I came upon a significant (for me) realization recently when reading Matthew 3:13-17.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

I've always thought that "righteousness" meant holiness, purity, without blemish, sinless. The dictionary says it means "just or rightful, morally right, virtuous."

But in this context, Jesus uses the word "righteousness" very differently, I realized that it means something much more along the lines of these ideas:

• the way God has intended things to be
• what God wants
• what God plans for the long haul
• what God designed to be and to to come about
  

Jesus's baptism was not about morality or repentance from sin. He insisted that he be baptised by John in order "to fulfill all righteousness" -- to fulfill God's will with a long view of human history.

What does all this have to do with Kenya? Or any place in the world today, for that matter?

It reminds us that God has a certain intent, from the beginning, for ALL THINGS. Virtually all parts of God's creation have fallen short of God's original design and intent; all righteousness has NOT yet been fulfilled.

While the Biblical understanding is that this degradation of creation was and continues to be a result of sin, God is in the process of reconciling all things back to himself.

This includes Kenya and her ethnic, political, and economic struggles which erupted in January; and it includes every community, tribe and nation in the world. God, through Jesus, is reconciling all of us back to what was intended for us.

Violence that shocks us might (will) break out. We might (will) be surprised at the horrible things we, and others, are capable of doing to each other when things like mistrust, fear, and resentment, just below the surface, get stirred up a little too much.

While on a much smaller scale in Kenya, this is not unlike the surprise with which Rwanda found herself in the midst of a genocide, before the world realized the scope of what was happening, what life-long neighbors were doing to each other out of extreme fear and distrust.

Colossians 1 says:

He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Pray that this fullness and reconciliation with God will take place in tiny and huge ways, every minute, hour and day of the times that are ahead for Kenya. This is a prayer that God will accomplish, God's word clearly states this is what Jesus is all about.

Let us pray that God's image (Jesus) will be known in Kenya, through his Spirit and through the hands and feet and mouths of those who follow Jesus throughout Kenya as they love their neighbors in a time of fear and turmoil.