But Jesus answered him,
“Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all
righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15)
I’m reading a great book at bedtime. It’s Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit. No, it’s not a book about intimidating sermons. It’s a history about the relationship between Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and his successor, William Howard Taft. The two men started out their political careers as great friends and allies, but by 1912 the two Republicans found themselves in a bitter battle for their party’s nomination. I’m almost to the end of the 700+ page history, and I really hope these two great Americans shake hands and make up (Don’t anyone spoil the book for me if you know whether or not they did!). In just the same way I hope Wills and Harry (You know: King Charles’ boys) get over their kerfuffle and act like brothers again. And maybe someday the Republicans and Democrats in Congress might put aside a few of their differences and actually get something worthwhile done for our country.
It really bites when folks who have so much in common can’t get along. After all, relationship is what it’s all about, don’t you think?
Relationship—right relationship—is key to the gospel lesson we read for the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord (Matthew 3:13-17). The term righteousness does not mean being morally perfect. It means being in a reconciling relationship with God. Often this means admitting that we’re pretty darn morally imperfect.
Diane Chin, Professor of New Testament at the Palmer Theological Seminary in St. David’s, PA, suggests that it would be one tough road for a first century Jewish guy to walk to come to John the Baptist, publicly admit his faults, and ask to be washed clean[i]. Honor and shame were pretty big deals in that culture[ii], but the only way to become righteous was to suck it up and say a big “I’m sorry.” Dr. Chin says Abraham was reckoned to be righteous because he believed God and was willing to do what God asked. This put him in relationship with God, and that’s what was considered righteous. Abe certainly wasn’t a paragon of virtue[iii].
When Jesus comes down to the Jordan, he establishes relationships. John gets a little uneasy about this because he figures the right relationship is for him to be subordinate to Jesus. You have to admire the guy’s humility because John was the big hairy deal up to this point. But Jesus knows that he has to undergo everything we undergo in order to be in relationship with us. When Jesus washes, as I like to say, in our dirty bathwater, God proclaims the relationship he has with him. “You’re my kid and you make me happy!”
That’s the relationship we have with God through our baptism. The sacrament does two things: it makes us family, and it promises us that we’ll be family no matter what.
When I do my five-minute catechesis with drive-by baptism mommies over the phone, I like to explain the subtle difference between how we Lutherans understand baptism as opposed to how our Roman brothers understand it. Both traditions acknowledge the doctrine of Original Sin. That is, we all know that, however cute your baby might be, he/she is born human and is going to do dumb things. If you’re born on the beach, you’re going to get sandy. If you’re born human, you’re going to be a sinner. You just are. You can’t help it. The Catholic Church teaches that the sacrament of baptism frees the baptized from the stain of Original Sin. BUT: There’s a problem. After you’re baptized you just might sin again. Then you have to go to confession, do some penance, and work off that sin.
Martin Luther taught that baptism “brings forgiveness of sins, redeems from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe it.[iv]” In a nutshell, when we’re baptized we believe we’ve come into relationship with God. We’re now God’s kids, part of the family. You know how it is with your own kids. You always love them even when you don’t necessarily like them at times. They just never stop being your kids. That’s our relationship with God of which Holy Baptism is the sign. We may screw up millions of times in our lives (and, don’t doubt it, we will), but the relationship is never broken. It’s 100% guaranteed for life. There’s no need for penance. Our weekly confession and trips to God’s dinner table at Holy Communion are just signs to remind us of the righteousness—the family relationship—we already possess through God’s grace.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could see all our relationships through the lens of God’s righteousness? I think it would be swell to consider that all of the issues we have with one another—however acrimonious—are only temporary setbacks. The bond of family is always there, and forgiveness is never impossible.
[i]
I’ve stolen a bit from her article on the Working
Preacher website.
[ii]
As opposed to OUR culture where nobody seems to have any shame at all these
days!
[iii]
See Genesis 15:6. If you read through Genesis you’ll see that Abraham could be
a real jerk at times. So could Noah and just about all the other patriarchs.
None of them were any more perfect than you or I.
[iv]
Check out the Small Catechism.
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