In a well-known Irish tale, St. Patrick is said to have baptized a King Aengus. As Patrick prayed, he lifted and then authoritatively put down his pointed staff, not realizing that the iron tip had driven straight into the king’s foot. Aengus stood silent, blood pooling at his feet. Only after did Patrick see the wound and cry out in horror, “Why didn’t you say something?” The king replied, “I just thought it was part of the ritual!”

We smile, but we also wince. How often do we endure wounds simply because custom tells us to, “This is how things are. That’s just the way it is”? But custom is not the same as truth. Someone once said, “The Lord is Truth, not custom; when truth appears, custom must yield”.

In Sunday’s reading from Matthew, we witness God interrupting custom. Jesus surprises us. John the Baptist is at the Jordan, calling for sinners to repent. Then, the only person who has no sin to turn away from steps into the water. John objects, but Jesus insists. This somewhat awkward scene reveals an important aspect of who Jesus is and what he has come to do.

Fulfilling All Righteousness

Jesus is not baptized because he needs to repent. He is baptized to identify with us, to begin the obedience we could not keep, and, ultimately, fulfill all righteousness on our behalf.

Right-eous-ness

So, what is righteousness? We can think of righteousness as being “straight” or properly aligned. It’s whatever is perfectly calibrated to the character of God and the reality of his design. It is thus fundamentally a relational alignment: first, a vertical posture of trust toward God the Creator; then a horizontal posture of right love toward others. To be righteous is to be “rightly related,” moving beyond a mere legal status to an active virtue where “those who are good, do good.”

This alignment is best illustrated by the integrity of correct weights and measures. Just as a scale is “righteous” when it measures with perfect accuracy, a person is righteous when their life conforms to its intended purpose. What’s more, righteousness is a transformative power, an ever-flowing stream that promotes healing and harmony. Be assured: right standing with God is received as a gift of grace through faith, rather than earned by our own effort, but it is always evidenced by a life that does right. Ultimately, righteousness is the outworking of a Godlike character, where one’s inner integrity and outward conduct flow together to restore and reflect the way things ought to be.

Yet when Jesus says, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness,” he isn’t just modeling good behavior. He is inaugurating a new covenant, a new reality of life with God. You see, he enters the waters not to turn from sin, but to go ahead of us into the place where sin and death are confronted and confounded. His baptism is the first act of an obedience that will culminate on the cross.

Four Truths from the Jordan

Notice four things this moment reveals about our Savior:

First, Jesus stands where we stand. He enters the water not to confess guilt, but to take on the name “Sinner” as our representative. This is love-motivated solidarity that will cost him everything. This is not mere symbolism; it’s substitution.

Second, and this is key: Jesus does what we could not do. Where the people of God had failed and where we still fall short, his perfect obedience stands. Matthew shows us the act of fulfillment: Christ’s perfect obedience fully aligned with God the Father. Later, the Apostle Paul will explain the resultant gift, namely that his righteousness is counted as ours through faith.

Third, the Jordan is a preview of the cross. As the Spirit descends like a dove and the Father’s voice names him “Beloved,” we see a presentation of the Messiah. Immersion in these waters foreshadows the “baptism” of blood he would later endure for us. The river receives the Master, so that the earth may receive his blood.

Fourth, repentance with hope: Because Jesus has fulfilled righteousness, our daily repentance is not a desperate attempt to earn God’s favor. Instead, it is a grateful habit-forming response. We repent, knowing we are already accepted in and by him. Repentance becomes a daily return to the One who has already secured our place. It’s not dread so much as coming home.

Two Images of Identification

To help us see these truths, consider two images of leadership through identification.

A simple one: A parent and a child. Picture a parent kneeling to show a toddler how to tie a shoe. The parent doesn’t need to relearn the skill; they stoop to open a way for the child to follow. So, too, Jesus stoops into the Jordan for our sake to show us the way to the Father.

Now consider a historical example from South Africa: Nelson Mandela in 1995. For decades, the Springboks rugby jersey had been a symbol of apartheid and oppression for Black South Africans. Yet, at the World Cup final that year, President Mandela chose to wear that green and gold jersey as he presented the trophy. He didn’t need the jersey for himself, but he knew the nation needed to see him wear it to believe that reconciliation was possible. He entered a space he did not need to enter so that reconciliation could begin. If Mandela’s gesture could help heal a nation, how much more does Christ’s descent into the waters bring healing for the world?

That is the shape of Jesus’ act in the Jordan: costly identification. Just like Moses entered the Red Sea with Israel, sharing their fate, Christ enters the River Jordan with humanity, sharing our guilt. Jesus entered a space he did not need to so that we could be led into new life.

Living It

How do we live this out this week?

• Come to the water honestly. You do not need perfect repentance. There’s no such thing. Turn to God because the One who fulfilled righteousness has already opened the way.
• Practice daily turning. Let repentance be a habit of hope rather than dread. You are loved.
• Follow the Leader. Obedience is simply walking where Christ has already walked.

Closing

Picture the river once more: the water rushing around the feet of our Savior, the Spirit descending like a dove, the Father’s voice breaking open the heavens. This is the moment the world changes. The Beloved steps forward to fulfill all righteousness so that we might live in it. God presents his Son to the world; the Spirit empowers him to fulfill his mission.

He goes first. We follow, not to earn a blessing, but because he has already made us his own.

O Holy Spirit, who descended like a dove upon the Son, stir within us the same obedience.

The waters of the Jordan were never merely a spectacle; they were one of the first proclamations of the gospel’s rescue mission. As we contemplate Jesus stepping into those waters, the sinless One taking on the name “Sinner”, let us be moved to:

• Awaken to the seriousness of our sin.
• Fear the righteous judgment we would otherwise face.
• Receive the deliverance already secured.
• Trust that our prayers are heard because Christ has already interceded.
• Live a daily, transformative repentance that reshapes mind, heart, and action.

Christ’s baptism started to open the way to the Father. Rise therefore, dear brothers and sisters, and walk the path he has paved. Our repentance is participation in the very righteousness he fulfilled on our behalf.

May the grace that flowed over him at the Jordan flow continually over us, renewing us each day. Amen.

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References

Elwell, Walter A., and Philip Wesley Comfort, eds. 2001. Tyndale Bible Dictionary. Tyndale House Publishers.

Farr, Andrew. 2018. “The Encouraging Implications of Jesus’s Baptism in the Christian’s Practice of Daily Repentance.” Puritan Reformed Journal 10 (2): 193–207.

Fisher, Mark E. 2017. “St. Patrick’s Disastrous Baptism of King Aengus at the Rock of Cashel.” April 2. https://markfisherauthor.com/2017/04/king-aengus-baptism-rock-of-cashel/.

Grace, W. Vance. 2020. Landscape of the Soul: Confronting the Ethos of Progress and Restoring American Spirituality. Wipf and Stock.

Haykin, Michael A. G., ed. 2019. Once for All Delivered to the Saints: Essays on the History of the Christian Faith in Honor of Gerald L. Priest. Pickwick Publications.

MacKillop, James, ed. 2004. “Patrick, Saint, Pátraic, Saint (OIr.), Pádraig, Saint, Pádraic, Saint (ModIr.).” In A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford University Press.

Nabbi, Zayn. 2025. “Rugby World Cup 1995: How Nelson Mandela Inspired Springboks Glory.” BBC Sport, June 24. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c4gd0zmm7v1o.

Rollens, Sarah E. 2022. “The Baptism of Jesus.” Bible Odyssey, June 28. https://www.bibleodyssey.org/articles/the-baptism-of-jesus/.

Youngblood, Ronald F., F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison, eds. 1995. Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Thomas Nelson.