e to lead up, and out, as King. He was allying Himself with
them _where they were_. It was not the path always trodden by man in
climbing to a throne. But it was the true path of fellowship with them in
their needs. He was getting hold of hands, that He might be their leader
up to the highlands of a new life. He steps to their level. He would lift
from below. He would get by the side of the man lowest down. It was clear
evidence at the start that He was the true Messiah, the King. He was their
_Brother_. He would get down alongside, and pull up with them side by side
out of the ditch of sticky mud up to good footing.

And mark keenly--and the heart glows a bit at the thought--the point He
chooses for getting into that contact with His brothers. It is _the point
where they are turning from sin_. John's baptism meant turning from sin.
It is at that point that Jesus comes forward. A man can always be
live-sure of Jesus meeting him there, close up, with outstretched hand. He
is waiting eagerly, and steps up quickly to a man's side as in his heart
he turns from sin.

But there's more yet. Read in the after light cast upon it there is much
more. This was the voluntary path away from the kingdom. It was the
beginning of all that came after. The road up the hill of the cross not
far away led out of those waters. This was the starting point. Jesus
calmly turned His face for the time being--a long time it has proved--away
from the promised Kingdom of His Father and toward the planned cross of
Satan.

It meant much, for it was the _first step_ into the path marked out. What
the Father had chosen for Him, He now chooses out for Himself. So every
bit of service, every plan, must be _twice chosen:_ by God for a man; by
the man for himself as from God. He entered eagerly, for this was His
Father's plan. That itself was enough for Jesus. But, too, it was the path
where His needy brothers were. That would quicken His pace. It was the
road wherein He would meet the _enemy_. And with a fresh prayer in His
heart and a quiet confidence in His eye He steps into the road with that
calmness that strong purpose gives.

As it proved there was danger here for Him. This was not the way approved
by man's established ideals for starting a kingdom. He was driving
straight across the carefully marked out roads of man's usage. He was
disregarding the "No trespassing" signs. There was danger here. A man
cutting a new path right across old ones meets