Great movies, great art, great poetry and stories, great comedy and TV shows all engage and captivate us because they possess the ability to upset our expectations. There’s the turn, the hook, the shocking twist that no one saw coming, the cliffhanger that keeps you coming back because you simply must find out how it all ends. The best of stories have plot lines that lead you to believe that you know how it’s going to play out, but then comes the surprising twist that upsets what you thought, that ties it all together, and keeps you coming back for more. And I want to suggest to you today that the story for the Gospel, the story of the coming of the kingdom of heaven, is a powerful story that upsets expectations and so captivates hearts and minds even as it turns worlds upside down.

It begins with Christmas itself, with the birth of our Savior. The Old Testament prophets had long prophesied about God’s coming. It was described as a day of terror, a day of fear and trembling. It was a day that was approaching with a feeling of doom attached to it. For the sinner would be judged and the wicked punished. Mankind had to get their lives in order, offer their sacrifices, and prepare to fall on their faces in hopes that God would be merciful when he arrived. But no one expected him to come as he did. The great twist was that God arrived as a baby, not to condemn mankind but to offer him a way out, a way of hope and salvation. The shocking mercy of God was that he became the final sacrifice for our sin, bringing the reconciliation we all desperately needed.

And this theme continues on in our text today. John, the great forerunner of our Lord, the one preparing the way for him, is preparing the way by baptizing people in the Jordan River. This baptism was a sign of their repentance. Their desire to turn from their sin in anticipation of the arrival of God. So imagine the scene: people are flocking out there, their hearts heavy. They know their sins; they are done pretending they are good enough, faithful enough, righteous enough. They are broken and longing for some hope, some assurance of a better day, a better future. We know what that feels like; we know what it is to confess our sins, to be empty-handed beggars with nothing to barter with before God. And then, the twist, the shocking turn that no one expected. Jesus, the sinless, perfect son of God himself, steps into the water.

Jesus enters the waters of repentance. It is a bizarre turn of events. What did he have to repent of, what did he need to confess, what was he preparing for? This is the coming of God; this is the perfect and faithful Son of God. Why is he going to be baptized? Well, he comes as a substitute, he comes to make your repentance perfect and whole, he comes to fulfill what you are unable to do. He is the perfect penitent, repenting of sins that are not his own. It is as if those waters bathed him in the sins of the world, there he takes on the failure of mankind, our brokenness, and rebellion against the Father. There he says, “Let all their iniquity be punished in my body; let my blood be the final sacrifice for their sins.”  It is the move no one saw coming, the turn that no one expected, and it is the very mercy of God.

Now John the Baptist gets it; he gets how shocking this moment is. He sees Jesus coming toward him in the water and says, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” John is the sinner in need of cleansing, not Jesus. John is the one who has fallen short of the glory of God, not Jesus. But in this upsetting of expectations, the Good News of salvation is breaking into our reality. And so our Lord says to John, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” This is how righteousness is made complete; this is how the fulfillment of God’s promises comes to pass. Jesus repents for sins that are not his own!

This is the fulfillment of all righteousness, all of it. Think of how profound this is. It fulfills the failed righteousness of you and me. The love that you have pulled back from, the kindness that you refused to give, the hurt and pain that you have caused in others. In Christ, there is healing and hope; in Christ, there is the fulfillment of your failures. In the actions of our Lord, there is true righteousness for you. The baptism of our Lord is the fulfillment of all righteousness. And so just as it is the fulfillment of your failed righteousness, so it is the fulfillment of the righteousness of God’s law. Man has rebelled against God’s commands, yet our God is just and holy. Because he is just, there must be punishment for the transgression; because of his justice, there are ramifications to our sin. And the righteousness of God’s justice finds its fulfillment in this moment, as Jesus takes on the sins of the world.

God’s mercy and his justice meet here in our Lord; they meet in the waters of his baptism. In fact, when John relents and goes forward with the baptism of Christ, we read that “behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” In a shocking turn of events, the faithful Son of God fulfills all righteousness as he repents for your sins and steps forth as the sacrifice to justify the wrath of God. And this pleases the Father, this is the faithful Son. Who could have guessed this turn of events, who would have dared to hope for this wonderful upsetting of expectations?

But the story keeps unfolding, doesn’t it? For you, baptism is connected to this great work of Christ. St. Paul will go on to say, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Your baptism is a baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ; your baptism is a baptism into the fulfillment of all righteousness. Your sins are crucified in the one who repented of them on your behalf, and your life is lived in the assurance of the one who fulfills the justice of God.

Who saw this coming? Who could have predicted this triumphal turn of events? In Christ, you are the sons and daughters of God, you are the faithful ones, you are the righteous. His great story takes up your story, and so forgiveness, hope, and love open wide the gates of paradise, and he welcomes you home.