The Forerunner

"It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness (Matt 3:15). Notice how Jesus included John the Forerunner here in His call to fulfill all righteousness. This is the same John that leaped in his mother’s womb at the voice of the Theotokos. The same whose hands were not worthy to carry the shoes of our Lord let alone lay hold of the Christ and plunge him into the waters of baptism. The same who later doubted Jesus by asking, are you the Christ or should we wait for another? The obvious conclusion here is that though this same John was the greatest of all the Prophets, yet he was still a sinner, unable to fulfill all righteousness. Yea indeed, not only John but all men have failed to fulfill all righteousness. All that is, except one, the Only Begotten Son. And here is our lesson, it is only by participation in His life, in His death, in His burial, and in His resurrection that we too, like John the Forerunner, can see heaven opened and all righteousness fulfilled. As Hilary has written; 'For by Him must all righteousness have been fulfilled, by whom alone the Law could be fulfilled.' Though we doubt and fail, still it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness, if we are found in Him. It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness if we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. It is fitting for us, for He and not ourselves has made us fit to do it with Him. By such could John bear witness of Him in life as well as death."