“The Voice”
Luke 3 records the story of Jesus’ Baptism like this:
‘When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was
praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”’
Later in Jesus’ ministry, as documented in Matthew 17 at his Transfiguration, we read:
‘…there he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light… a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”’
I’m not the first to analyze the similarities and differences in these two “voice from heaven” passages, but I’ll add my two cents here.
It is clear that God is speaking in both, but the intended audience is slightly different. At the baptism, God pours affirmation and love into Jesus the Son. At the Transfiguration, the voice targets the disciples and any others who might be within ear-shot.
Different? Yes, but there is an essential similarity here. In both cases the voice precedes a season of intense struggle. God affirms Jesus before the wilderness temptations. The voice at the Transfiguration once again precedes a season of struggle for Jesus as he is inching closer to the cross.
If this makes you squirm a bit, perhaps it’s because somewhere along the line the call to follow Jesus has been interpreted through the lens of a kind of sanctified self-fulfillment. We’ve begun to consider God’s call with the caveat that it is fulfilling to us or in some sense makes us happy. We evaluate our serving options based on things like salary, distance from home, convenience with our other priorities, church size and the like. Somehow, we have slipped into thinking that if we feel discomfort in our call or face struggles in our assignment, something must be wrong.
I’d like to invite us to reconsider. I’d like to invite us to look again at Jesus’ life and listen again to the voice of God. God spoke to Jesus and to those listening in, affirming his love and pleasure. But that love and pleasure did not imply a life of ease—just the opposite. Obedience to the call of God sometimes leads us to the wilderness and a cross. When we face these times, we mustn’t assume that something is wrong, rather, often (not always) deserts and pain mean that things are right, from God’s perspective.
Is it all gloom and doom for the called ones? No, certainly not. There is in the “yes” to God a supply of grace commensurate with every struggle. There is in obedience, to quote the old hymn, “…joy unspeakable and full of glory.” There is in answering the call a deep resonance with Paul who heard God say, “my grace is sufficient for you and my power is made perfect in your weakness.”
If these are challenging days, pastor, count yourselves among those deemed worthy to serve and remember, you are God’s beloved daughter or son and with you, God is well pleased.
Sam
