The Baptism of the Lord, C January 13, 2019
Fr. Albert St. Peter’s, New Iberia
Jesus didn’t really do much before this moment. He wasn’t going around teaching. He hadn’t done any miracles. All Jesus did was get baptized and start praying. And yet, the Father’s voice booms from heaven to proclaim how proud he is. “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” That’s what every child wants to hear from their parents. Some people go their whole lives never hearing it. The feeling of being a disappointment to your parents or being unloved can haunt you your whole life, leading to all sorts of destructive decisions.
These words of love and approval are also what every Christian wants to hear from God. As with our natural parents, the question of God’s love and approval can haunt us and leave us feeling worthless if we don’t have an answer. It can motivate incredible efforts at holiness and inspire remarkable resentment and despair. What does it take for God to be “pleased” with us like he is with Jesus? Is it even possible?
Yes, it is. First, note that there are two statements here, not just one. Many modern people struggle with this, but it is possible to love someone and not approve of them. To be disappointed in a person’s decisions even while they are beloved to you. So, the question of “how do I please God?” actually starts with “how can I get God to love me?”
You can’t. Nothing you can do affects that. You cannot earn, win, or deserve God’s love. The simple fact is, that if you exist, God loves you. Period. God is love, he cannot do anything but love, even if we do not always understand how that love takes shape in the world and in our lives. If you exist, God loves you. There’s only one thing you can change about that equation: your adoption.
God loves all his creatures, and especially all human beings created in his image. Through Jesus, however, he also adopts some human beings as his children. Jesus is the eternal Son of God. He is God’s Son by nature. We are his creatures, but he adopts us as children through baptism. Every time a person is baptized, God says to them what he says to Jesus here: “You are my beloved son.” God already loved the person, but now they are better able to receive that love.
But is God always pleased with those children? No, unfortunately not. Jesus is clear that we will face judgment. Scripture refers to God as “the God who judges deeds.” Parables about the end of time are clear: some people are condemned by God for what they’ve done and failed to do. God’s love is guaranteed, baptism makes us children of God, but we haven’t gotten to heaven just yet; It’s possible not to make it.
And that’s where fear comes in. That’s where an existential dread can overwhelm us and the idea of eternity can cause anxiety instead of hope. When we turn to Scripture and Tradition and the Church looking for answers, all our questions ultimately boil down to this one: “How do I please God so I can go to heaven?” Well, we have an answer for you. It’s right here in Jesus’ example at baptism.
That’s the reason I pointed out that Jesus didn’t do anything extraordinary before his baptism. We really cannot earn our salvation. Jesus is perfect, but he knows we aren’t, so he models the way for us. This revelation at baptism is so Jesus and the Father can show us that pleasing God is not about racking up enough points to pass the test. There is no quota of good deeds. Jesus accepts a criminal at the last second of his life and he constantly accepts little children who’ve never had the chance to do anything remarkable.
So, how do we please God? Look at what Jesus did. The fact is that the second statement “with you I am well pleased” flows from the first “you are my beloved son.” The way to please God is to accept that he loves you. It is to accept that he has adopted you. It is to accept that he became man, suffered, died, and rose from the dead just for the chance to adopt you. St. Augustine teaches that God would have done all that even for just one person: you. You want to please God? Then accept that astounding reality.
Jesus knew the Father loved him. Baptism is a sign of accepting that love. Jesus was praying when the voice came. He spoke intimately with God as part of that love. Do you want to please God? Believe that he loves you. Pray and talk to him like someone who loves you. Talk to him about joy and fear. Tell him about your gratitude and your anger with him. Trust me, he is just happy you’re opening up to him, even if what you’re saying is… less than pleasant.
Pleasing God is essentially accepting that he loves you. Yes, Jesus clearly teaches that we should love our enemies and feed the poor and evangelize the world. He clearly teaches that failing to love our neighbors gets us condemned, but he first got baptized. He tells us to do good deeds, but he first shows us how to accept God’s love. Good deeds do not earn salvation, they merely express our acceptance of it as a gift.
If you believe God loves you, if you believe God has adopted you in baptism, then doing good deeds will flow from that. It is one of the devil’s greatest tricks to make us fear God so much. To make us think we are constantly running the risk of not being loved anymore. That’s not possible. God always loves. He even loves the devil and everyone in hell – they are there because they reject that love, but the love does not cease. So, don’t reject His love; Instead reject the doubts about his love.
“You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased.” You can hear those words. You’ve already heard the first half at your baptism and you really can’t change that. Baptism is permanent and unrepeatable. You are a beloved child of God. Yes, you can disappoint the God who loves you, but every sin is ultimately disappointing for the same reason: it is a rejection of his love. Want to please God? Want to be holy? Want to be free of sin? Then believe in his love. Yearn for confident faith in it. Pray for the grace never to forget it, to share it always with a world that so desperately needs it. “You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased.” Live like you can hear these words spoken to you now. Then, one day, you really will.