“Baptismal Spring of Justice” (Isaiah 42:1-9; Matthew 3:13-17)

Isaiah 42:1-9
Matthew 3:13-17

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Pastor Tom Johnson, January 12, 2020

John the Baptist is confused. Why would Jesus get baptized? “I need to be baptized by you, Jesus! Not the other way around,” he says. Jesus’ answer is simple yet profound: “In my baptism we will fulfill all righteousness” or “all justice.” Our Old Testament reading from Isaiah is very enlightening. Isaiah 42 is such important Scripture to Matthew’s Gospel that he quotes this passage almost in its entirety later in Matthew chapter 12. God promises to send his servant, the Messiah. This prophecy saturates us with the idea that the Messiah will be anointed with the Holy Spirit and drenched with God and his own righteousness. But even more than that, he will radiate his light to the nations and flood the world with his justice. He will be altogether righteous. And he will fill the cosmos with his justice. “See,” God says, “the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.”

That sounds a lot like Jesus in Revelation who says, “I make all things new,” when he comes in all his glory to bring justice to the living and the dead. His justice and righteousness will spring forth, as Jesus will also say later in his ministry to the Samaritan woman at the well: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). All of these Scriptures, promises, prophecies, and images in the Bible come together in the waters of Jesus’ Baptism.

We often hear of how Jesus does the right thing, pleases God, and fulfills the law’s demand in his Baptism. But it clearly is much more. In Christ’s Baptism God gives the world a Spring of Righteousness, Justice, and Eternal Life. His Baptism is not only Jesus doing the right thing and being wholly righteous. He is also the one who executes justice, rights every wrong, and makes all things new.

In his catechism, Luther asks, “How can water do such great things?” “Certainly, not just water, but the word of God in and with the water does these things, along with the faith which trusts this word of God in the water.” It is “a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of new birth in the Holy Spirit.” Baptism is a wellspring of life, grace, cleansing, and new birth. It makes us righteous—just and through us brings forth God’s justice and righteousness to all the world.

In Isaiah 42, God’s promise of his baptismal spring of justice is not just for his faithful people but for those who are suffering in their bodies, for those prisoners languishing unjustly in the dungeons and darkness of their captivity. It is for those who are held captive by false gods and idols—that is, for all the nations. God cares about all the sickness in the world, emotional pain, and physical hardships. He hears the cries of those who receive the judgment of the world—not the true justice of God. Even those who turn to other gods have a place in God’s heart to make all things new. He promises to bring them out of spiritual darkness and make our cups run over with his grace and love.

Jesus brings about justice without breaking a bruised reed or putting out a smoldering wick. He is not a bull in a china shop. He works out of tender mercy and the strength of his compassion. It is why God says, “Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord, “I will bring forth justice for my people.” When we take matters into our own hands—when we fight evil with evil, it should not surprise us when God does not bless us. Without God’s help, we shatter reeds and snuff out smoldering wicks.

We do not bring our righteousness and justice to this spring. That would have how springs work turned the wrong way around. The source of this holy washing of regeneration is God’s Anointed Son who brings us righteousness and justice with whom God is well-pleased. We, on the other hand, bring the filthy rags of our sin. We bring our need for cleansing. We bring those things that are about to come to pass so that the new can rush in by the torrent of God’s love.

And so here at the font, we have the floodgates of all who Jesus is as God’s beloved and righteous Son. Beneath this wellspring of baptismal water is a vast sea of God’s grace and mercy. It pours out from the person and work of Jesus Christ, whom Scripture calls the Just and Justifier of those who trust in him (Rom 3:26). We have all that Jesus promises by the water, Word, and Holy Spirit. In Holy Baptism are united with his death and resurrection. He is our Alpha and Omega—the beginning and the end. We are his new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, he makes all things new (2 Cor 5:17). He is the One who fulfills all righteousness and justice. He reconciles us to God and he reconciles us to one another. He is the One who will make “justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24).