Setting Things Right
Matthew 3:1-17[1]
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want the world to be a
better place for their children and grandchildren. I say that because it seems
to me that the level of division in this country has gotten to the place where
we see people as “enemies” and as a “threat” simply because they hold different
points of view. One of the things that most of us disagree about is what it
will take to make the world a better place for our children and grandchildren.
Some think that we need a free market that encourages those who have wealth to
invest it in our economy. Others believe we need equal opportunities for people
of all walks of life. Some will say we need to invest more money in educating
our children. And there are many who believe that people need to return to
church as a way of making God more central to their lives. I’m sure all of
these views make some valid points. But I’m also sure that not all of us are
ever going to agree completely on what it will take to make a better world.
I would say that our gospel lesson for today actually
addresses the question of what it will take to make this world a better place.
It talks about the ministry of John the baptizer, whom many in his day
considered to be a prophet. And like the prophets of old, when some of the
Jewish leaders came to present themselves for baptism, John told them to get
their lives right with God first. I think it’s easy to miss that message from
the prophets. More often than not, prophets called people to return to God, just
like John the baptizer. Part of the problem is that the way they called people
to return to God was by insisting that they practice true justice. If you read
the story of the Jewish people, you find that their leaders were inconsistent
to say the least about leading the people according to God’s standards for
justice.
As I’ve said many times, I’m not sure we really get what
the prophets were talking about when they called people to practice justice. Part
of the reason for that is that our idea of justice is very different from theirs.
In our world, “justice” is something that happens in courtrooms. Justice is
about arbitrating disputes and determining guilt or innocence and handing down
punishments for crimes. So when we hear, “he will bring justice to all the
nations” (Isa 42:1), we think he’s going to punish people. But in the Bible,
God’s justice means food for the hungry, freedom for the prisoners, lifting up
those who are bowed down under heavy burdens, and protecting the refugees, the
widows, and the orphans. That tradition begins with Moses, and it runs
throughout the prophets, and Jesus adopts it as well. In the language of the
prophets, this kind of justice is what makes it possible for all people to
thrive together. And that’s what the prophets call “peace.”
We see this also in our lesson from the prophet Isaiah for
today. The mission of the “Servant” of the Lord is to “bring justice to the
nations” (Isa. 42:1, NLT). That might sound ominous to our ears, but the
way the prophet describes it is anything but ominous. Our lesson says it this
way: “He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle” (Isa.
42:3, NLT). I like the way Gene Peterson renders it in The Message translation: “He won’t brush
aside the bruised and the hurt and he won’t disregard
the small and insignificant.” And the whole purpose of all of this was that
he would “bring justice to all who have been wronged.” Or, as Gene Peterson
puts it, “he’ll steadily and firmly set things right.” That’s what justice
means. Setting things right in this world, especially for those who have been
wronged.
That brings us back to our gospel lesson. There’s a strange
dialogue between John the baptizer and Jesus. When Jesus presents himself to be
baptized, John objects, “I need to be baptized by you” (Mt. 3:14)! Jesus’ response might seem confusing: “it is
proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:15). One would
think that if anyone had “fulfilled all righteousness,” it was Jesus. Once again, I think The Message captures the meaning well: “God’s work, putting things
right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism.” That’s
how Gene Peterson interprets that phrase, “fulfilling all righteousness”: “God’s
work” of “putting things right.” I think, in a very real sense, that’s what was
going on. In his baptism Jesus was “fulfilling all righteousness” by making a
public declaration that he was going to take the side of God’s justice in the
world. He was going to promote God’s work of setting things right and lifting
the burdens from the oppressed.
When Jesus announced at his baptism that his ministry would
be following the path of setting things right for “the bruised and the hurt”
along with “the small and insignificant,” I’m sure there were some who were
shocked. Others may have even been offended. But Jesus was following the path
that the prophets of old had laid out. I’ll have to admit that my understanding
of what the Bible has to say about justice and about “setting things right”
changed dramatically after I really read the books of the prophets in a way
that I finally paid attention to what they were saying. When you pay attention,
what you find is that more often than not, the prophets were calling out those
in power for taking advantage of those who were weak and vulnerable. And if we
pay attention to what Jesus was about, it seems to me that his declaration to
John the baptizer that he was there to set things right was consistent with
what the prophets had preached long before him. If we read Matthew’s Gospel we
find that’s exactly what he did. He went about setting things right by feeding
the hungry, lifting up those who were burdened, and caring for the most
vulnerable, especially refugees, widows, orphans. From a biblical standpoint,
that’s what justice looks like. That’s what setting things right looks like.
I sometimes think about a story my grandpa Brehm used to
tell me. During the Great Depression in the 1930’s, my grandpa ran a grocery
store in McAllen, TX. Most of his customers were able to pay for their
groceries, but there were always some who needed to buy food on “credit.”
That’s not like paying with a credit card. That meant that my grandpa extended
“credit” to them. And my grandpa told me that while they did their best to pay
him, not everyone could. But he gave them their groceries because he knew they
needed food for their families. Some may have thought my grandpa was crazy for
giving food to people he knew could never pay him. But he gave it to them
because he knew they had families to feed, the same as he did. And although he
may never have seen the results, I have to believe that my grandpa’s generosity
likely made all the difference in the world for some of those people’s lives. I
have to believe It made it possible for them to give their children and their
grandchildren a better life. I would say that if we’re looking for a way to
make this world a better place for our children and grandchildren, perhaps
that’s where we should start. We can start by heeding Jesus’ words: “When I was
hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me
something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me” (Mt 25:35, CEV).
I think that’s a good place to start trying to set things right in this world,
trying to make this a better world for our children and grandchildren, as well
as our friends and neighbors.
[1] ©
2026 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 1/11/ 2026 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
