John doesn’t just see Jesus. He recognizes the Lord. He proclaims him!
A homily from the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time based on readings from
Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72, Ephesians 3:2-3z,5-6, and Matthew 2:1-12.
These readings are available at the USCCB website.
Ordinary Time is Not Ordinary
Today’s readings inspire us to form our very lives into a proclamation of Jesus Christ!
Before we get into that, let’s take a moment to talk about our new liturgical season. We ended our celebration of the Christmas season with Epiphany, which we celebrated last Sunday. We followed that with the Baptism of the Lord and moved from there to the first week in Ordinary Time. And so we are back to wearing green as our liturgical color.
Ordinary Time is not ordinary. It isn’t. We divide our liturgical year into three basic parts. We begin with our preparation and celebration of the Incarnation during Advent and Christmas through to the Epiphany. We prepare ourselves to celebrate the paschal mystery in Lent and Easter through to Pentecost. The Incarnation and Resurrection are two of the most important events to ever happen to humanity. What about the rest of Christ’s life? We celebrate that in a series of ordered Sunday liturgies. We designate them by their ordinals, second, third, fourth, fifth, and so forth. We call them Ordinary Time but since they focus on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, they are still quite special.
The story of Jesus Christ is so compelling that if we made it a mini-series you’d want to binge watch it! If it helps you to think of today as Season 1; Episode 2, have at it. Just don’t think that this episode or any other episodes are ordinary!
So much for our Liturgy 101 lesson today. Let’s get to the heart of the matter.
The heart of the matter – or at least the heart of this homily – comes from the beginning of our gospel today.
“Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one…
(John 1:29-30a)
Three important thoughts…
“Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one…
John looks up and his mortal eyes see Jesus, the Nazarene. John looks with eyes of faith and sees the Lord. He sees the Christ. And unlike us today who are often encouraged to be privately faithful and publicly silent, he proclaims what he knows to be true.
“Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one…
Behold the Lamb of God
Behold! Look! The Baptist calls to the crowds gathered around! Faith for him is not a private thing. It shouldn’t be us either. He is completely unambiguous. He calls is like he sees it. He doesn’t dodge proclaiming Christ for fear of what others might say. He asserts himself.
Behold the lamb of God! Obviously, this is not a statement has nothing to do with livestock. We know the phrase from the New Testament but have little in our experience today with the imagery of the Lamb. For his time and in his culture, John was making a bold statement! In early Jewish thought, the lamb was closely associated with deliverance – think Passover lamb here, and also with atonement and reconciliation. Just as the lamb was identified with reconciliation between people and between God and his people, John the Baptist’s statement proclaims Jesus as the source of God’s reconciliation. Jesus, in their midst is the long-awaited restoration of Israel!
Who Takes Away Sin
Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. If this line isn’t familiar to you, watch Msgr during Communion as he elevates the Body and Blood of Christ. We behold. We also reflect on what Christ has done for us. He has taken on human flesh. He has saved us from our sins. God, who knows us each by name, who knows our every sin, in the person of Jesus, takes our sins upon himself. He redeems all of us. He saves us! Because of Christ, salvation is there for all of us from now to the end of time. We need only respond to his loving call.
He is the One
Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one…
He is the one…God is central! John the Baptist goes on to proclaim that the this “one who is to come” is the reason for his ministry. Think about that. The reason that John the Baptist went forth call on his people to confess their sins a be baptized was that all of Israel would know that the Christ was coming. Letting all of Midland know of the coming of Christ is a big chore. Of course, we are all called to do exactly that! We are all called to spread the faith to our family, friends, and city. Notice how the Baptist finishes this particular dialogue. He leaves no room for doubt. He says unequivocally, ““Now I have seen and testif[y] that he is the Son of God”.[1]
Proclamation
This is the important part – that we all proclaim Christ. I’ll paraphrase St. John Chrysostom…
A great virtue is boldness and freedom of speech, and the making [of] all things second in importance to the confessing of Christ;[2] [It is] so great and admirable, that the Only-begotten Son of God proclaims [the one who does this] in the presence of [his] Father. (Luke 12:8.) Yet the recompense is more than just, for [you] confess upon earth, He in heaven, [you] in the presence of men, He before the Father and all the angels.
We must, everyone of us, proclaim Christ working in our lives. It is that simple.
Closing
You too can say “Now I have seen and testify that he is the Son of God”. As difficult as that may be to do in our present age, the rewards both here and in the age to come are tremendous. Our entire lives can and should be a proclamation of Jesus. Our words and our deeds should proclaim to all.
Our entire lives should become a proclamation of Jesus. Words and deeds are both required.
[1] John 1:34
[2] Notice here that to St. John Chrysostom that free speech is ordered to confessing Christ. He makes no mention of influencing the multitudes or self-actualization.