Matthew 3:13-17

The Baptism of Our Lord

William S. Waxenberg, Pastor



So, you want to be a righteous person do you?  Well, maybe you do, or maybe you’ve never thought about it before.  But, if you do, what does it mean to be ‘righteous?’

It’s a word fraught with danger, isn’t it.  We think of someone who’s righteous, and almost immediately we think of someone who’s self-righteous.  And that’s never a good thing.

When I was in college, one Sunday morning I was getting ready for church. One of my fraternity brothers walked in, all dressed up, and I asked, “Where are you going?” He looked at me and said with some disdain, “Where do you think I’m going? You’re not the only one around here who goes to church you know.” Intentional or not, my voice and attitude evidently carried with them a pretty healthy dose of self-righteousness.

And yet, to be righteous, to pursue righteousness, is something that appears again and again throughout the Scriptures. Ezra the priest, along with a host of other biblical writers, declares that the Lord, the God of Israel, is righteous (9:15). And throughout the Scriptures, we are called to be righteous too. “The Lord…loves righteous deeds,” the psalmist sings (111). And remember the story of Noah who was the only righteous man of his generation before the flood (Genesis 6:9). Righteous because he did what was right in the eyes of God.

And, in today’s gospel text, we hear the word ‘righteous’ again. Matthew tells us that Jesus came down the Jordan River to be baptized by John. John refused. We’re not told why, but it appears that John had at least an inkling that Jesus was no run-of-the-mill sinner who’d come for baptism as a sign of repentance, which is what John had been calling for. “I need to be baptized by you,” John protested. “Why do you come to me?” But Jesus was determined. “It’s the right thing to do,” he said. “It’s necessary to fulfill all righteousness.”

There’s that word again. Jesus is baptized “to fulfill all righteousness.” What does it mean for Jesus to be righteous? What does it mean for us to be righteous?

Well, the simplest definition of ‘righteousness’ is this: persons are righteous when they uphold their end of a covenant relationship. So in marriage. When a man and a woman make a commitment to each other, when they say they will “live together in the covenant of marriage;” when they promise to love, comfort, honor and keep one another in sickness and in health; when they promise to forsake all others and be faithful to each other for as long as they both shall live, then they’re righteous because they’ve upheld their end of the covenant relationship (ELW, p. 287).

The same is true with pastors and congregations. In contrast to some other denominations, we Lutherans don’t hire pastors. We call them. Pastors and congregations enter into a covenant relationship built on a series of promises, much like marriage. In my Letter of Call, you as the congregation made certain promises; and when I accepted your Letter of Call, I made certain promises to you. I promised

to preach and teach the Word of God in accordance with the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions; to administer Holy Baptism and Holy Communion; to lead worship; to proclaim the forgiveness of sins; to provide pastoral care; to speak for justice….

You promised your prayers, your love, your esteem, and your personal support  for the sake of…our ministry together in Christ’s name.

And when we, as congregation and pastor, fulfill what we’ve promised to do, when we’ve upheld our end of this covenant relationship then we’re righteous.

So, when Jesus entered into those waters in the Jordan River and was baptized by John, in order “to fulfill all righteousness,” he was upholding his end of his covenant relationship with God. But why? Why would Jesus need to do that?

Well, here’s the thing. Jesus wasn’t baptized “to fulfill all righteousness” for his own sake, but for ours! Jesus was baptized “to fulfill all righteousness” and to impart that righteousness—his righteousness—to us in our baptism. For truth be told, we can’t become righteous before God on our own. We can’t uphold our end of the covenant relationship with God. As good as we might believe ourselves to be, the fact of the matter is that we’re sinners, consumed with ourselves. “No one is righteous,” declares the apostle Paul (Romans 3:18).

In our Men’s Bible Study last Thursday morning, we were reminded of Luther’s comment that any breaking of the Ten Commandments can be boiled down into “self-love.” Whether it’s taking God’s name in vain, not honoring those in authority, or coveting our neighbor’s husband or wife, in the end we’re more concerned with loving ourselves than we are with honoring God or loving our neighbors.

So, if we can’t be righteous before God, then we need to rely on Christ’s righteousness before God, imparted to us in Holy Baptism.

Which is why it’s so important for us to remember our baptism. Holy Baptism is that event in our lives that’s the touchstone of God’s promise of forgiveness, mercy, and steadfast love. Holy Baptism is the sign of Christ’s good work on our behalf. Holy Baptism is the sign of the Holy Spirit’s promise to work faith in our hearts so that we can believe, so that we can grasp the miracle that God has produced for us in these waters: righteousness.

So we remember. We make the sign of the cross to remember. We have water available in the font to remember. Luther even suggested that every time we wash our face, we remember our baptism. We lift up in our Intercessory Prayers those who are celebrating their baptismal anniversary. We remember. And we remember that in Holy Baptism we were made righteous, not because of anything we’ve done, but because of what Christ has done. For as was suggested in last Wednesday’s evening Bible study, Christ’s going down into those baptismal waters was a foreshadowing of his death on the cross. For our sake.

So, in faith we’re able to say, “I am baptized. Christ’s righteousness is mine. God gave it to me in the holy waters.” In the face of our sin and our temptation to sin, we say, “But I am baptized.” When the mud of evil clings to us or we’re confronted with ethical choices, we say, “But I am baptized.” When we lay upon our death bed and when our last moment has come upon us, we will say, “But I am baptized.”

And at the Last Judgment, when we stand before God and give an accounting of our lives, and all our sins are laid bare before us—known and unknown—and we have nothing to offer our Lord and our King, then a voice will be heard throughout the heavens, the voice of our heavenly Father, who will look at us through the Cross of his Son, and he will say to us, “Ah yes, your sins, they are many. But in those holy waters, when you were baptized, the righteousness of my Son was given to you. And I gave you my Spirit to work faith in your heart. And you believed it. Welcome home.”

Amen.