Matthew 3:13-17 (NRSV)
Read Matthew 3:13-17 on biblegateway.com
Verse 13Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. Verse 14John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Verse 15But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. Verse 16And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. Verse 17And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
Devotion
Jesus was baptized "to fulfill all righteousness." Righteousness means doing and being right in God’s sight. He did for us what we cannot do for ourselves, because by nature we were born sinful and unclean. But Jesus justifies us through his sacrificial suffering, death and resurrection. "Justify," someone aptly explained, makes me "just-as-if-I'd-never-sinned."
The writer of Ephesians (2:14) urges us to be "strong in the Lord." That strength is possible, ours for the asking, if we start by "putting on the breastplate of righteousness." We are then covered with the righteousness Christ has won for us. We can put on this breastplate of righteousness because, as Isaiah 53:5 says, "He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and by his stripes we are healed."
Prayer
We pray the words of the hymn Ah, Holy Jesus (EWL 349): "Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee, I do adore thee and will ever pray thee; Think on thy pity, and thy love unswerving, not my deserving." Amen.