Baptism of Christ, First Sunday after Epiphany, Year A

Sermon at Saint Margaret’s Anglican Church, Budapest (2026.01.11)

Baptism of Christ, First Sunday after Epiphany, Year A

Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17

“To fulfil all righteousness…” 

It is unclear how John the Baptist might have understood Jesus – his (second) cousin – before Jesus even began his public ministry. Yet as Christ waded out into the Jordan River to be baptised, John objected, intuiting that their roles were somehow reversed and that Jesus should be the one baptising him. 

The explanation that it was “to fulfil all righteousness” evidently satisfied John’s concerns, who then consented, but it has puzzled theologians ever since.  Why should Jesus, the one person in all of human history who had never sinned, be baptised “with water for repentance” (Mt 3:11)?

Phrased another way, what did the baptism of Jesus accomplish, and how did it “fulfil all righteousness?”

Like the visit of the Magi, the miracle of wine at Cana, and the transfiguration, Jesus’ baptism is meant to frame our understanding of who the Christ is. As the word Epiphany implies, it is a revealing (or manifestation) of the glory of God in his only begotten Son. Jesus is revealed to four different groups – and by extension to us as well – as the promised Messiah who will save the world.  

So how does his baptism fit into this Epiphany (or showing forth) of the glory of God in Christ? And how does it fulfil all righteousness? The other two readings we heard today point to the answer.

First, we heard a prophetic picture of what the Messiah, the servant of the Lord, would accomplish. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, Isaiah proclaims that God will put his spirit upon his Messiah, who “will bring forth justice to the nations” (Isa 42:1). Furthermore, God has “called [him] in righteousness” and given him “as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind” and deliver those in darkness and captivity (42:6-7).

Jesus was called in righteousness to bring forth justice to the nations.

There are a handful of words in Hebrew worth knowing, and these are two of them: ṣedeq (צֶדֶק) or ṣĕdāqâ (צְדָקָה), typically translated as “righteousness”, and mishpāṭ (מִשְׁפָּט), typically translated as “justice”.

These two terms, ṣedeq and mishpāṭ form a theological pair and are often used together to express a comprehensive vision of justice, like two sides of one coin. Or perhaps two distinct faces of the same treacherous mountain that we often lose our footing on…

Unhelpfully, righteousness (tsedeq) in English is often reduced to individual moral virtue, for example whether someone has kept the 10 Commandments or not. However, the Hebrew sense is broader and fundamentally relational. Tsedeq points to relational faithfulness, both with God as well as with those around us, rather than adhering to a legal standard. Righteousness describes conforming to God’s character and covenant, and it is expressed through faithful behaviour, generosity, and care for others – social responsibility. 

Think Abraham. Even though his wife was well past the age of childbearing, when God promised to bless him with descendant, through whom God would bless all the nations of the world, Abraham “believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6). 

Abraham was not credited as righteous because of his impeccable moral behaviour – quite the contrary – his righteousness was derivative of his relational faithfulness, even when he got things wrong. 

Of course, this doesn’t mean moral behaviour is not important – it is! – but tsedeq, righteousness, goes beyond it. Tsedeq describes the state of right relationship God desires for us and from us. 

Mishpat, on the other hand, is how that rightness is restored when it is violated. Justice as mishpat corrects wrongdoing, it protects the vulnerable by intervening against oppression, and it can involve judgment, punishment, restoration, or vindication. Mishpat includes both judicial rectification through courts and rulers, as well as divine intervention, whether historical or eschatological, on the final Day of Judgment.

In short, tsedeq is justice embodied whereas mishpat is justice enacted. Both are essential elements of biblical justice, since tsedeq without mishpat can devolve into abstract moralism, whereas mishpat without tsedeq can lead to mere legalism. 

The question, then, is how does the baptism of Jesus fulfil all righteousness? 

It fulfilled all righteousness, because Jesus did what everyone else throughout human history has failed to do. Beginning with Adam and Eve in the garden, humanity has universally and consistently decided to go its own way. Instead of being faithful to our relationship with God, the one who created us and desires the best for us, we have rebelled against the limitations and boundaries he established to safeguard us and those around us. Instead of pursuing tsedeq, aligning ourselves with God’s will and covenant, so often we chose to pursue our own strategies to attain happiness, meaning and fulfilment. We prefer to be the lords of our own lives, to be like gods, even if it comes at a cost to those around us. 

Repentance is the bridge, the means by which tsedeq can be recovered.  It goes beyond simply emotional regret; being sorry for the wrong things we have done. Repentance – or metanoia in Greek – is a fundamental reorientation of our lives; a turning away from the idolatry of self and (re)submitting ourselves to God, to pursuing His will for our lives, not our own. 

When Jesus received John’s baptism for repentance, it wasn’t an act of repenting for sins he never committed, but an act of obedience and solidarity – of dying to himself. Dying to all the hopes and ambitions he might have otherwise had. It was a recognition that any human attempt to achieve happiness or fulfilment outside of God is ultimately bound to fail. It was a reorientation of his life in submission to the Father’s will. 

This metanoia, this repentance is what enabled Jesus to say in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Yet not my will, but yours be done” (Lk 22:42). It is what enabled him to lay down his very life for our sake. Jesus became the first true Israelite, God’s faithful servant, in the words of Isaiah, “a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind” and deliver those in darkness and captivity (42:6-7). 

His decision that day in the middle of the Jordan, set in motion the fulfilment of all righteousness, both tsedeq and mishpat. No wonder a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

It also serves as an invitation to us – to reflect on the trajectory of our own lives – and perhaps reorient ourselves toward the righteousness to which God has called us in Christ.

Amen.