SECOND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
The lights of Christmas Epiphany and the start of the new year have all faded and are now a distant memory. As our lives grow more pressured, more tired, and more restless, perhaps more than anything else we long for “ordinary time,” quiet, routine and space away from the hectic pace of daily life and all that goes on within it. We’ve come from last Sunday’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord to the second Sunday of ordinary time. In our first reading for this Sunday Isaiah speaks about the task of the Messiah. He calls him a ‘servant’ of the people who will bring light and salvation not only to the tribes of Israel, but to the ends of the earth. In The Gospel reading we hear the words of John the Baptist the man who went before the Lord as his herald “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” We know these words, so well for we hear them in Church when we are just about to receive the Body and Blood of Christ during the eucharistic celebration.
The first Christian communities saw a clear difference between John’s baptism that immersed people in the river Jordan and Jesus’ baptism that communicated his own Spirit, to cleanse, renew and transform the hearts of his followers. Without that Spirit, the Church would simply close up shop and die, but that spirit of Jesus has been the guiding light for over 2000 years right up to this present moment. Only the Spirit of Jesus can put truth and life into today’s Christianity and lead us to recover our true identity, leaving the paths that lead us further and further away from the Gospel and what it teaches behind. Only that Spirit of Jesus can give us light and energy to light up the fire of renewal within ourselves and the people around us so that we can also become Christ’s authoritative witnesses in the world. Our baptism links us to Jesus as well as the long line of his followers throughout the ages who believe in Jesus as the Lamb of God and that his death and resurrection is the source of new life for all people. This is our inheritance born of them and we are called to be, “a light to the nations” like God’s servant in this Sundays first reading from Isaiah. The Love of God is made real to us through Jesus his Son, let us share our belief in Jesus and what he teaches with each other and everyone else we meet. We do that by living or trying to live a Christian life through what we do and say. When we do that we will be able to say with John the Baptist that Jesus is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, the Chosen One of God.’ Let us follow him.
Fullerton T 