It is easier for me to spot 3’s in a space of a few verses. This collection, however, ranges over a good portion of Matthew’s Gospel. I found it while working on a Sunday message from … Proverbs 8. Wisdom, in that passage, is daily the Lord’s delight. Here, in Matthew, it is the Son, Jesus, who, 3 times, is the Father’s delight, or, is well-pleasing to the Father.
The first of these occurs at the baptism of Jesus, at the start of His earthly ministry.
Matt. 3:17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Jesus is identifying with His people, with His sinful people who need a Savior. Jesus is not joining an elite group. He is not “upping His game.” He is coming down to our level, to our need. And, it is well-pleasing to the Father.
The next occurrence comes after the death of John the Baptist, while opposition to Jesus from religious authorities is hardening against Him.
Matt. 12:18 “BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN;
MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL is WELL-PLEASED;
I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM,
AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES.
Jesus has, and will be extending His ministry beyond the existing borders of Israel, and beyond the Jewish population. He will go up to Sidon, and then across the Jordan River to Gentile territory. Matthew here quotes from Isaiah 42, where there are numerous prophecies about the mission of God extending beyond Israel. But this is by no means popular with the religious leaders who are inspecting Jesus’ ministry. Holiness, in their eyes, requires separation from the Gentiles, not ministry to them. But it is clear, both in Matthew and in Isaiah: God is well-pleased as His Son serves in this way.
And then we find God well-pleased in a setting where we would expect it: on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Matt. 17:5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”
But what we should note is that the voice from heaven does not speak primarily for Jesus’ benefit or reassurance, but rather for Peter’s correction. He had placed Jesus on a level alongside Moses and Elijah, probably thinking that he was elevating Jesus. But God makes clear that he is in fact demoting Jesus to the level of two who were mere men, though they be Old Testament giants of the faith and on a special mission from heaven above. But this text makes clear, then, that with Jesus, and with Jesus alone, is God well-pleased in this particular sense.
Applications abound. Are you and I well-pleased with Jesus? Is He most excellent in our sight, and in our hearts, above all other things? Are we well-pleased when the ministry of Jesus extends to people not just like us, and are we ourselves, as followers of Jesus, willing to personally involved in that kind of ministry. Are we more-pleased when ministry is restricted to our own clan? Are we well-pleased that Jesus was willing to associate with sinners? Have we truly understand that we ourselves fall into that category, that we ourselves are stained sinners in need of a stain-cleansing Savior?
It is as we embrace Jesus and the uncomfortable contours of His ministry that we can understand that God being well-pleased with Jesus stands in relation to Jesus fulfilling the very mission of God, to which we are also called.
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