http://www.oca.org/MSWord/Music/01.January/01-06wtexts.doc

 

Today the nature of the waters is sanctified.

The Jordan is parted in two;

it holds back the flow of its waters//

as it beholds the washing of the Master.

 

You have come to the river as a Man, O Christ the King,

and hasten to be baptized like a servant by the Forerunner,//

on account of our sins, O good God Who love mankind.

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,

now and ever, and unto ages of ages.  Amen.

Post Edited (PotOnWheel) : 12/31/2006 11:20:02 PM (GMT-6)

So, B., are you saying that Christ's baptism was righteous because it was a specific action (a singularity even, since Christ was in no need of repentance) fulfilling God's will in some way? I suppose that makes perfect sense, whether John understood it all or not. Because John's baptism itself was the righteous thing to do even though it was a new thing, historically speaking. In that sense, maybe we are to understand it as the rent veil and Christ's desparate moment of divine abandonment--events whose meaning could only be fully explained later.

I read something last night interesting, too. One author sees the idea of "fulfillment" and "righteousness" in that passage as part of a greater theme/trend in Matthew. I think there's probably something to that line of thought. Do you have any idea how it might fit with that bigger picture of Matthew's thought, in particular?