At the Jordan: Reading the Baptism of Jesus
Before Jesus spoke a word in public ministry, he stepped into a river and let himself be baptized, and the Gospel of Matthew tells us what happened next.
Read Matthew 3:16-17 slowly. "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'"
Notice the order. The approval comes before the work. The voice from heaven speaks over a Son who has not yet healed, taught, or suffered. He is loved first, and loved as he is.
For many of us the instinct runs the other way. We expect to earn the verdict we most want to hear. We measure ourselves by output, and we rest only after we have produced. The baptism account quietly resists that habit. It places belovedness at the start.
Sit with the three movements in the text: the water, the Spirit, the voice. Ask where you are trying to be approved rather than received. Then let the sentence stand over you as it stood over him.
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