Saint Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors
Gospel – John 1:19-28
This is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?” He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.” So they asked him, “What are you then?
Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The Gospel of the Lord
The Mass intention is for Sean Lanigan, RIP
Reflection:
Today, take a moment to join up with John the Baptist and listen to him being interrogated by the authorities. If they ask you, ‘What do you say about yourself?’ perhaps you blurt out that you are searching, that you are confused about the meaning of life. Do you feel you don’t impress them much?
If you sit later with John, chewing perhaps on a fat locust and sipping wild honey, what would he say to you about your performance?
Would he say, ‘Always remember that you’re important–at least to Jesus!
He wants to bring you into his circle of friends; he wants to share everything he has with you: he thinks the world of you–don’t ask me why, but that’s the sort he is. I believe he’d be willing to die for you if he had to.’
The gospel showed a John who had no pretensions to grandeur. He was a voice, crying out in a moral, as much as a geographical, desert. Isaiah had referred to God, the “I am”, by the title Lord; John’s reference was to Jesus.
As the Prologue had put it: He came in order to give witness, to testify about the light so that everyone might come to believe in it. He was not the light, but to testify about the light.
While you try to take all this on board, John adds: ‘Jesus dreams big dreams, and he has a role, a mission in mind for you which he won’t give to anyone else.’ Pause and wonder at this.
- Have you had someone like John the Baptist who has prepared the way for you to receive Jesus?
John was humble. He did not try to make himself greater than what he was in announcing Jesus. Have you been that way for someone in your life?
