the fanfare and the miraculous. In this statement God commends His Son for living faithfully and obediently in the home of His earthly family, for His work in the carpenter’s shop, and in the private moments of a traditional Jewish life.

Jesus is launched into the ruthless public ministry that would eventually cost Him His life by the intimate verbal embrace and blessing of the Sovereign God of the universe? His Father.

God was pleased with the undocumented and routine portion of Jesus’ life. Not a single act, expression or thought was lost to the notice of God, and still He was pleased. Before the stage lights had been ignited, before the microphones had been switched on, before the writers were capturing every word, God was pleased.

And with the blessed endorsement of His Father still ringing in His ears, Jesus marched through three years of intensity all the way to the cross, on which He would continue to please the Father by reconciling His creation to the Creator.

From Bethlehem to Golgotha? a beloved Son, bringing joy and pleasure to His Father. Under the microscope, and in virtual isolation. Always pleasing God.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. ~ Ephesians 2:10

And because of the cross, because of Jesus, because of the sacrifice of His beloved sinless Son, we, you and I, can please our God as well. It is beyond comprehension, yet within our grasp.

Jesus, the beloved, Pleasing God always, so that we can do the same.