Day 4
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Matthew 3:13-17

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (v.17)

There’s a certain mystery in the love a parent has for a child.  No language quite adequately describes the deep sense of what the relationships means and the willingness a parent has to sacrifice for their child.  That is why the voice from heaven towards a son is a rare, intimate glimpse into the greatest relationship between a Father and a Son.  We see the heart of deep love and recognition of the relationship in the declaration.  A sonship that is the way that sonship should have been before shiny trees clouded the picture.  I am the prodigal son who desired to make his own way towards indulgence.  I am the elder son who justified his own existence by earning a place in a household of rules.  And Jesus is the son who is beloved.  And we catch a glimpse of the Gospel here by vicarious sonship.  Grace for the moralistic son and the prodigal son to be called beloved by the Father because of the Son of God.