The Dawning Light of Christ: Fulfilling All Righteousness
This Sunday we begin a new sermon series: The Dawning Light of Christ. Into a creation shrouded in the dark gloom of Sin and scarred by evil, God sent Jesus, his only begotten Son, to be the light of the world. Wherever the light of God shines in the dark recesses of life, the darkness flees and cannot overcome the light. In mercy, God chose not to stab the eyes of the world with a sudden, blinding flash of his radiant glory, like someone throwing open the drapes of an unsuspecting sleeper on a brilliant sunlit morning. God’s light came into the world gradually, like the dawn light at the beginning of the day.
Today’s Gospel lesson affirms that Jesus is the Son of God, and that Jesus has come to fulfill all righteousness. God’s people have always had a tenuous relationship with the laws of God. In them we see the potential, the power, the perfection of God’s desire for humanity. At the same time, we see how far short we are from attaint that potential, power and perfection. We have the law, but our righteousness remains unfulfilled.
It’s hard to even notice Jesus as he stands in the Jordan, surrounded by a thousand other seekers and repenters. But Matthew calls our attention to the scene, as if to say “look again, and see! The light of God’s love is here…small and faint and dim, but growing in the world.”
