First Reading: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6
Reflection:
This passage is the second of four “Servant Songs” from the Prophet Isaiah, speaking of the servant of the Lord (the first one was one of the readings for last Sunday). Here the “servant” is identified as Israel. At the same time, the passage also indicates that the “servant” is an individual who will restore Israel in the future. Thus, from the nation of Israel, which is God’s servant people, God will raise up a servant who will save the people. From the earliest years of Christianity, this “servant” has been identified as Jesus Christ. He is the one who restored Israel, bringing it to its fulfillment in the Church. He is also the “light to the nations,” which is a claim Jesus explicitly made for Himself when He said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). Through Jesus, the message of salvation also reaches to “the ends of the earth” because He welcomed in Gentiles (i.e. non-Israelites) to His Church. In fact, before He ascended into Heaven, Jesus commanded the Apostles to bring His message “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:1-3
Reflection:
Corinth was a crossroads of culture and commerce in Greece in the time of Paul. It was also a hotbed of immorality. Paul had spent a year and a half there on his Second Missionary Journey and had himself founded the Church in Corinth in about A.D. 51. A few years after he left, he wrote this letter from Ephesus to the believers in Corinth to deal with problems that had arisen and to reiterate the teachings of Christ to them. In this opening to his letter, Paul asserts his authority by identifying himself as “an apostle of Christ Jesus.” Apostle means “sent one” and in this context means that Paul was chosen by Jesus as a leader of the early Church. By addressing the letter to those “who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy,” he is referring to baptized Christians, which in Corinth included Gentile and Jewish believers in Christ. He challenged them to live up to their baptism call to “be holy.” We too, then, “have been sanctified in Christ Jesus,” and we are called to be holy. Sanctity is possible for us only by the grace of God. We are all called to be saints, in union with God in Heaven. In order to attain this goal, we must cooperate with God’s grace by saying ‘yes’ to following His will for our lives.
Gospel Reading: John 1:29-34
Reflection
This week’s gospel reading is the version of Jesus’ baptism (celebrated this past Sunday on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord) as recorded by the Apostle John. This account is told from the perspective of John the Baptist. John addressed Jesus as “the Lamb of God.” Identifying Jesus as “the Lamb” is a reference to the Passover feast from the time of the Exodus. The Passover involved the slaying of lambs in order to spare the people from death. John’s words indicate that Jesus is the new Passover lamb who is slain (on the cross) to spare us from eternal death by taking away “the sin of the world.” The Passover lambs were not just slain but were also eaten in a ceremonial meal. The Eucharist fulfills this part of the Passover because it is in the Eucharist that we gather for a sacred meal to consume the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ. Thus, it is fitting that in the Mass the priest repeats the words of John the Baptist, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
Furthermore, John the Baptist evidences Jesus’ divine identity when he says, “he existed before me” (keep in mind, John the Baptist was conceived before Jesus, so he can’t simply be talking about Jesus’ humanity). The pre-existence of Jesus as the divine Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, was already expressed prior to this passage at the very beginning of the Gospel of John, which states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1:1). Of course, the Word here is Jesus. John the Baptist gave further witness to Jesus’ divinity when he proclaimed at the end of this week’s Gospel reading: “Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.” Today, many people do not believe or accept that Jesus is divine. Rather, they believe He was merely a good human teacher, one who can be place on the same level as other spiritual, religious, and moral leaders. But Jesus does not give us that option. He clearly claimed to be God. He, therefore, either is who He claimed to be, or He is a crazy man or horrible liar. In other words, He either is God or He is not a good man. Thus, in a world that is skeptical of Jesus’ divine identity, as Christians we are called, like John the Baptist, to give witness to the identity of Jesus as the divine Son of God.
Application:
- Like the Christians in Corinth, by virtue of our baptism, we have been “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” But that is just the beginning. We are also “called to be holy,” which means that we are called to be saints. The best, most important, thing we can strive for in life is to be saints. Take time this week to reflect on the lives of a couple of your favorite saints. What can you do to emulate their holiness? Jesus invites us to be saints and gives us everything we need to succeed.
- Take time this week in prayer to thank Jesus, the Lamb of God, for dying for your sins so you have the opportunity to have life in him, and thank Him for remaining with us in the Eucharist.
- How can you give witness to Jesus as the divine Son of God in the world? Be specific about practical steps to take to share Jesus with others.
