Saturday after Epiphany, Jan 9
1 John
5:14-21 / John 3:22-30
A minister was once extremely popular. His church was always full. As the years passed and he grew older, his vitality decreased—and so did his flock.
One day a new minister moved into the same town. A couple of weeks later the old minister noticed how few people were present in his church. "Where are the others?" he asked. "They've gone to the new minister's church," someone reluctantly volunteered. The old man responded, "Then perhaps it's time for us to go there too." With that, he led his remaining parishioners to the new church. Like John the Baptist, he saw that it was time for him to decrease and another to increase.****
In a sort of
profession of faith, the apostle John sums up his letter. We belong to God on
account of Jesus Christ. He has brought us eternal life; this life does not
tolerate sin; because we live in him, he hears our prayers.
John the
Baptist bears the same witness: we belong to Christ as the bride to the
bridegroom; our life must be identified with his, his life must grow in us. In
this Eucharist, may the Lord let us share more deeply in his life.
***
How
accepting are we of God's plan for us? "Learn from me, for I am meek and
humble of heart." Matthew 11:29
***
In one of
the most profound revelations in the readings after the feast of Epiphany, we
come to the gospel text of today that talks about John the Baptist and his role
as the one who prepares the way for Jesus. And as the gospel text puts it, that
was before John was put into prison, which effectively ended his ministry and
later it would also end his life. John was baptising, and so was Jesus, and
hence John's disciples brought out this issue to him and was concerned that
everyone was going to Jesus. Yet John was graciously profound when he said he
was not the Christ and that he was just the one who has been sent before the
Christ. John knew he was not the bridegroom but just the best-man he was not the Christ but just the baptizer;
and that he must grow smaller and the Christ must grow greater.
And with that comes a statement from John the Baptist that revealed his self-understanding, and at the same time something that we ourselves need to understand. He said, "A man can lay claim only to what is given him from above." And with those words he stepped aside for Jesus and he faded off and faded away. John knew what he was given from above and he claimed that authority and fulfilled his mission. We too know what we have been given from above. The 1st reading says that the Son of God has come and has given us the power to know the true God.
To know the
true God is to acknowledge Jesus is Lord and to gain from Him the reward of
eternal life. To desire and yearn for passing things is to worship a false god,
and to lose what we have been given from above. Yet in order to lay claim to
what we have been given from above, we need to grow smaller and to let God grow
greater. That is what our life is all about on earth; and that is also what
eternal life is all about.
****
Let us
pray:
Lord, God of
life, we belong fully to you through your Son Jesus Christ. In him you have
called us to real life, free, expansive, reaching beyond death. Help us to
develop this life with all its potentials and to treasure it as a trust not to
be kept to ourselves but to be shared as a gift with all those around us. Let
your Son live and grow in us now and for ever.
