This statement that Jesus said to John the Baptist has always been a difficult one for me. I haven’t really understood how it could be that, in baptizing Jesus, they could be fulfilling righteousness.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
Matthew 3:13-15
Jesus is perfect. Spotless. No sin. He has no reason to be baptized because he hasn’t sinned. John’s baptism was for repentance, which Jesus didn’t need. Further, he told the Pharisees that one was coming who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. That “one” was Jesus. Why do this baptism, and how does that fulfill righteousness?
Thinking about this and doing some additional reading in various commentaries this morning, I was reminded of a couple of an additional scripture that helped me. It is a prophecy in Isaiah 53 that speaks to the coming of Christ. Here is what it says:
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
Isaiah 53:12
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Jesus was numbered amongst the transgressors. And furthermore, he bore the sin of many, making intercession for the transgressors.
Jesus was considered to be a transgressor. It has been said that Jesus confessed sins that he did not commit and repented of them before God. So, in this way, as in many other ways, Jesus was numbered amongst the transgressors. Even if he didn’t need to be baptized, that didn’t actually matter. He was taking on the form of a transgressor so that the sins would be placed upon himself and he would bear them in the place of the actual transgressors.