In this verse of the prophet Isaiah, is given to us an almost physically visible image: here is the servant that God upholds, - does not retain, but supports, because He is the elected, the beloved. And the immediate association: a Father upholding His Son - hearty and fondly. The words about the benevolence of the Father towards the Son reecho with this testimony that John the Baptist heard during the Lord’s baptism, when God put His Spirit on Jesus standing in the water of Jordan. And after that the Christ begins His service as Servant of God, doing good and driving away evil, - "For judgment I am come into this world" (John 9:39). Thus, all this verse augurs about the earth way of the Son of Man: the exceptional, the benevolence and support of the Father, growth, fulfillment with Spirit, service, judgment.

How hard it is for us to grasp this understanding: it is I who stand before the face of God, and He looks specifically at me. For God I am a unique person, and not a member of some social group, nation, or church. What matters is our inner faith, our own thoughts and actions, our personal relations with God and people.

But it constantly appears to us that the main thing is to get onto the "right team": the team will win, and I will win with it! We try to guess the signs by which this team is chosen: national, confessional, social signs. In reality they are very simple: this team consists of those who fear God and act righteously, and only in this way can we get onto it.

When we read about the bewilderment and indignation of John the Baptist, who did not want to let Jesus be baptized in the Jordan, it becomes clear to us: John recognized Him. Participation in this baptism was supposed to testify that a person confesses his sinfulness to God, admits that he is not right; and now in the river stands the One who is right before God.

Yet Jesus still receives baptism, which means that God has another righteousness besides rightness before Himself. This is the righteousness of love, which is "fulfilled" when the righteous One decides to share life with the unrighteous, the sinless One with sinners. This may be incomprehensible and unpleasant; it may contradict our ideas about justice, but Christ enters the water together with everyone, and it turns out that the Father's beloved Son is one of us.