"You are my beloved"
(Mark 1: 7-11)
I think something happened to Jesus when he was baptized in the Jordan by John, that he suddenly realized who he was, because all the Gospels begin with his baptism and then his public life of healing, preaching and proclaiming the kingdom of God takes off.
God does not mince words or make small talk. God gets right to the heart of the matter and says to Jesus, "You are my beloved." Suddenly Jesus knows who he is. He discovers his identity, his vocation and his calling. He is "the Beloved of God." For the rest of his life, he will understand himself and his mission in the light of this revelation and this relationship. He accepts it, honors it, and welcomes it. He will never deny his identity. Because Jesus knows who he really is, as God's beloved, he can go forward into the world and call people to God. He can trust God even when everything falls apart and death approaches. Jesus lives his whole life within the framework of this core identity as God's beloved.
The question for us is: what does this mean for us? I think it means that for all of us who are baptized as Jesus' followers, for all of us who sit in silent prayer, that at some point God says to each one of us, "You too are my beloved."
What does this mean for us? The culture tells us that we are nobody, that we are nothing, that we are worthless, that we don't measure up, that we're nothing if we don't buy this product or vote this way or whatever; that we are poor, marginalized, or disenfranchised, that we're not successful, that we're outsiders, that we're illegal aliens, or for people like me, that we're troublemakers; or worse, for some, that we're expendable, we're not quite human, for people like the children of Iraq or people on death row, we are an enemy, and not worthy to live.
But the Creator of the universe dismisses all of this and calls each one of us "My Beloved."
Being the beloved of God carries personal, spiritual, interpersonal, social and global implications, as Jesus discovered. It means that from now on we live out what my friend Henri Nouwen called "a spirituality of love, of belovedness, the life of the beloved."
If you are going to take seriously the astonishing revelation that Jesus is God's beloved, and that as a follower of Jesus, as someone who shares in his life experience, that you too are God's beloved, then you have to be open to the shocking and wonderful news that every other human being in the world is also a beloved son or daughter of God, which means that from now on, they are our beloved sisters and brothers as well, which means that from now on, we love everyone, which means we can never hurt or kill anyone, or be silent while war and poverty and oppression happen anywhere, or while our country prepares to bomb hundreds of thousands of our sisters and brothers in Iraq. That is why I think Martin Luther King Jr. was right to speak of nonviolence, that this spirituality of love calls us to show love and respect toward every human being. This is what mature Christian spirituality looks like, an attitude of unconditional, all-inclusive, all-embracing, non-retaliatory, nonviolent, sacrificial redemptive love towards everyone on the planet.
That's how Jesus lives from now on after his baptism, and that's how we are to live as well. For the rest of his life, Jesus is faithful to his identity as God's beloved, and accepts the social implications of his spiritual identity, and the consequences of his fidelity to that calling, and we're supposed to do the same thing.
Whatever is going on in our lives, we can always stop and hear God calls us "My Beloved." That changes everything. We will feel affirmed by the Creator of the universe, and find the strength, like Jesus, to love and serve everyone, and to recognize everyone else as a beloved child of God, as our very own beloved sister and brother.
