Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου, ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα, ἀκούετε αὐτοῦ.
This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I have delight, listen to him.[1]
These beautiful powerful words have rung out across the ages, echoing those uttered at the baptism of the beloved Son in the Jordan, as the only utterance that God the Father is ever recorded as saying in the New Testament. They correspond with the assertion of St John of the Cross that “the Father only spoke but once; it was his Word. He spoke it eternally and in eternal silence”. They are mirrored in the prologue to St John’s gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God …. in Him was life and the life was the Light of mankind …. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us: and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father.[2]
The three synoptic gospels and the second epistle of St Peter faithfully record this episode that took place on a high mountain, Mt Tabor, soon after naming Simon …More