One of the fundamental plot lines for movies involves the painful journey of a child seeking to prove themselves to their parents and win their affection. Most sad and striking is the case of an adult child who still feels unworthy or unapproved by mom or dad. One movie that follows this theme is “Finding Nemo”, an animated Disney film about a Clownfish named Marlin and his young son, Nemo. Marlin is emotionally scarred from a barracuda attack that claimed his wife and most of their fish roe. Only he and little Nemo survived this incident and now, he is completely overprotective of Nemo. His hovering causes Nemo great embarrassment and compels him to try and prove himself to his dad. He wants his dad to believe that he is strong and capable. To prove that he does not need coddling, Nemo accepts a dare to swim out to a ship just past the reef drop off. He bravely swims into the open sea, which his father has taught him is dangerous, touches the boat and turns back in triumph. However, a scuba diver nets Nemo before he can reach safety. The rest of the movie tells the story of father and son trying to reunite with each other amidst danger and uncertainty and ends with both Nemo and his father triumphing over their fears and living in the joy of knowing the other’s love and admiration.
This intimate acceptance of a father of his son takes place in the gospel today. Jesus goes to be baptized by John in the river Jordan. In this moment, the first public appearance we know about Christ as an adult, he is affirmed by his heavenly Father. Before he does any ministry, before he works miracles or preaches beautiful sermons, God approves him, loves him, and lets the world know that he is the beloved son. He does not have to prove himself or do something to earn the Father’s affection. He has had it from the moment he existed.
Can you believe that we become beloved sons and daughters of God with our baptism? That’s why the Church treats it so seriously and wants people to be baptized, even babies, as soon as possible.
But how do we often relate to God? Not as beloved children but frightened ones. Many times we behave as if we must earn his love, make him like us. We are afraid he might decide he doesn’t really love us any more. Or, we know in our heads that God loves us completely but that knowledge hasn’t made it down to our hearts yet. It doesn’t affect the way we live, the way we think, the way we love. BUT IT SHOULD!!!!
Perhaps this disconnect happens because we sometimes experience conditional love from people who approve of us mainly because we fill a need or make them happy. Sadly some of you have had this experience in your families or with friends. Perhaps some of us even treat people this way. We make others earn our approval or affection. Conditional love is something we humans inflict on each other, but it is something foreign to God. He is always all in! He has loved and cherished you from the second you began to exist.
You and I don’t deserve the Father’s Love; but he doesn’t care about that! In spite of our unworthiness, He gives it freely and unconditionally. There is nothing in the world we could ever do to deserve that divine approval; it has already been given. And yet, how sad that we usually interact with God as if it were up to us and our actions to make him like us. As if it were in our hands to do enough to persuade God to send a little love our way. No wonder we beat ourselves up so much when we sin and fail and realize our weaknesses!
Think about this:
What would look different in your life if you believed that God loved you unconditionally? How would it change your perspective? Would it make you more daring in living out your faith, knowing that you always had a loving God at your side? Imagine the freedom that would come with knowing in your bones that no matter what you did, successful or not, you can not lose the love and approval of God! How might it change the way you treated other people? Realizing that the One who is madly in love with you is also loving them in the same way? Would it add passion to our faith, our prayer, our daily lives?
I want you to know you are beloved sons and daughters, even if you don’t feel it or realize it yet. You are alive because God loves you, thinks of you and wants you here. Every moment of every day he is thinking of you specifically, he is smiling and crying and feeling everything you do, all with the perfection of the one is being and beauty and every other transcendent good thing.
How it must have felt for Christ as he came out of that water and heard the voice of his Father! If you have never heard that voice, I pray for you now, I want let you know that God is crying out those same words every day, all the time. He wants us to know of his mad love for us fickle and sinful children, that is why he sent his beloved son in the 1st place, to shatter our deafness and indifference.
Let’s listen, let’s believe, let’s receive this good news and then run out of here and share it with other people. amen.
