He who rested upon Jesus
Has nested in this heart.
He who spoke a word of blessing
Has blessings to impart.
And Jesus, who alone from thence
To desert fled to groan and wait
Identified with sinful me
And overcame my loathsome fate.
“… and lo, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.” – Matthew 3:16b
A family of doves built a nest in a flower basket on our patio. They became my teachers as I observed them conveying more life lessons than I will recount here.
With great interest, we watched as that family, and later, others, came and nested there, hatched their young, and sent them on their way. The site of doves descending is a wonder of nature.
The vision of the Spirit descending is a wonder of super nature.
There was little reason for Jesus to be baptized except to fulfill all righteousness and to identify with sinful humanity in preparation for His sacrificial death on the cross. However, as he stepped into the nest of human experience and began to bear the burden of our frail weakness and disobedience, he was affirmed by the Father and knew the pleasure of his purposes.
As little birds stumble out of the nest and first began to fly, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to face temptation as we face it. He committed in His baptism to be as vulnerable as those he came to save.
By the power of the same Spirit and Word available to us, he stood in the face of Satan’s lures.
The baptism of Jesus speaks of his credibility and ties to us as our elder brother, the first born of a new creation.
Where he leads, we can follow, because he has avoided none of the steps we must take.
As he identified with us in his baptism, so we identify with him and his redemption in ours.
As his Spirit descends upon us in the new birth, we can ascend.
Because he has been in the valley of temptation, we can be victorious.
Because he has born our sins, we can be free.
In the baptism of Jesus and in the descend of a dove, we see the beloved blessedness of God's own vulnerability with us. We see God's own chosen humanity laid bare and made available to broken and suffering humanity. We see the naked willingness of God to enter into our most tender wounds and weary attempts at righting our own wrongs.
We see a God who is bruised for our iniquities and chastised for our peace.
We see a God we can touch, who can touch us.
Immediately after this nesting of his body in the waters of baptism followed by the blessed proclamation of the Father, Jesus enters a quarantine in the wilderness to be deprived, emaciated, and tested.
He enters our wilderness quarantines as well, regularly, daily, moment by moment. We are joined by him who was alone in the desert so that in no desert shall we ever be alone. He participates in every trial we face and we are never entirely on our own.
The dove that descended upon Jesus as he stepped into full participation in the human experience reminds me of the dove that made a nest in the corner of my house.
May he come again and again to nest in my heart -- even in these days of isolation.
