Gracious words.  Affirming words.  Loving words.  Is this the Father's message to His beloved Son?  Complimentary words?  Or is there something even deeper?

Scripture says nothing about any tears coming to Jesus' eyes at this moment, but I could imagine them among the droplets from His baptism as the heavenly Father categorically declares Jesus his own beloved Son.  I should think this authentication made known from heaven would have been the greatest comfort to Jesus.  No one could ever interpret the Father's affirmation as any kind of fudging or fabrication.  There is no ambiguity and no doubt.  Not only is Jesus clearly and unquestionably the Son of God, but He is dearly beloved.

How this must have immediately sounded to our Lord who had just taken the most fearful, momentous step of his life by entering the River Jordan for baptism.  He is now formally upon the field of battle.  Thirty years of preparation slip away as public service for which He was born and bred commences.

At this moment of inauguration to hear Words of solidarity must have aroused deep human emotion in Jesus.  Clearly there is complete cohesion of Father and Son in company with the Holy Spirit. 

Yet Jesus never suffered from an identity crisis.  He was never puzzled over his destiny or at a weepy loss to know just what lay ahead.  I imagine a flow of emotion coursing through Jesus as His Father spoke, not because Jesus would have felt, "Finally, somebody appreciates me," or "At long last people may give me the accolades and attention I deserve."

Rather, it was the security of the Father's Words that rang in Jesus' ears.  The pronouncement of God the Father was both coherent and consistent.  That is the security of a warrior in the lists where the cause, the commander, and the communication all match perfectly.

Jesus understands himself exactly, both who He is and why He has come.  Clearly, the Father understands Him exactly the same way.  There would be no cross-purposes, no conflicts, no jealousies or misgivings in God.  Christ would never resent His Father for sending Him into peril.  And the Father would never hesitate by hindsight or second-guessing the terrible mission He assigned to this Son he so beloved.

The Word of the Father is completely consistent with Jesus.  Christ had undertaken this journey into the world to be its Savior precisely because it was His Father's will.  The beauty of knowing at the outset of His public ministry that the Father was no less committed and no less clear than Jesus himself, confirms for us that we have an indivisible God who has given us the indissoluble honor of knowing His beloved Son as God and Savior.

There was nothing wooly, indistinct, or indecisive in the Father's spoken affirmation at Christ's baptism, even as there has been nothing vague or hesitant in Jesus' resolve to be baptized.

This is where I think the best tears come from, not easy tears, but remorseless tears. 

Easy tears are those manipulated from sentimental sap served up in mawkish, touchy-feely expressions about a darling Jesus.

But remorseless tears hold no regrets just as Jesus has never regretted loving us or giving Himself for us.  Glorious tears rise from the knowledge that we have a Savior with a spine of steel and a heavenly Father with a heart so strong He served up, even to a cross, his divine, beloved Son for us.

  Those are the tears shed for joy at a baptism, the tears of gratitude shed at the resting place of a Christian, and the tears I'm convinced will flow on that day when God the Father, for Christ's sake, will say over each of us Christians at the resurrection, "You, and you, and you, and you ... are my beloved son and daughter.  Because of your Brother's baptism, crucifixion, and resurrection for you, because of Jesus' tears and toil for you, I am well pleased, with you; and you; and you.