"Allow it now......"

Imagine if you will, a story about a great warrior king that humbly requested the consent of his subjects before engaging in some campaign, establishing a new policy or beginning a project. Would you believe a story that portrays for example Alexander the Great as requesting the consent of his would be subjects to rule over them? In fact, the opposite was true; Alexander sent 3,000 cavalry in response to the revolt of Thessaly forcing their surrender and by show of force brought Athens and Thebes into submission.

Not so with our Lord. Of course all power and dominion are His - He is after all the King of Kings. What surprises me about this week's Gospel is the line "......then he allowed Him." That is, John the Baptist allowed Jesus to be baptized by him. That doesn't seem right to me. Nothing about this seems "right." Scripture tells us that "people came to John the Baptist to be baptized by him acknowledging their sins," and yet we know that Jesus was sinless. Jesus, Son of God, was humbling Himself. He was modest and unassuming enough to make a request to a mere mortal man to perform a cleansing ritual on him in order to "fulfill all righteousness.”

But that is the way of our Lord, now, isn't it? He makes us participants in His mission, even though by rights, He does not need any help from us. He knocks at our doors, if you will,  and allows us to invite Him in or to ignore Him if we so Choose. If and when we accept the humble invitation, we fulfill righteousness because we enter into relationship with our God and become participants in His mission.

How is the Lord inviting you to share in His mission?

                                             + Theophilus