"... this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him!..."
These wonderful words thunder from the sky to affirm both the Call and God's ongoing presence with his Son as he faces the greatest trial of his life.
This happens at the "transfiguration" - a day when Jesus' Full Divinity was physically revealed to those closest to him. Though they had walked with him for nearly three years, this was a side of him they had never seen, and would never see again this side of the resurrection.
Two dead people also appeared on that hill top - Moses and Elijah. Both were power prophets of the past who gave all for God's Call. They were the right ones to encourage Jesus - as he was about to face the darkest, most sacrificial, experience of God's Call on his life.
Sometimes it is darkest as we enter the fulfillment of God's Call. And - conversely - God is faithful. He knows when that darkest hour will come. He sees the Sacrifice, there in the Valley, and is quick to encourage us through the saints.
(Sometimes we are encouraged by others and forget to take it to heart. Maybe we're prideful, or feel we don't deserve it. But God encourages us for a reason. Encouragement is his Food for our future. When you are encouraged, believe it. Take it to heart. It's for a greater Purpose!)
Perhaps the most encouraging Word God can give to strengthen us in our Way is the outright affirmation of his ownership of our life. We belong to him. We are his children. We are his beloved. He loves us. We have identity and family in the Godhead. We are not scattered souls, tossed around by the winds of fate and chaos. We are owned - identified as his children, marked with his Image - and our Path is owned as well - for nothing takes the Lord of Heaven and Earth by surprise.
Knowing our future, he encourages us in the present. And what a "present" it is! What could be more affirming than the knowledge of his awareness, the promise of his accompaniment, and the realized affirmation of Life on the Other Side?
This is the encouragement he gave to Jesus. And it is the encouragement he gives to you.
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