Matthew 3:13-17 (NIV) 13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 15Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. 16As 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 lighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
Listen with me. Can you hear the hush? Can you see the calm walking into the midst of jostling people as Jesus came to Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John? John has been baptizing people as a way for people to say to God, “I have done wrong and my behavior has built a barrier between us. I want to return home to you.”
At first John objects, saying it is he who needs to be baptized by Jesus. But Jesus tells him very clearly why he has come to be baptized. He is asking to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness, and righteousness is defined as what God wants, what God requires, and even what God demands. In being baptized, Jesus is saying by His action that this is the right thing to do. This is what God wants.
If Jesus is being baptized because this is the right thing to do, then baptism is our first glimpse of Jesus doing what is right. Jesus is reliable righteousness in a time of great confusion in knowing what is the right thing to do. This cover of confusion can make it seem much more comfortable to do what we want.
Jesus can tell us what we are doing that is wrong. He can show us how we are sinking our life. When all other bits of advice and wisdom prove unreliable in the tempest of these times Jesus can point us to the true north and help us reorient our lives around the truth of God. Jesus is the reliable right, and as we follow Him the threads of conviction are sown into our life.
The conviction that Jesus is the reliable right grows by following Him. The conviction grows by doing. The conviction that Jesus is the reliable right does not come from talking about or studying about Him. The conviction comes by doing, by listening to a different center of our life, rather than to the noise and chatter and idle gossip. We turn a deaf ear to the slogans and remarks that people make because it is the popular thing to say. We choose a way of living that listens and weighs and wonders. We choose a way of living that asks of Jesus in prayer. We choose a life of listening and following.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 10, 1999
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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