“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
Daily Reflections
Sunday, 15th January 2017.
Second Week in the Ordinary Time
Is 49: 3, 5-6;
Ps 40: 2-10;
1Cor 1: 1-3;
Jn 1: 29-34.
A GOD WHO CALLS
Every page of Scripture speaks of a God who calls us. “In the beginning God calls the creatures to existence (Wis 11:25), calls man to life and when Adam turns away from him he asks: Where are you? (Gen 3:9). God calls a people and prefers them among all the peoples of the earth (Dt 10:14-15). He calls Abraham, Moses, the prophets and gives them a mission to bring to fruition, a plan of salvation to be realized. Nobody and nothing is useless: every person, every being has a function, a job to do.“God has called us with a holy calling” (2 Tim 1:9). He called us “through the gospel we preach, for he willed you to share the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord” (2 Thes 2:14).
In the first reading, we hear the Lord tell Isaiah “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I shall be glorified.” In a humanly hopeless situation, the small and faithful Israel is called by the Lord. He entrusts them with a two-fold task: to reunite all the children of his people, dispersed among the nations, to bring them into the land of their fathers and to become light and sign of salvation to the ends of the earth. The early Christians saw “the servant’s” features perfectly reproduced in Jesus. Like the “Servant,” Jesus carried out his mission by gathering the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mt 10:6). He wished that his light shone above all in Galilee: in the “land of Zebulon and Naphtali,” the people who lived in darkness have seen a great light (Mt 4:15-16).
In the second reading from the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul presents himself as an apostle by vocation. Apostle is one who is sent to preach the gospel where no one has yet announced it; is one who sows the seed from which it arises, sprouts and grows until it reaches the full development of the community. Further on in his letter, Paul will precisely use this image: “I planted, Apollos watered the plant, but God made it grow” (1 Cor 3:6).Unlike the rabbis and teachers of his time, he himself does not appeal to studies done; neither to wisdom, nor to experience he had accumulated over the years. He refers to his personal vocation received from God. Paul is chosen and is entrusted with a task: to be an apostle. He remembers this vocation in order to have the Corinthians accept his words, exhortations and decisions. He does not expound his own doctrines, but he speaks in the name of God who sent him.
John in his Gospel, presents John the Baptist as “a man sent by God as a witness to introduce the Light” (Jn 1:6-8). His life and his preaching provoke questions, expectations and hopes in the people. Seeing Jesus coming towards him, John exclaims: “Behold the lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world” (v. 29).
There was never a person in the Old Testament called “lamb of God.” A pious Israelite, John knew that his listeners, hearing the emphasis on the lamb, would have immediately understood the allusion to the paschal lamb whose blood, placed on the doorposts of the houses in Egypt, had saved their fathers from the slaughter of the exterminating Angel. The Baptist saw the fate of Jesus. One day he would be sacrificed, like a lamb, and his blood would remove the evil forces’ capacity to do harm. His sacrifice would redeem man from sin and death.
The Baptist also had in mind: the lamb associated with the sacrifice of Abraham. Isaac, while walking alongside of his father to Mount Moriah, asks: “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”Abraham replies: “God himself will provide the lamb” (Gen 22:7-8).“Behold the Lamb of God!” The Baptist now answers. It is Jesus, given by God to the world to be sacrificed instead of the sinful man deserving punishment.
The insight that St. John the Baptist had regarding Jesus is quite inspiring, mysterious and amazing. Most likely John would have studied the Scriptures of the time and would have known the many statements about the coming Messiah spoken by the prophets of old. He would have known the Psalms and the Books of Wisdom. But, first and foremost, John would have known what he knew by the gift of faith. He would have had true spiritual insight granted by God.This fact reveals not only the greatness of John and the depth of his faith, it also reveals the ideal we must strive for in life. We must strive to daily walk by authentic spiritual insight granted by God.
John was clearly filled with Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Fortitude, Reverence and Wonder. These Gifts of the Spirit gave him an ability to live a life sustained by the grace of God. John knew things and understood things that only God could reveal. He loved and revered Jesus with a passion and submission of his will that could only be inspired by God. Most evidently, John’s holiness came as a consequence of his union with God.
Let us reflect today on God who called St. Paul and St. John the Baptist, and who continues to call each one of us. Like John and Paul, who knew that God was alive in their lives leading them and revealing them truths of the Kingdom. Let us commit ourselves this day, to an imitation of John’s deep faith and be open to all that God wants to speak to us.
Prayer: My precious Lord Jesus, give me insight and wisdom so that I may know You and believe in You. Help me, each and every day, to discover more fully the great and awe-inspiring mystery of who You are. I love You, my Lord, and I pray that I may come to know and love You all the more. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen