The Shepherd, January 2005

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

THEN COMETH JESUS from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptised of him (Matt. 3:13). What meekness and humility the Lord has! What condescension! The Heavenly King approaches John, His own forerunner, not surrounded by the armies of the angels, and without sending His heralds, that is the bodiless powers, before Him, but just as a simple and normal soldier. Thus it is that he comes up to His own soldier; He approaches just as everyone else in the midst of the common people. He circulates among the company of the prisoners, though He is their Redeemer and their Judge. He joins Himself to the sheep who are astray, even though He is the Good Shepherd, Who for the sake of the lost sheep came down from Heaven and yet did not leave Heaven. The Heavenly Wheat is mixed with the the tares, He who was conceived without seed.

Seeing Him, John the Baptist recognised that this was indeed the Very One, Whom he had confessed and honoured while he was yet in his mother’s womb, for Whose sake he had, surpassing the bounds of nature, leaped so early in his mother’s womb. Withdrawing his hand and bowing his head like a servant beloved of his Lord, John besought Him: I have need to be baptised of Thee, and comest Thou to me? (Matt. 3:14). What art Thou doing, Lord? Why dost Thou reverse the order of things? Why, on a par with a slave, dost Thou request that which befitteth slaves? Why dost Thou desire to receive that, of which Thou hast no need? Why dost Thou burden me through Thy so great condescension and humility? I have need to be baptised of Thee; but Thou hast no need to be baptised of me. The lesser is blessed by the greater and the mightier; rather than the greater being blessed and sanctified by the lesser. The light is kindled from the sun, rather than the sun being set aflame by a lamp. The potter’s clay receives form from the potter, and not the potter from the clay. Creation is renewed by the Creator, rather than the Creator being directed aright by creation. The patient is treated by the physician, rather than the physician being given prescriptions by the sick. The poor man takes alms from the rich, not the rich from the poor. I have need to be baptised of Thee, and comest Thou to me? Can I be ignorant of Who Thou art, from whence Thou hast shone forth, and from whence Thou hast come? Can I deny the majesty of Thy Divinity, simply because Thou hast been made like unto me? Can I reject the Divinity which my mind perceiveth, on account of what my fleshly eyes see, simply because Thou hast appeared to me with such condescension? - that is, having taken flesh upon Thyself Thou bearest all that is mine within Thyself, so that Thou mightest save the whole man. Can I be ignorant that Thou clothest Thyself in light as with a garment, simply because, for my salvation, Thou hast garbed Thyself in my nature? Or can the brilliant light of Thy Divinity be concealed from me, simply because Thou now bearest my flesh and art visible to all? Or, mentally straying, can I dare to deny Thy Divine, invisible and inapproachable Essence, simply because I now see in Thee my own form? No, I know Thee, O Lord; I know Thee, being instructed of Thee Thyself, for none may know Thee unless they are illumined with the light of Thy grace. I know Thee clearly, O Lord, for I saw Thee in the spirit, even before I beheld this light. When Thou wast altogether in the incorporeal bosom of the Heavenly Father, Thou wast also altogether in the womb of Thy handmaiden and Mother. And I, yet being contained by nature within the womb of Elizabeth as it were in a prison, and being bound by the indissoluble bonds of infancy, I leapt up, and lauded and praised Thee, even before Thou wast born. Thus can it be that I, who thus preached Thy coming even before Thy nativity, should not recognise Thine advent? Shall I who learned of Thy coming while yet in the womb, having now come to full understanding, appear as a babe [in understanding]? No, I cannot but honour and glorify Thee, Whom all creation holds in reverence. I cannot but proclaim Thee, Whom heaven announced through the wandering star, to Whom the earth offered worship through the magi, Whom the choirs of the Angels hymned, rejoicing in Thy condescension towards us,Whom the shepherds who were keeping watch by night in the fields confessed to be the Chief Shepherd of the rational sheep. I cannot keep silent while Thou art present, for I am a voice. Indeed, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare ye the way of the Lord. I have need to be baptised of Thee and comest Thou to me?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12