This Sunday is Baptism of the Lord, which always feels like a hard fast-forward from Christmas. This is the Sunday when many of us are back to our congregations for the first time since Christmas Eve. And Jesus goes from being born in a manger to presenting himself as an adult at the Jordan River in the span of two weeks! Of course, the gospels also make this dramatic fast forward, but we preachers and worship leaders may need to help people orient themselves to where we are in the gospel story. We’re rehearsing the life of Jesus and we’re moving quickly from the manger to the cross and empty tomb.

There are many threads one could pull to unpack the meaning of Jesus’ baptism, but I think the heart of it – certainly as it is told in Mark – is found in the words spoken by the voice from heaven. “You are my beloved Son. In you I take delight.” (REB version, Mark 1:11) This affirmation of Jesus’ identity, spoken to him in the hearing of many others, confirmed for him and for them his identity as the Father’s beloved Son. And as important as this must have been for Jesus’ self-understanding, it is equally important for us in our self-understanding.

It is by the grace of our baptism, which is patterned on Jesus’ baptism, that we take these words as our own. It by the sheer grace of our incorporation into Christ, that what is said of Jesus is also said of us. In fact, this is the heart of what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah. When God looks at us, God looks through the lens of Jesus. What the Father feels when the Father looks at the Son, is also what the Triune God feels when looking at us. “You are my beloved child. In you I take delight.”

As often we remind ourselves that we are baptized, we should also remind ourselves that the blessing spoken over the Son at his baptism is spoken over us. Our identity as God’s beloved child is secured for us by Christ and assured to us in baptism.

The question of identity is one of the deepest points of connection between the gospel and our contemporary culture. Near the end of his life, Tim Keller, the founder of Redeemer Church in New York City, gave an extended interview reflecting on his ministry and planting the church in New York. As he was reflecting on the changes he had seen in the culture, and what he would to do differently if he were to start over today, I was struck that he kept coming back to identity. In fact, he said he would have to completely retool his preaching to bring the gospel to bear consistently on the question of identity because, as he was experiencing in New York, this is the pressing question that would be a starting point for faith for many people.

Identity – who am I, what am I worth, where do I belong, what should my life be about, how do I feel good about myself – is a place of deep contemporary cultural pain, seeking, and need. All of us are trying to find, create, shape, reshape, perform, and mold identities that are strong enough, good enough, and worthy enough to build a life. The social structures, like small towns and neighborhoods and cohesive cultures, that once conferred identity have now broken down. The communal relationships that once confirmed identity, like tight-knit families, longstanding friend networks, church communities and other social groups, have frayed and dissipated. In many ways the modern Western person is tasked with creating our own identity and finding our own networks of social support. We’re asked to be self-made, to find our own way, and create our own tribe.

Into this desperate struggle, the good news of the gospel says is that we don’t have to find or make our identity and we don’t have to create our own tribe. We can be given an identity by faith in Christ and be brought into a community that is Christ’s body. The wonderful news is that this identity we are given is the best we could ever conceive of and one we could never earn: beloved child of God! The only thing (which is no small thing) we have to do to live into this identity is renounce all of the other false identities that are competing for our attention and our love.

Of course, there are thousands of ways to preach this, but perhaps this Sunday the best place to start is simply with the declaration of the voice from heaven: You are God’s beloved child. In you God takes delight! It may be just what someone is desperate to hear.