Street Legal

Matt 3:15

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

ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἄφες ἄρτι, οὕτως γὰρ πρέπον ἐστὶν ἡμῖν πληρῶσαι πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην. τότε ἀφίησιν αὐτόν.

John is baptising in the Jordan and issues a warning, namely that the one coming after him is more powerful and more worthy than he himself is, and that this one will gather His wheat into His barn and burn the chaff. As Malachi would say, “but who can endure the day of his coming?”

So John is a little perplexed when the very one of whom he has spoken arrives to be baptised. “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?”

So how does Jesus reply? It is there in the English and Greek at the top of this post. But what exactly do we think “it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness” even means? Are we, for example, saying that there is something missing from Jesus’ own personal righteousness? That if He doesn’t do this He will be unrighteous?

Once again we see the power and danger of religious language. It takes on a life of its own. “Fulfilling all righteousness” is obviously one of those important mystical things that we don’t need to understand, so we just use it as if it must mean something.

And clearly it has some effect – immediately after He is baptised and comes up out of the water, the Spirit of God descends on Him like a dove and a voice from heaven speaks. But what is it, this fulfilling of righteousness?

Context first. Jesus is born in obscurity but the fact that He is born King of the Jews gets attention from Herod and all Jerusalem when Magi turn up from the East, asking for directions. Once He is on the radar, there is a plan to kill Him, thwarted when an angel warns Joseph and he takes his wife and child out of the country to Egypt. Herod loses the scent.

First question: do you think Satan knew where Jesus was after Joseph acted on the angel’s warning?

If you think Satan is all-knowing, you give him too much credit. And – since he didn’t arrange to have Jesus killed in Egypt – you also think he shows restraint, against his own interests. Herod lost the trail, but so did Satan. For a brief moment Satan was aware that trouble had arrived, but he lost track of the danger.

When was he next aware of Jesus’ presence? After the Spirit alighted on Jesus. At that point, Satan’s radar screen lit up like you wouldn’t believe, with all the warning klaxons going full blast. (A friend of mine has commented that when the anointing on you increases, you show up on Satan’s radar screen; that would appear to be in line with what we see in this passage.)

When the Spirit lead Jesus up into the desert to be put to the test by the Devil, why do you think the Devil accepted the invitation? Because he knew who Jesus was and that He had to be a huge threat (which – think about it – might have been a really good reason to stay away) – but he still didn’t know how or why and (here’s why he didn’t stay away) he was desperate to try to find out what was going on. (Not that the penny would actually drop until after Jesus was killed).

So now we have some context, back to our question. Jesus has been off the radar for at least three decades. He is about to – quite deliberately – light up Satan’s threat receivers; so what is fulfilling all righteousness about?

Here is a rendering of our verse which I think is closer to the mark:

“Let it go for now, for thus it is clearly seen of us that we have fully complied with the legal process.”

And ‘be clearly seen (or conspicuous)’, ‘fully comply’, and ‘legal process’ are all good renderings of πρέπον, πληρῶσαι and δικαιοσύνην, respectively. So it is not about earning a pass on righteousness; it is part of the Father’s plan and which Jesus is following.

What are we saying here? Isaiah had prophesied, and John was fulfilling, the preparation of a highway for the Lord in the wilderness. John’s baptism was for repentance (true) but also to signify that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand (also true, but we seem to forget this bit). Did Jesus need to repent? No. So why the baptism? Why the need to take part in this legal process Himself?

In order to – very deliberately – step out onto the stage and announce His presence.

This was the point where (to speak in movie language) the evil overlord is mocking the futile attempts of his victims to hold on to hope, when suddenly a figure steps out of the shadows, lets the point of his great sword hit the wooden floor with a thud, and is revealed as the true and longed-for King. And he has been there, right under the evil overlord’s nose all this time, unrecognised.

Jesus was baptised to declare that the Kingdom really had arrived; because here is the King. He hasn’t taken any shortcuts, He is fully human, and now He models what the Kingdom will be; fully present on earth as a man, baptised with water and with the Spirit of God.

And from this time forth, He is on the radar, fully visible – and fully street legal. There is nothing Satan can say to cry foul; the Son of God has quite legally become the Son of Man, and therefore can operate within Satan’s territory. And that still doesn’t mean Satan has a clue what is going on. He just knows he is in trouble.

(You can see https://seeingthekingdom.com/2021/04/20/authorised/ for a post on what the voice from heaven was really saying; and the next post will look at the so-called Temptations.)