You Are My Son

 

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. (Mark 1:9-13 ESV).

 

Moses grew up comfortably while his own people were slaves (Exodus 2). One day he tried to break up a fight between two of those slaves. And one of them said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?” We might say, “That’s easy—God did. Moses was God’s appointed leader over Israel.” But Moses was actually jumping the gun. Because God would not appoint him till after another 40 years! The opposite is true with Jesus. We tend to place His “calling” at His birth. We are often too impatient to let him be a human being as ordinary as any of us. For example, when he is young, we think of him as Israel’s Messiah. But Jesus will not be the Messiah for another 30 years.

 

Don’t worry. This doesn’t take anything away from Jesus’ divinity. Messiah (or Christ) is not a divine title. It’s a title for a human being with a special, God-appointed task. Messiah means “anointed one.” To be anointed is to be called and empowered to fulfill a God-given role.  When he was baptized, Jesus was anointed by the Spirit of God, “descending on him like a dove,” to be Messiah. At the same time, he was claimed by God, the voice from heaven, as Messiah. After living for 30 years as an ordinary human being, the time had come for Jesus to fulfill his destiny as Savior of the world.

 

This should be cause for even greater celebration. It underscores the great lengths that God went to in order to redeem us. He followed a sequence that we could easily understand. God is not driven by the chaos of the moment. He has always had a very specific plan and He has perfectly accomplished that plan in the right time of history. When you feel as though circumstances are out of control, rest easy in the knowledge that God is not surprised; He is in control!