And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. [11] And a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."
Any father can attest to the pride that one feels at the relationship that he forms with his son. Fathers invest so much of themselves into their sons, teaching them the things that they have learned through the years about what it means to be a man; things like how to throw a football or hit a baseball, helping him to learn the appropriate collegiate athletic team to root for (even when you happen to find yourself living in an area where most people root for the wrong team), teaching him to ride a bicycle, having him work with you on projects while you teach him how to use and handle tools, and then, especially teaching him the more important aspects of manhood – things like honesty and integrity, service and self sacrifice, responsibility, and what it means to show love and to put the needs of others before your own.
And then to see your son in action – to see when he takes the lessons you have taught him and he puts them into practice; to see him doing those things out of love and out of a desire to please you and out of obedience to you – as a father that is a source of immeasurable pride. Words simply cannot express the joy that brings.
The words spoken by God the Father in our text are an expression of that same sense of pride and joy and satisfaction at the obedience and devotion displayed by His Son. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father from eternity willingly carried out the plan for the salvation of the world established by His heavenly Father. Fully knowing the cost to himself personally, out of love and obedience he took on himself the burden of our sin so that he might carry out the will of His heavenly Father. Upon witnessing this event as it occurred on the banks of the Jordan River, the heavenly Father voiced his pleasure from heaven. “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.“ God expressed this pleasure because of Jesus' obedience. He expressed this pleasure because of what Jesus had done!
And what had Jesus done? He got baptized. He went down to the Jordan River where his cousin John, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, was preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Hundreds and thousands of people were lining up, coming in droves to hear this preacher and prophet; they were repenting of their sins and they were coming to him to be baptized and therefore receive through that baptism the forgiveness of sins. They were in need of that forgiveness. (But) Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God was perfect and sinless. He did not need repentance. He did not need forgiveness. He did not need baptism. But he was baptized regardless. Not for himself. He was baptized for us. Because God the Father, His heavenly Father, desired that it be done. Because His heavenly Father desired that He claim the life of a sinner for his own, despite the fact that those sins were not his own. Because his heavenly father desired to save sinners through the perfect sacrifice, through the perfect death of this Son Jesus.
As every father knows, there are instances where a father is not so proud of his son. There are times when the lessons learned are forgotten and are set aside. There are times when the son disobeys his father. Perhaps the son determines that he does not need to listen to the instruction of his father and ignores his will, resists the will of his father and even goes against the will of his father. Perhaps the son acts up in school, neglects his responsibilities at home, perhaps he does not show honor and respect to his authorities and the result is that father is disappointed. The father is saddened by the behavior of his son and expresses his disappointment. The father disciplines his son to help him to learn to behave differently.
Oh but also there are those times that the son is simply following the poor example set by the father – perhaps the son notices the hot temper of the father and reacts accordingly in similar situations. Perhaps the son notices the father's prolonged gaze at women not his wife. Perhaps the son hears and recognizes the dishonest explanations and excuses given by the father when he is caught in a bind and the son learns lessons of falsehood. Our sons have plenty of sins of their own to struggle against without learning from the poor examples we fathers set for them. Sometimes it is the poor examples set by the fathers that prove to be a stumbling block for our sons.
And so Jesus came. Imitating the perfect example of the Heavenly Father's righteousness, Jesus the Son of the Heavenly Father, the Only Begotten One was righteous. He was sinless. There was no falsehood, no lust, no anger, no pride found in his person. A man like no other man that had ever lived. He was always obedient to his heavenly father and even to his earthly father. Even from Joseph the husband of his mother Mary, the adopted father of the Lord, Jesus learned lessons of righteousness. From Joseph he followed the good examples and ignored the sinful ones. Jesus was always obedient. He always showed honor and respect. He always kept the Commandments – without exception. Not even one.
And this obedience led him to the Jordan River where John his cousin, his blood relative was baptizing repentant sinners. The sinless one stepped into the water to be baptized with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Not for himself. Not for his own repentance. Not for his own sin. Jesus stepped into that water so that he might be one of us. Earthly sons. Fleshly sons. Earthly Fathers. Fleshly fathers. Given to anger and lust and dishonesty and pride. Guilty of breaking the commandments. Disobedient to our Heavenly Father. Poor examples to our earthly sons. Jesus became like us so that He could die for us.
And he did. Jesus came up out of the water and the very next thing he did was make his way out to the wilderness where he fasted and then was tempted by Satan. Satan came to him with every temptation we have every faced, ever temptation that we have been deceived by and fallen prey to – Jesus suffered this same torment and he successfully withstood it. And then he called his disciples. He taught the crowds. He preached the Word of God. He healed the sick. He confronted the sins of fathers and sons, of mothers and daughters, and they grew tired of his Word. The sinners arrested the sinless one and they tried him, not according to justice, but according to human falsehood and lies and they found him to be not one of them – yet what they should have been. They nailed him to a cross to kill him, to be rid of him, so that they could comfortably continue in their dishonesty, their lust, their greed, their pride, their sin.
Jesus died. He died for sinners. He died for you, for me, for your family and my family. He died for us all.
And so the Father was well pleased. He gave the Son this task – to become like the sinners so that he could die for the sinners. The Son began that task at his baptism and that son completed that task at the cross. The salvation for you and me was accomplished through the obedience of this son and through the death of the righteous Son of God!
Our text tells us that as Jesus came up out of the water he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending like a dove. We usually bypass those words quickly and think of them as rhetoric or symbolic language and don't often stop to consider the full importance of what Mark is telling us.
The heavens opened!
For you and me that is good news. Because for us the heavens have been closed. We could not get in. The doors were locked. We did not have the key. We did not have the ability to open the doors of heaven. They were shut tight to keep out those who do not belong – they were shut tight to keep out sinners.
Jesus was baptized and the heavens were opened! In light of the sacrifice that the son was going to make. In light of the work that he took upon himself to complete for us, the heavens were opened.
Little Anna Christina Headings was baptized today. She was born as daughter to Dennis and Rebekah. She was born sharing in the sinful nature that we all have a part in. She was born with the heavens shut to her because of her sin. But today she was baptized.
And just as the heavens opened when Jesus was baptized, the heavens were suddenly opened for Christy. The doors of heaven were flung wide open with the promise that God will never shut them to her. The doors of heaven will always be open. She will always have the key. She is a baptized child of God.
And the Spirit? When Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit came down from heaven like a dove and anointed Jesus. That same Holy Spirit has come down out of the opened heavens and anointed baby Christy. He has made his home in her heart and he there will live. Her heart will be his temple forever.
And the words from heaven. You and I may not have heard them, but they were spoken – God himself on his throne in heaven said of Anna Christina Headings, “You are my beloved daughter. With you I am well pleased.”
God our heavenly Father is well pleased with you. For the sake of Jesus and because of his obedience to his father. Because of His sacrifice on the cross, the Heavenly Father is your Father and He is well pleased with you.
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