"And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased'." [Mark 1:10-11]
The thing about Jesus is that he knows who he is. He trusts what the voice of God says about him, and he actually lives, acts, and speaks like it is true. Before we get to the theological precision (or hair-splitting) of the ancient creeds and councils who debated whether Jesus had two natures (a human one and a divine one) or one, whether he was only human, half-human, or some kind of demigod hybrid like Hercules in the old mythologies, we would do well to start with what the voice from the torn-open heavens says about Jesus and go from there: "You are my Son, the Beloved."
Why does it matter that Jesus knows (and believes) that he is God's Son and Beloved? Because for whatever else we may end up saying about Jesus (and I think the creeds ended up saying what they did about Jesus as God-from-God, Light-from-Light, true-God-from-true-God and yet truly human, with good reason), Jesus shows us what it looks like to believe what God says about our identity, and therefore not to need to worry one little bit about what anybody else says about us. Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus as someone who is never intimidated by the powerful or the pious folks who ridicule him, and he never chases after the approval of anybody else, either. It's why when he speaks and acts, the Respectable Religious People are brought up short by the way Jesus "teaches as someone with authority." Unlike so many loud voices around us still, Jesus is never a pompous blowhard, bragging about his own imagined greatness, nor does Jesus ever have to "punch down" to belittle someone else in order to puff himself up. He knows he is God's Beloved Son, and he knows that God's is the only opinion that really counts in the end.
And the really amazing thing is that this Jesus makes it possible for us to hear those same words spoken over us as well. Because we are in Christ, we, too, are called children of God. Because we belong to Jesus, we, too, are "beloved." His belovedness is not a zero-sum commodity, that excludes us from being beloved of God--no, just the opposite. Our being beloved is made possible because of Jesus' belovedness; they are not mutually exclusive.
Once we realize that the same things spoken of Jesus are given to us as gifts of grace as well, everything changes. When we realize that we, too, are beloved children of God, we can begin to face the world as Jesus does: without fear of anyone else's condemnation, without the need to earn anyone else's approval, and without any insecurity that manifests itself as mockery, insult, or hatred toward anybody else. We no longer need to have someone else "beneath" us or at odds with us for us to know our own identity--we can simply trust that what God says about us, through Jesus, is true.
The brilliant and tender spiritual theologian of the 20th century, Henri Nouwen, says it beautifully. Nouwen writes:
"To be chosen as the Beloved of God is something radically different. Instead of excluding others, it includes others. Instead of rejecting others as less valuable, it accepts others in their own uniqueness. It is not a competitive, but a compassionate choice. Our minds have great difficulty in coming to grips with such a reality. Maybe our minds will never understand it. Perhaps it is only our hearts that can accomplish this. Every time we hear about 'chosen people', 'chosen talents', or 'chosen friends', we almost automatically start thinking about elites and find ourselves not far from feelings of jealousy, anger, or resentment. Not seldom has the perception of others as being chosen led to aggression, violence, and war.”
All of that is to say that Jesus doesn't use his status as "God's Son" or "Beloved" as a reason to look down on others or to avoid hardship. Jesus never says, "I shouldn't have to bear the way of suffering because I'm God's Son and all." You'll never catch him saying, "I'm Beloved, so I shouldn't have to deal this cross business." And you never see Jesus getting upset, threatened, or insecure by other people who have power, influence, status, or success. Jesus just isn't riled up by those things, and he doesn't see the success or strength of others as a danger to his own well-being. All of that is because Jesus truly understands what it is to be God's Son and the Beloved, and he takes that more seriously than anything else in the world.
Today, let's try taking baby steps in that same direction. It will take a lot of unlearning the ways and habits of the world around us to finally stop being intimidated or threatened by other people, and it will take a lot of trust to finally be free from basing our worth on what somebody else thinks or says about us. But we can begin, because we have been brought face to face here with Jesus, who shows us what it can be like simply to rely on God's declaration about us, made possible through Jesus. We, too, are God's children. We, too, are Beloved. With you, too, God is well pleased.
What if we attempted in this day to live like it is true?
Lord Jesus, show us who we truly are by showing us who you truly are, the beloved of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment