January 11th, 2020

The celebration of the Epiphany of Our Lord was this week, and this Sunday is the first Sunday after the Epiphany, and this Sunday always focuses on the Baptism of Our Lord, a ‘manifestation’ of Jesus at the very beginning of his ministry. And, this year, we get to focus on the Gospel according to Matthew.

I wrote that we ‘get to’ because these are the first recorded words out of Jesus’s mouth in the New Testament. The Gospel according to Matthew is first for a reason—although I will not get into that topic here. But first words are important. And last words are important as well.

I believe that the last words of the first words of Jesus are very important. You are probably familiar with these words. Jesus says the following to John the Baptist as an excuse for Jesus to be baptized by John: ‘It is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness (3:15).’ This time I have a great interest in that final phrase, ‘to fulfill all righteousness’.
I have not found the phrase ‘all righteousness’ anywhere else in the ancient writings—except for one place. (If you find an occurrence somewhere else, please let me know!)

There are two interesting things about this second-century letter from Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans (the Christians who lived in Smyrna, on the western coast of what is now Turkey). First of all, the quotation below is an incredibly long sentence. There are a lot of things going on here that are interconnected. And, second, the cross is so central; note the two references to being ‘nailed’.

I glorify Jesus Christ, the God who made you so wise, for I observed that you are established in an unshakable faith, having been nailed, as it were, to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in both body and spirit, and firmly established in love by the blood of Christ, totally convinced with regard to our Lord that he is truly of the family of David with respect to human descent, Son of God with respect to the divine will and power, truly born of a virgin, baptized by John in order that all righteousness might be fulfilled by him, truly nailed in the flesh for us under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch (from its fruit we derive our existence, that is, from his divinely blessed suffering), in order that he might raise a banner for the ages through his resurrection for his saints and faithful people, whether among Jews or among Gentiles, in the one body of his church (The Apostolic Fathers; Third Edition; Edited by Michael W. Holmes; Published by Baker Academic in 2007; page 249).

Now, as I wrote above, there is a LOT there. Perhaps the writer’s larger perspective makes for larger sentences. I also think that both Jesus and the writer have a larger perspective with the phrase ‘all righteousness’.

This word, ‘righteousness’, obviously appears in the Old Testament. It goes back to Abraham and even Noah, but it ultimately goes back to God. He gets to use righteousness when and where it pleases him. In the quote above, when the writer finally gets to the timeline of Jesus’ life here on earth, in a way very much like the Creeds of the Church, he goes immediately from his baptism to his being nailed to the cross.

Matthew 3:15 is the very first time that the word ‘righteousness’ is used in this gospel account. It is used a total of seven times within this account (3:15; 5:6, 10, 20; 6:1, 33; 21:32), as well as once within the Gospel according to Luke (1:75) and twice within the Gospel according to John (16:8 & 16:10).

The last time the word is used within the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus again brings up John the Baptist (21:32; ESV): ‘John came to you in the way of righteousness.’ Does righteousness have a way, a path? Is it a path that God starts us down and then it is up to us to finish it?​

From the way that the text is going, it seems to be a much shorter path, and it seems that the path is one that focuses on the Lord and his messengers and not us. And it seems that Jesus had authority over this way or path of righteousness. But he ended up being baptized with a baptism for sinners, and then—fast forward down that path—he really ended up being nailed to the cross to pay for all that sin. That is the way of righteousness … all righteousness … not just some righteousness.