I came that morning to hear the Baptizer. Something big was about to happen. John was a big deal in those days, a controversial religious rabble-rouser to some, a powerful and radical preacher to others, and to some he was just plain weird. You loved him, hated him, or were entertained by him. I came to be entertained, but as he spoke of paving the way for Messiah, I felt increasingly like I was burning up inside. My parents had taught me from an early age the promises of Messiah to come. In the synagogue, my beloved rabbi made us to memorize the Scriptures that pointed to his coming, and we had long lessons on the topic that spanned back generations.
As this rabbi, John, spoke to us, I felt it my duty to repent. After all, the way had to be prepared for Messiah, and if indeed he was about to come, I wanted to do my part in the preparations. John's face was serious, urgent, and yet not unfriendly. I waited my turn, and each one that went into the water came out with differing looks. Some looked as if they had done what they needed to do. Some had a look of, "Well, that was interesting." A few looked as though something major had changed within them. When it was my turn, he baptized me, and as I came up, I felt a wave of gratitude and purpose wash over me, that I was part of something crucial.
There had been audible conversation happening all around the river as the baptisms were happening. Some talked about what John had said. Some talked about the people being baptized. There were those that were baptized that elicited surprise, especially when it was a Pharisee or a someone of good repute. A few guffaws when it was a person of poor reputation. I couldn't hear what they were saying about me in particular before my baptism. It was what happened afterwards that has stayed with me all this time since.
I came out of the water. The Baptizer embraced me and said a few things about the coming "Lamb of God," and that I would find true cleansing in Him. As soon as I left him to return to the riverbank, I heard John shout, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" It became silent silent. Having heard John say similar words just a few moments ago, I turned around, dripping wet, and saw Jesus, the son of Joseph, standing at the edge of the water. "Really? This is the 'Lamb' I'm supposed to believe in?" I thought to myself. "This is Messiah?"
The most interesting thing happened then. Jesus went into the water, out to John. I expected Jesus to take over at that point, if he was who John claimed he was. After all, if he was the spotless "Lamb" John said he was, that meant he was perfect, and didn't exactly need the remission of sins that John preached about. Imagine how shocking it would be, then, to hear him ask John to baptize him!
Could John have been wrong? Clearly he didn't think he was. He immediately told Jesus that he was the one who needed baptism, so John didn't think he was in error. I wasn't sure what to make of that, but then Jesus said to John, "Let it be so, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."
John's expression became one of absolute amazement. A few moments later, with visible trembling in his limbs and body, John lowered Jesus into the water and brought him back out. Not but a few seconds later, we all saw something like a dove out of nowhere come down to Jesus, and we heard this loud voice ring out over the waters, echoing off the banks... "You are My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." After the sound of the voice died down, the waters were calm, and you could have heard a feather hitting the water. The drops of water were still coming off of me, and I could hear them as they splashed the water at my feet. The waters sounded like ocean waves when Jesus began to walk out of the water, with the dove leading him. I expected Jesus to stay for a time, but he was soon gone in the direction of the desert.
I walked home that day, lost in thought. What did Jesus mean, "... to fulfill all righteousness"? Wasn't he already plenty righteous, if he was that Lamb of God John described him as being? Then it hit me. That's the point! I mean, look around the river that day, in the water and up on the banks. Not a single person was there that hadn't had to take one of their lambs to the Temple at some point to make an offering for sin. Not a single person was there that was really righteous... until Jesus showed up. And I realized this a few years later, after Jesus was crucified, buried, and then after I saw him alive again with my own eyes. So, clearly Jesus was righteous, and the only one there that day who was. Clearly, me getting baptized didn't fulfill righteousness. My act of repentance and baptism that day... and the acts of everyone else there... great as it was, didn't fulfill righteousness. But Jesus's act did. Clearly the presence of God that day, as we heard in that voice and saw in that dove, verified this. Clearly this was verified later on when Jesus would later rise from death.
You see, I realized that, if anything, I kept righteousness from being fulfilled. Everyone there that day except Jesus had not taken righteous paths. Jesus and I weren't the first ones to have been baptized, so obviously righteousness hadn't yet been fulfilled, and frankly, what could someone as unrighteous as myself do to fulfill it anyway?
Jesus was claiming that day that he was being baptized in order to fulfill righteousness. Looking back, he had always been righteous to that point. He was righteous when he entered the Jordan River. Surely he was claiming he would be righteous throughout the future. He claimed he would remain righteous through the cross and beyond! He was embracing that mantle of Messiah, and was fulfilling that Name we were taught from Isaiah in a deep way: God-with-us. He was identifying himself as God and as one of us human beings in need of righteousness to be fulfilled, that great reversal of what Adam did back in the Garden.
I realize now that that was my only real hope coming into the water! That day I realized that in baptism I was really identifying with him, and that as he was baptized, he identified with me! From that point on, I knew Jesus as the Christ, my righteousness!
