breaking our normal routine

Today in our gospel we find John doing his normal routine. It was an ordinary day for John who had spent his life in the desert preaching a baptism of repentance - he was baptizing people with water marking their leave taking from a life of sin and their entry into a more committed life in God. John was in his usual preaching, baptizing, preaching, baptizing, preparing the way for the Messiah who is to come. Then one day something unexpected happened, something that disturbed his routine. Jesus who was to John’s mind the messiah for whom he was preparing the way, came to him asking him to be baptized. Jesus who was to John’s eyes greater than any other man, he himself was unfit even just to bend down and unstrapped his sandals came to him asking to be baptized like the other sinners that came to John. And John was disturbed. This is not anymore usual. This is no longer routine. And so John protested in no uncertain terms saying, I need to be baptized by you and yet you come to me? For indeed how can John baptize with the water of repentance he who is without sin? How can John baptize in the Jordan he who was to bring a baptism of Spirit and of fire? How can John prepare him who was the very reason for all the preparations John was making? 


But Jesus insisted “Allow it now, Jesus said, allow it now for thus it is fitting to fulfil all righteousness.” In effect Jesus was saying, “give in for now, John, stop arguing, stop questioning so that we may fulfil God’s demands - don’t argue anymore, allow it so that we may fulfil the will of the Father.
There are times in our lives when situations and events overtake us and disturb our normal routine and the natural flow of our daily life. Things would have proceeded smoothly, efficiently, normally. But then something happens - a jolt, a bump, a shock even, and everything is put, so to say, to a sudden halt, sometimes leaving our lives in disarray. It can be an unexpected visit, a sudden realization, or just a shocking revelation that disturbs and distracts. Or it can be a sudden loss, an unexpected pain, or an abrupt end to something dear and valuable to us. Most often these situations can create some sort of an upheaval in our own personal lives and some can even be considered life changing events that can make or unmake our person. Thus things like these are always met with some degree of resistance.
Being in the seminary where I am presently assigned means being near the home sweet home where retired and sick priests live out their days. This home can be a beautiful source of true to life stories - stories when the Lord decided to intervene in the lives of his ministers. There you will hear a cacophony of stories of resistance to the inevitability of old age, of resistance to the inevitability of sickness, disability and even death - of priests at the prime of life and yet already blinded and disabled by diabetes; of priests sidelined and replaced because of old age and seniority, of priest burdened and enfeebled by the ravages of time, disease and even sin. The argument of John and the passing response of Jesus in our gospel today to allow these things to happen, to surrender to God’s purpose just took Matthew a sentence or two to narrate, but in real life it can take us months and even years to accept and to come to terms with. Give in for now, John, stop arguing, stop questioning so that we may fulfil God’s demands - allow it to happen. It can take time and a lot of arguments and even bargaining to allow God’s will to take shape in our lives.
Today in this baptism of the Lord, as we recall the time when Jesus started his mission let us be consoled and encouraged by the ways of the Lord in our lives. He came to us identifying himself in our weakness and frailties. Indeed he shall bring forth justice not by crying or shouting, not by making his voice heard, not by breaking the reed or quenching the smouldering wick, not through violence and threats but through the gentle persuasion of his presence in our lives. May the God who today completes his identification with our humanity lift us up and encourage us to live our call by becoming the sons and daughters of God.