"You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22)

While this scene has been engraved in my mind since I first saw the illustration in my primary school Religious Studies textbook, it didn't have any impact on me. Fascinating, I thought, He's the Son of God so He's entitled to something so extraordinary happening to Him, but what does that have to do with me?

As I mellowed, I began to see that it was not a spectacular show God put on to extoll a son He favoured but an invitation for us to follow His example. I began to reflect on what it was that made Jesus God's "beloved Son" - one with whom God was "well pleased". I began to realise that in Jesus we have a perfect role model of obeying God and serving others. By emulating Jesus we too can please God and become His beloved son.