I couldn’t tell you when, or for what reason, but in the mid-2000s Fred Craddock came to my seminary to preach. He was a legend of course, and on that day he was preaching about Jesus’ baptism. Craddock preached that there was a line that day next to the Jordan River. And in that line he imagined, were men, women, children, all of Jerusalem and Judea, is how Matthew writes about it. All the people who were told they didn’t belong and probably a lot of people who thought they did belong, especially in the seats of power were in the line.
Craddock painted that picture of who might have been by the river that day, expanding the text for me in a way I couldn’t have imagined before then. He made sure to make the connection that all were Beloved that day, a new name they received, just as Jesus did when he came up out of the water.
That expansion of those gathered in the text is what I am most enjoying about Dr. Wilda C. Gafney’s A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church. Her scholarship and commitment to expanding whose story gets to be told continues in the passage for this week in celebration of Baptism of our Lord Sunday and the selection of Matthew 3. You’ll notice Gafney brings well into view all those who waited in a line to meet John the Baptizer and all who came up out of the water on the baptism that day in the Jordan River.
As the people met John, perhaps the words from Isaiah lingered in hearts and minds, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Most High, make God’s paths straight.” And John kept baptizing people until his cousin, Jesus was next in line.
Jesus was baptized and came up from the water seeing the heavens torn open, and he saw the Holy Spirit coming at him like a dove. And then everyone heard a voice from heaven that said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
And that’s the end of the scene. Jesus has God’s blessing of belovedness—not all so different from our baptisms in the idea of knowing we are loved and yet, it meant something altogether different for him. This was a proclamation of his identity for the very first time with a divine interruption and announcement from the heavens. And the announcement was that he was beloved.
Jesus was God’s beloved and God was well pleased with him.
Henri Nouwen wrote much on this idea of belovedness, sharing about his own struggle to believe it for himself. He had no trouble believing in other folks’ belovedness, but he wrestled with his own:
“Personally, as my struggle reveals, I don’t often “feel” like a beloved child of God. But I know that that is my most primal identity and I know that I must choose it above and beyond my hesitations…As a spiritual practice, claim and reclaim your primal identity as beloved daughter or son of a personal Creator.”[1]
Remember your own baptism today or on Sunday when the words of this text might wash over you again. Consider the formational elements and people that made you the person who you are, calling you closer into your own belovedness. When you wash your hands today for the 100th time, be aware of the water hitting your hands as a reminder of your belovedness.
Remember that Jesus stepped into the water after waiting in line, inviting everyone to join him in the waters of God’s expansive love.
Rev. Dr. Leah Grundset Davis is pastor at Ravensworth Baptist Church in Annandale, Va., where they are following A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W in worship and Bible Study through at least Easter. This winter, she’s adding more books to her to-be-read pile that she could ever possibly read.
This blog series made possible in part by a gift from Myers Park Baptist Church, Charlotte, NC.
If you or your congregation is also using Year W this liturgical year, we would love to hear from you. Please email us at meredithstone@bwim.info. Further resources and online conversation about using the Year W lectionary can also be found at Wilda Gafney’s website: https://www.wilgafney.com/womenslectionary/
[1] Henri Nouwen, “You Are Beloved” Henri Nouwen Society, henrinouwen.org