Mark 1:11 “And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’”

The heavenly Father’s words about Jesus are loaded. In three short phrases he identifies Jesus for us, professes his love, and proclaims his perfection. First, Jesus’ identity: despite Jesus’ very human appearance, this incident leaves no doubt that Jesus is the Son of God who came from heaven to save the world. If you have ever worried to yourself, “What if Christianity is wrong? What if I am following the wrong religion and worshiping the wrong God?” here is the answer to your concerns. At this point in real history, God spoke from heaven to leave no doubt that Jesus is his unique and holy Son.

Then the Father professes that unconditional, unchanging relationship of love that has always existed between him and his Son. That love wasn’t based on Jesus’ performance or behavior. It freely flowed from the Father to the Son. The Son freely reflected that love back to the Father in the perfect way he lived. The Father could proudly proclaim about Jesus, “I am well-pleased.” Jesus was good like no person earth since Adam and Eve before the fall into sin.

Maybe we have come to expect this of our Savior. We aren’t overwhelmed by the Father’s confirmation of his perfection. If so, perhaps this will help with our perspective: Jesus came to live his entire earthly ministry as our substitute, in our place. He came to carry our sins and die for them.

But this is not only a negative thing. If Jesus came to take responsibility for all the negative things in our lives, he also came to offer us credit for all the good in his own. In other words, your Father in heaven is also speaking these words to you and about you today. This is how he has felt about you, ever since the day of your baptism. Listen to him saying this to you again.

“You are my Son.” You may not be the eternal, only-begotten Son of God, but by the faith the Father planted in you by word and water, you are his own child, a member of his own heavenly family. Do you know what that makes you? That makes you a very impressive person. It would be understandable if the rest of us were tempted to indulge in a little name-dropping, and mention to others that we happen to know you, since you are a member of the Royal Family.

“You are my Son, whom I love.” Do you remember the old children’s song, “God loves me dearly, grants me salvation, God loves me dearly, loves even me”? That little word “even” is a big word in that line. It says that we are aware of all the reasons why God shouldn’t love us anymore, and yet, God still loves even a rascal like me. You cannot imagine a sin so big that it would make God stop loving you. He has loved murderers and adulterers and swindlers and prostitutes and politicians and lawyers and accountants and even ministers. God loves you and God loves me, and our own baptisms are just one of many ways that he has told us so.

“With you I am well-pleased.” This is just too much. God finds a sense of satisfaction, and enjoyment, and pleasure in us like we do when we are eating our favorite food, perfectly prepared, or enjoying a favorite show, or game, or other pastime. Maybe it would be better to compare it to the rare times we spend together with dear, dear friends, and we have so much fun, and we can bear our hearts, and at the end we all conclude that we don’t do this nearly enough. We ought to get together more often. We are “well-pleased” at such times.

“With you I am well-pleased,” the Father says, as though we were the ones who had lived a perfect life free from a single sin, and because Jesus’ perfect life of love counts as our own, we have. Now we can see the wonder in the Father’s statement, because he is also bearing his heart for you and me.