The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us with the action we are called to take in our environment where for too many Christ is unknown and we are anointed in Baptism as priest, prophet, and leader.
The reading from the First Letter of John celebrates Life from God’s anointing as Children of God.
* [2:22–23] Certain gnostics denied that the earthly Jesus was the Christ; to deny knowledge of the Son is to deny the Father, since only through the Son has God been fully revealed (Jn 1:18; 14:8–9).
* [2:24] Continuity with the apostolic witness as proclaimed in the prologue is the safeguard of right belief.
* [2:28–29] Our confidence at his judgment is based on the daily assurance of salvation. Our actions reflect our true relation to him. (1 John, CHAPTER 2, n.d.)
Psalm 98 praises the Judge of the World.
* [Psalm 98] A hymn, similar to Ps 96, extolling God for Israel’s victory (Ps 98:1–3). All nations (Ps 98:4–6) and even inanimate nature (Ps 98:7–8) are summoned to welcome God’s coming to rule over the world (Ps 98:9). (Psalms, PSALM 98, n.d.)
The Gospel of John declares the Testimony of John the Baptist.
* [1:19] The Jews: throughout most of the gospel, the “Jews” does not refer to the Jewish people as such but to the hostile authorities, both Pharisees and Sadducees, particularly in Jerusalem, who refuse to believe in Jesus. The usage reflects the atmosphere, at the end of the first century, of polemics between church and synagogue, or possibly it refers to Jews as representative of a hostile world (Jn 1:10–11).
* [1:20] Messiah: the anointed agent of Yahweh, usually considered to be of Davidic descent. See further the note on Jn 1:41.
* [1:21] Elijah: the Baptist did not claim to be Elijah returned to earth (cf. Mal 3:19; Mt 11:14). The Prophet: probably the prophet like Moses (Dt 18:15; cf. Acts 3:22).
* [1:23] This is a repunctuation and reinterpretation (as in the synoptic gospels and Septuagint) of the Hebrew text of Is 40:3 which reads, “A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord.”
* [1:24] Some Pharisees: other translations, such as “Now they had been sent from the Pharisees,” misunderstand the grammatical construction. This is a different group from that in Jn 1:19; the priests and Levites would have been Sadducees, not Pharisees.
* [1:26] I baptize with water: the synoptics add “but he will baptize you with the holy Spirit” (Mk 1:8) or “…holy Spirit and fire” (Mt 3:11; Lk 3:16). John’s emphasis is on purification and preparation for a better baptism.
* [1:28] Bethany across the Jordan: site unknown. Another reading is “Bethabara.” (John, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB, n.d.)
Cindy Murphy McMahon (2020) needed these readings. It always comes back to putting our sights on God, on Jesus, doesn’t it? As John says twice in 1 John, “remain in him.” We really have no hope if we take our sights off of God, his word, his Son, and put them exclusively on the present world and all of its divisions and rancor. Or on our health, with its ups and downs.
In the Gospel, John writes that when priests and Levites came to John the Baptist asking who he was, “He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, ‘I am not the Christ.’” How refreshing. Someone admitting and not denying something. Present-day politicians do not know the meaning of those words. Their mantra is admit nothing, deny everything.
John points his questioners to Jesus, gladly. Even though his own situation is bleak, he is happy to direct them to Jesus. He, and the whole of Scripture as well, points us to Jesus, too. The Alpha and the Omega. Our beginning and our end.
Lord, help us to follow John’s lead, and always look to your Son for the answer to every problem, for the Way, the Truth and the Life. (Murphy, 2025)
Don Schwager quotes “John points to the Redeemer,” by Gregory the Great (540-604 AD).
"John did not baptize with the Spirit but with water, since he was unable to take away the sins of those being baptized. He washed their bodies with water but not their hearts with pardon. Why did one whose baptism did not forgive sins baptize, except that he was observing his vocation as forerunner? He whose birth foreshadowed greater birth, by his baptizing foreshadowed the Lord who would truly baptize. He whose preaching made him the forerunner of Christ, by baptizing also became his forerunner, using a symbol of the future sacrament. With these other mysteries he makes known the mystery of our Redeemer, declaring that he has stood among people and not been known. The Lord appeared in a human body: he came as God in flesh, visible in his body, invisible in his majesty." (excerpt from FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 4) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 1:19-28 comments that in spite of the crowds that came to receive his baptism, he was honest about who he was—and who he wasn’t. But while he wasn’t the Messiah they had been waiting for, he did have an essential role in God’s plan. Quoting from the Book of Isaiah, he added, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert” (John 1:23). John was both humble and confident in who God had made him to be.
God doesn’t ask you to be anyone that you aren’t. He has made you unique, just as he has made everyone else. He has filled this world with billions of people to serve him in their own unique ways. So be at peace with who you are—with your value, your role, and even your limitations!
“Lord, thank you for reminding me of who I am. Help me to live with confidence in the truth of who you made me to be.” (Meditation on John 1:19-28, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler notes that the passage from 1 John continues to present the defence against the argument of the Docetists that God could never take on our human nature. In John’s Gospel, the Baptist is much more involved as a witness to Jesus. Friar Jude reminds us of the matrimonial symbolism in John’s Gospel that points to Jesus marrying the Church as a response to Israel becoming a widow.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Jewish New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine who focuses on Jesus’ exhortation to his disciples to be the “light of the world”. Jesus’ call to be salt and light impacts the choices we make.
If we think of a church as a house, as a home where family and friends gather, we get a different image than if we think of a place to be visited maybe for an hour on Sunday. And if we think of our homes as the place where our light shines, we are more likely to be patient with the children or with those whose minds have reverted to childhood; we are more likely to find that light within ourselves as we go through the day.…
Any faith that does not manifest itself in works is not faith; it is complacency and self-satisfaction. It is not salt, because it contributes nothing to the earth. It is not light, since its shining is only for self-reflection. Disciples are to glorify God by being their true selves: salt and light; existing for others rather than for only themselves. (Rohr, n.d.)
We return to the mission of John the Baptist to be a voice and minister for Christ even as we surrender to our unworthiness to undo the sandal.
References
John, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 2, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/1?19
Meditation on John 1:19-28. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved January 2, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/01/02/1170466/
Murphy, C. (2025, January 2). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Retrieved January 2, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/010225.html
1 John, CHAPTER 2. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved January 2, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1john/2?
Psalms, PSALM 98. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved January 2, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/98?1
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Being a Light for Others. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved January 2, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/being-a-light-for-others/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Christ Stands among You. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 2, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jan2
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