God's Beloved, Too--January 13, 2026

God's Beloved, Too--January 13, 2026

"And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from the heavens said, 'This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased'.” (Matthew 3:16-17)

Our older brother in the faith, Martin Luther, called it "the happy exchange." 

It's the notion, grounded in the New Testament, that whatever belongs to Christ is given to us because we have been joined to Christ... and whatever was ours belongs to Christ as well.  The reason he called it a "happy" exchange is that it turns out to be completely lopsided in our favor.  We gain Christ's righteousness, abundant life, and identity as God's beloved children, and Christ gets... our sin, our fragility, and our death. Talk about a good deal, right?

The whole concept boggles the mind and begs the question: Why would Jesus be willing to do such a thing?  Well, love, obviously.  The same way when two people get married and one of them still has college loans to pay off, the debt is assumed by both and taken on together, or the same way a new baby in the family is given the same home, name, and family belonging as the parents who have brought the child home from the hospital.  Jesus is willing to take all of our baggage and give us all of his freedom because he loves us. It seems like utter nonsense from the perspective of self-interested logic, but it makes perfect sense from the vantage point of self-giving love.

And at least part of what that great exchange means is that Jesus' standing as God's Son, and as God's "Beloved," is conferred on us as well.  It happens, at least at some level, because of what transpires at the waters here.  As we saw yesterday, when we first looked at this passage that many of us heard this past Sunday, when Jesus went to be baptized by John in the Jordan River, at least part of what he is doing is standing in solidarity with a world full of sinners.  In effect, Jesus is saying, "Count me with them.  I am one of them.  They are mine, and I am theirs" as he gets in line with all the others who have come to John as a public sign of repenting of their sins--even though Jesus is the one person in all of human history who has no sins to repent of.  And on the other side of that equation, the apostle Paul wrote to the Romans that "all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death... so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his" (Rom. 6:3-5).

You can hear that "happy exchange" idea in there, can't you?  Because we are joined to Christ in our baptism, we are connected both to his death and resurrection.  All of our sin has been taken into Christ, and all of his righteousness has been given to us.  All of our mortality is taken with Jesus to the cross, and all of his resurrection life is shared with us.

So when the voice from heaven calls out, while Jesus comes up out of the water from being baptized, saying, "This is my Son, the Beloved," this isn't just good news for Jesus--it is good news for us, too.  It is not only Christ who is declared to be God's own Son, but we who are named as sons and daughters as well. This isn't just a story about Jesus being claimed by God--but about us being claimed as well, because we are joined to Christ.

That's what we mean by saying we are a part of the "found family" of God.  We don't belong because we share DNA with Jesus, per se, but because he has claimed us.  Our status in the family of God doesn't depend on our accomplishments, achievements, or performed piety, but because of Jesus standing with us and calling us his own.  The whole good news of the Gospel hangs on the reality of God choosing to include us regardless of how far out, far away, and estranged we have been.  We belong because God says we do--and that's enough.  What is true for Jesus is true for us as well, and since Jesus is God's beloved child, so are we.

Whatever else happens in this day, this year, or this life, that identity cannot be undone or taken away. You are not an employee on God's "staff," carrying the risk of being let go if they need to downsize or you don't perform well next quarter.  You are a child of God, whose identity is irrevocable and whose belonging is grounded in God's claim--because of Jesus.

Yeah, sounds like a pretty happy exchange to me, too.

Lord Jesus, assure us today of who we are because of who you are.