Last Sunday we concluded the Christmas season with the Baptism of the Lord, and today we read John the Evangelist’s story of the baptism of Jesus told from his perspective.
This is a powerful week to remind us of the call of Christ and the huge challenge he set to be anything but ordinary. In our society and the world that continues to focus on divisions and differences rather than similarities and struggles with doing God’s will, this week brings up many reminders of how we need to unite to defend the dignity of human rights. On Monday, we remember the great Martin Luther King, Jr. and his fight to preach and defend equality. This is a good time to focus on the testimony of prophets and the risk of giving witness in our world. Christ Jesus sets the example as the ultimate risk-taker for the sake of God’s love for all people – every race and tongue, every religious practice or lack thereof, and the sacrifice we all need to make to end religious persecution
and indifference.
This is the week of Prayer for Christian Unity and to remind ourselves that all those baptized by water and the Spirit are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Monday is also the World Day of Refugees and Migrants, and Wednesday is a Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.
John’s mission was solely to the Jewish people. Jesus, however, was sent as a ‘light for the nations’ – for the whole world, Gentiles (non-Jews) as well as Jews. We see this throughout Jesus’ ministry as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the whole world.
The title Lamb of God is significant, for at the end of the fourth Gospel Jesus is put to death at the very time that Passover Lambs are slaughtered for the annual commemoration of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt. Passing through death into fullness of life, Jesus poured out his Spirit of Life and Light on all who would believe.
So as you can see, there is nothing ordinary about being a Christian and we should not just blend into our world and society. We too, need to be a light to those who are abandoned, forgotten, separated and judged and help every human life to be shown dignity, from the moment of conception to natural death.