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Second Sunday after Christmas

Matthew 3
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 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. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”


Time to play “what are you on about?” I will give you a series of clues, and you will guess the title of of the song I’m looking for. Here we go:

This song was written in 1969.
This song was written for a popular children’s show.
This song always preceded an object lesson.
One such lesson might include showing an apple, a banana, and orange and a cookie.

Yes, since 1969 “One of These Things” has been helping children categorize things, to understand that some things are not like other things. So here is a version for Matthew 3:

John appears in the wilderness preaching “Repent! The Kingdom of God is near.”
John sees the religious ones arrive and he calls them a “brood of vipers.”
John says someone more powerful is coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.
John says ‘wait, I need to be baptized by you, so why do you come to me?’

I think you will appreciate that John’s bluster fits into one (seemingly endless) category, and his puzzlement in another. Or his intense confidence that one style of messiah is coming, then another appears. Or God’s chosen that is predicted to come and do something—and then needs something.

However you frame it, the story has a twist: a set of predictions and conditions that give way to something unexpected and maybe even embarrassing. At least that is the way the scholars might describe it.

You see, since the early days of biblical scholarship, we have be encouraged to look twice at the moments that are unique, unexpected, and might somehow embarrass the author, protagonist or audience. How should the early church regard this Jesus they are promoting? Why would the Son of God need baptism? Any why John? Likewise, if we assume Matthew is building some kind of case here, what is he trying to say?

And if he is building some sort of case, what clues are in the handful of verses we have? Looking over the five verses Victoria shared, the answer seems obvious and opaque at the same time. Matthew decides to make his case through a dialogue, and so the first look seems pretty clear.

Q: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
A: “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”

So not only does Matthew embed the answer in Jesus’ response to John’s questions, but he frames it as a sort of mission statement: “To fulfill all righteousness.” So if the question is ‘what kind of case is Matthew building’ then the answer is right there for us to see.

But then we need to figure out what it means. Jesus says that this baptism will “fulfill all righteousness,” and John immediately agrees. There is something in the words that is so convincing that no other words are needed—John just gets it. As I said, obvious and oblique at the same time.

So if we want to understand what it means ‘to fulfill all righteousness’ we need to look elsewhere in scripture the only surefire way to discern why these words are so compelling for John—and important to Matthew. So Matthew might be the first place to look:

Matthew uses the word righteousness more often than any of the four evangelists. Mark doesn’t use it at all, and the others use it sparingly. But Matthew wants us to really ponder the idea, and makes this clearest during the Sermon of the Mount:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (5.6)
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (5.10)
“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (5.20)

In other words, seek righteousness, expect to suffer for righteousness, and make sure your righteousness exceeds that of the religious ones that John was busy condemning in chapter three—because your future depends on it. And just as we become convinced that it’s truly important, Matthew adds this:

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (6.1)

So your righteousness has to exceed the religious elite, but you can’t let it show. Without it you can’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but if you have it and let everyone know you have it, you can’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven, assuming that’s the reward he means in chapter six.

If you are more confused than ever about this righteousness, then join the club. It’s not even clear what it means, if we need to have it but can’t show it. So we need to look somewhere else. And since another principle of biblical scholarship is begin at the beginning, we should look back. How about a proverb:

“Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness.” (Proverbs 16:31) This gray I’m cultivating around the temples will one day be part of my crown of splendor. Others are more fortunate, and obviously more righteous than me.

Maybe a better answer to the question “what are people saying about righteousness?” can be found in the Psalms. The Psalms can’t seem to say enough on the topic, so let’s listen in. Psalm 85:

10 Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.
13 Righteousness goes before him
and prepares the way for his steps.

Aside from the lovely imagery, we get a real sense that what we’re talking about is a mode of faithfulness, something that is evident to the righteousness that looks down from heaven to the earth below. It is a way of being, a way of peace, love, and remaining faithful. And this, of course, leads to the most famous example of righteousness, that of Abraham:

“Look up at the sky,” God said, “and count the stars—if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be.” And Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Gen 15.5-6)

So Abraham becomes the model and mode of righteousness—so much so that St. Paul will take up the conversation and add his insight: “It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.” (Romans 4.13)

In other words, even before faithfulness was defined, even before the gift of the law, Abraham was righteous—because he believed in the promises of God. Jesus is baptized to fulfill all righteousness, to demonstrate that the promises of God will be realized in Christ Jesus, that the ways of God will be made known in the ministry that begins to unfold from that day in the desert.

And what is the link to you and me? At the moment of our baptism, we become heirs to the same righteousness, followers to fulfill the promises of God in our lives. We put on Christ through baptism, so that by faith we could demonstrate the righteousness of God. This doesn’t make us perfect—far from it—but marks us as God’s own.

John’s preamble—seek a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins—is a necessary starting point in this journey of faith. But the real goal—to fulfill all righteousness—begins with faith, trusting in God to guide you, trusting in the presence of the Sprit, trusting in Christ’s abiding presence. In doing so, we follow in a long line that begins with Abraham and Sarah, Noah, wilderness wanderers, and the righteous ones who built this place. May the line continue, Amen.

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 10:48 AM