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As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3.16, 17, NIV)

A pastor friend, commenting on this passage, observed that the Father was “well pleased” with the Son, at the beginning of his ministry, before Jesus had done anything. His takeaway was that God loves Jesus (and by extension, us) for who he was, not based on performance. There’s truth in that, and that’s a good application.

But I just heard (on Labor Day Sunday!) another pastor make a different application. The Father was well-pleased with Jesus before his ministry started, but not before he had done anything. He had been a carpenter:

Isn’t this the carpenter? (Mark 6.3, NIV)

So we might conclude that the Father was pleased with Jesus’ work, his labor, and that would certainly be true of us.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3.23, 24, NIV)