To Fulfill All Righteousness

It may seem obvious that Jesus would go to be baptized in the Jordan River by his relative and forerunner, John (Mt 3). I do not imagine that Jesus debated in his mind whether or not to go for baptism; but I do believe that he thought deeply about its implications, communed with his Father, and made a full, deliberate, conscious choice to do the divine will.

When Jesus was about to be baptized, John protested: “I need to be baptized by you . . . do you come to me?” John’s question implies that the baptizer is normally greater than the one who is baptized.

In reply, Jesus stated a deeper reason for coming to John: “to fulfill all righteousness” (Mt 3:15). In doing so, Jesus openly connected the beginning of his public career with the work of John the Baptizer. The wider meaning of this baptism was that it marked the beginning of the most momentous years in Jesus’ life. God had made a covenant with Abraham: Moses, Elijah, and the prophets had led the way forward. It was the will of God that Jesus’ followers should nourish themselves on the best of this heritage.

Watch the 9:15 video or listen to the podcast episode.

By the time Jesus came on the scene, Judaism had been divinely sustained since the time of the covenant two thousand years earlier. The network of synagogues, centered on Jerusalem, was extensive. For this network to carry Jesus’ message would have been the ideal first step in the gospel becoming established worldwide. It seems plausible to regard this as God’s ‘plan A.’

But in addition to being loyal to his Father’s will, Jesus was also realistic. Knowing the mindset of the religious leaders, he would have recognized the possibility that they would reject his mission. Conceivably, Jesus could have gone somewhere else and started a new religion free of the language of kingdom and Messiah, with their misleading and dangerous political and military connotations. But Jesus went to John for baptism in order to embrace ‘plan A.’ This required him to fulfill all righteousness by completely dedicating his will to the doing of his Father’s will.

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The way of righteousness is the way of life, in contrast with evil and sin. After his baptism, Jesus encountered the devil and emerged victorious. To understand what Jesus overcame, we need to make a distinction between evil and sin. The Creator’s plan of biological evolution brought forth humankind with natural tendencies toward material-mindedness and self-centeredness. The potential for evil is unavoidable. But we can choose good instead, when we are old enough to know the difference.

                  When we get tangled up in evil—our own, others’, or both—we can enter into Jesus’s prayer, “Deliver us from evil” (Mt 6:13). When this prayer of ours is full of faith, God’s answer empowers us to live the values of the divine way.

Sin is in a different league. Sin rejects morality, betrays divine values, and rebels against the will of God with eyes wide open. Sin is not the archer who misses the mark, but the one who defies the very idea of a target and shoots arrows at other archers. Sin knows what God wants but has stopped caring or takes pride in defiant action.

Jesus consistently chose to fulfill all righteousness, and he thus showed us the divine, ideal version of the way of life. This stands in contrast with evil and sin in many ways.

• The way of life says ‘YES’ to God and goes forward. Evil is self-deceived; it goes the wrong way but does not allow itself to face honestly what it is doing. It may mistake its own vice for a virtue and cause atrocities. Sin is proud of living in reverse.
• The way of life uses free will to seek and do what is good. Evil pursues satisfactions that are wrapped up in self. Sin asserts the deceptive freedom of doing whatever one feels like and ends up with bitter consequences.
• The way of life faces problems with effective focus, a merry heart, and tenacious resilience. Evil procrastinates and takes the easy way out. Sin gathers its forces to distort truth and love.
• The way of life aspires to love each person appropriately. Evil gives affection only to those who are affectionate in return. Sin finds allies only in the company of those who pridefully blind themselves to God’s goodness and the privilege of serving our siblings.
• The way of life leads to a glorious future. Evil slows down progress for everyone affected. Sin can accumulate momentum that strangles a person’s destiny as a child of God. In other words, if sin becomes a hardened habit, the individual becomes increasingly deaf to any further merciful appeal. In the worst-case scenario, “the wages of sin is death”; in other words, the final consequence is a death which amounts to spiritual suicide of the soul (Rom 6:23). This is not to be confused with the desperate overdose of a teenager seized by the illusory darkness of depression.
• The way of life is health, sanity, and happiness.

                  And so for now, no matter what is going on in your life and in our world, always know that you are a divinely created, infinitely loved son or daughter of the living God, whose spirit of God dwells within you, your perfect guide and friend in this world and the next.