Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Is 49: 3, 5-6; 1 Cor 1: 1-3; John 1: 29-34
Deacon Larry Brockman
Well, the Christmas Season is over! The trees are all taken down; the lights are gone; and everybody is back to work or school. The cookies and egg nog are depleted. All the parties are over. The joy of the Season has run its course. It’s over!
But you know what? If that is the feeling you have, you may have missed the whole point of the Christmas season.
Christmas arrived with all its festive music and decorations and lights and feasts to remind us that a savior had been born to us. That Savior is Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. He came to be one of us and live as one of us.
Last weekend, we saw the manifestation of Jesus symbolized as priest, prophet and king when the Magi arrived and did the Christ child homage. And then we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord this week, when John the Baptist witnessed the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus and identified him publically as the Messiah. So there is still much to rejoice over because the Messiah came to be with us.
Today, our readings help us to recognize the consequences of Jesus arrival for each of us. You see, Jesus shows us the way to live; his way to live. His Baptism prefigured ours. That means that we received the Spirit and a mission at our Baptism. And his life, which plays out as the Gospel in Ordinary Time, prefigures the kind of life we are called to live. Yes, each of us is called to follow Jesus at our Baptism by having faith in Jesus, living a Christian Life, and evangelizing in word and deed.
Today, we hear three different aspects of that message in our readings. Listen again the Paul’s words from Corinthians, whom he addresses this way: “To you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” That applies to us as well- since all of us have been sanctified through our Baptism and ultimately, we are all called to be Holy as were the Corinthians.
Then, in our reading from Isaiah, we hear the Lord say of Israel, which refers symbolically to the Messiah, that: “I will make you a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” How else does that salvation reach the end of the earth except through us? We are witnesses through the Apostles and the Gospels to all that Jesus did and promised; we were Baptized and received the Spirit of God and a mission. And so, we are the way that the light reaches to the end of the earth. All who are Baptized in our Faith and sent out to live that Faith can and must be evangelizers. We evangelize through the witness of our lives that we believe, and by our actions which draw others towards the promise of salvation we enjoy.
The Gospel today speaks of John pointing to the Lamb of God. This happened after Jesus was Baptized by John, and after Jesus spent 40 days in the desert reflecting on God’s mission for him. As Jesus returns from the wilderness, John sees and recognizes him as “The Lamb of God”.
The Lamb of God! The Lamb of God is the sacrificial victim in the Passover. So John first prophesies that Jesus will offer his life as the sacrificial victim on behalf of God the Father. Then, after repeating that he saw the Spirit of God descend on Jesus, John goes on to state of Jesus: “He is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit”. And indeed, after Jesus rose from the dead, and just before he ascended to heaven Jesus tells his Apostles to evangelize all people, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus passes on the responsibility for evangelizing to all of us.
So, we are not done with the coming of Christ. In fact, the joy of his coming just begins with Christmas. The rest of the Church year memorializes the rest of the process. We have all been called to walk in Jesus footsteps. We are called to believe in him; to become members of his people, the Church; to live as he did according to the Gospels; and to go out and evangelize all people, assuring that they are baptized. All of us share that calling.
The early church was successful because the Christians got this message. In unity and love, they lived the Gospel and projected that love in what they said and did. They held firm in adversity, even suffering death and martyrdom for their faith. Their example was a powerful testimony that won over an empire- the Roman Empire.
It’s a challenge, but all of us can live up to this calling. Whether at work, school, play, or leisure, we can project the love and values that Christ left to us as his legacy by always doing the right thing, not what society expects; by showing love for our family and neighbors rather than always feeding our self-interests; and by accepting the sufferings dealt in our lives with dignity and acceptance rather than in bitterness and anger.
And so, they will know we are Christians by our love.
For Christians, the real joy of Christmas has just begun.
