Rev Gav

Child

Luke 3:21-22

²¹ One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

Reflect

Like the crowds, Jesus went to John to be baptised. Baptism was a way of preparing oneself for the coming Messiah or identifying oneself with the Messiah movement, and at the moment Jesus was baptised, the Holy Spirit (that is the Spirit of God) descended on Jesus like a dove, and God’s voice was audibly heard.

Ancestry was very important to the Jewish people. Firstly, your identity wasn’t in what job you did or your online persona. No, your identity was in whose child you were. So, for example, I would not have been known as Rev Gav the priest or TyTe the beatboxer; I would have been known as Gav, son of Al (as my dad’s name is Alan). So, when God said to Jesus, “You are my son”, the identity of Jesus was affirmed as the Son of God. Secondly, a Jewish person did not think of themselves as only an individual, but part of a God-chosen community or nation, one that began with Abraham. So, if you were Jewish, then ancestry marked you as belonging to this wider God-chosen community.

In the same way, when someone becomes a Christian, they too, like Jesus, become a beloved child of God. They also become part of a community called to join in with God’s mission in the world.

Do

How do others – your friends or family – currently identify you? Is it by your role, status, job, or social media profile? Accept and thank God that God identifies you as their child.

Pray

Holy God
Thank you that my identity
is not in what I do, say, or wear,
but as a child loved by you.
Thank you that I am
part of your global church,
called to fulfil your mission in the world.
This day and for ever.
Amen.

Think

How does it make you feel to be identified, (a) as a child of God, and (b) as a member of a community called to be God’s agents for good in the world?

If Jesus was the Messiah, why do you think Jesus chose to be baptised by John?