The Impossible

John the Baptist and Jesus were certainly not strangers to each other.  Mary and the mother of John were relatives. When the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would bear a son who would be called the Son of the Most High, she was told that Elizabeth who was far beyond the child bearing age was in her sixth month of a pregnancy that would bring forth a son.  It was Gabriel's way of saying to Mary, "For nothing is impossible with God."  (Luke 1:37).  Mary went to see Elizabeth.  For her it was a means of confirmation.  It was no doubt a visit which cemented the faith growing in her. As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the still in the womb, John, "leaped for joy."  (Luke 1:44).   

It is interesting, too, that both disappear in those years between boyhood and age thirty.  It would seem that John became a forerunner to the Desert Fathers who would appear centuries later though there is some speculation that both John the Baptist and Jesus were acquainted with the Essene community of the Dead Sea area, or perhaps, were even a part of it for a time.  Of course, it is all speculation.  What we do know is that their lives were connected from the beginning and as they lived out the plan of God in each of their lives, their paths crossed once again out there at the Jordan River where John baptized Jesus.  

At first glance it would seem that their paths ran forward from their boyhood days separately, perhaps, even in a parallel manner, and then a at a time ordained by God, they intersected to bring a part of His plan to completion.  It is amazing how God can do things that seem impossible from a practical standpoint.  In fact, some of them are so impossible we know it is not about us, but that it has to be about Him.