“But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.” (Matthew 3:14-15). As a means of washing away sins, as a symbol of covenant-making with God, as an essential ordinance of salvation, as a requirement to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, baptism was yet still not necessary for Jesus to participate in. Nevertheless, Jesus was baptized anyway. To humble Himself before His Father, to be an example to all of God's children, and to fulfill all righteousness, Jesus entered into the river Jordan and commanded John, over his protestations, to suffer it to be so now. Jesus Christ had no need to be baptized, but He did it anyway. In our efforts to follow in His example, all of us will be asked to obey certain commandments or abide by certain principles, or engage in certain activities that we don't need to. For some, alcohol and drugs can bring on a host of physical, psychological, and social tragedies - addiction, abuse, dishonesty, violence. But for others, they might try it once or a hundred times and suffer little to no lasting harm. Such people do not need to strictly obey the Word of Wisdom, but if they are to truly follow the example of Christ, they will suffer it so to be now and avoid alcohol and drugs anyway. Some face serious financial challenges and are constantly on the precipice of bankruptcy, eviction, or starvation and must cling to the law of tithing and the blessings that it brings like a life raft in the middle of a storm tossed sea. Others live comfortable lives and competently manage their money to the extent that it might make little difference if they kept the law of tithing or not. But if they are to follow the example of the Savior, then even if they don't need to pay tithing, they do so anyway. Our Heavenly Father's commandments are “Given for a principle with promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints.” (D&C 89:3). We may not always see the logic or the utility of obeying this or that commandment. We may think that we are strong enough to get by without any of its promised blessings. On rare occasions, we may even be right. But just like Jesus did not need to be baptized but suffered it so to be now to fulfill all righteousness, we too can swallow our pride and obey and honor even the seemingly most pointless commandments and covenants and suffer it so to be now to fulfill all righteousness. We may find, as Jesus did, that there are many, many blessings that will come from us doing even the things that we don't need to. I hope we can all have the humility to truly fulfill all righteousness by obeying all of God's commandments.
