Welcome back. I hope your January is off to a good start. We have a few weeks of Ordinary Time, with green paraments, before Lent next month. Let’s dive in!
Gospel: John 1:29-42
John is the Gospel that is “different,” as we’ve already pointed out. A commentary I came across this week made the point that John should always, always be read with John 20:31 in mind. John wrote “so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through that believing you may have life in HIs name.” As we read today’s selection, and going forward, ask yourself, “How does this help me to believe?”
John opens with the beautiful “In the beginning was the Word…” prelude, and then moves quickly to John the Baptist. In fact, John the Baptist (I’ll call him JohntB here to differentiate him from the writer John) is the “he” in v. 29. Jesus has already been baptized in the verses immediately preceding these.
This is the first passage in John where Jesus, as a man walking around, makes an appearance. JohntB identifies Him as the Lamb of God. In other words, John’s first identification of Jesus is as an innocent sacrifice.
Here’s what stood out for me in this passage:
Jesus’ first words recorded by John are, “What are you looking for?” What an amazing question. Can you answer it? You would think that Andrew and John, already following JohntB, would have had a ready answer, but they didn’t. They had a question for Him!
Jesus then said, “Come and see.” He says it a couple more times later on. He won’t always tell, but He will definitely SHOW us who He is.
Andrew gets so excited that he runs home to tell his brother Simon about the man they’ve just met. Simon comes to meet Jesus, and Jesus immediately changes his name to Peter. Simon hadn’t done anything at that point, and Jesus is already changing his name. Just as in the Old Testament, a name change from God happens when He stakes His claim. It’s a question of identity.
This is a passage about calling and identity. Jesus asks the single big question, “What are you looking for?” Can you answer that?
Old Testament: Isaiah 49:1-7
Last week was the first “Servant Psalm” in Isaiah. This is the second. Like our Gospel reading, it’s about calling.
There’s a little uncertainty about who exactly is the servant. Jewish interpretations say it’s Israel as a nation, personified for poetry. But now, the New Testament seems to point plainly to Jesus Himself as the suffering servant.
God says it’s just too light a thing for the Servant to save His people. He is sending this servant to the whole world. I hear echoes of last week, and Epiphany, in this passage. Just like the infant Jesus being sought by the Magi, who were welcomed by the Holy Family, the Servant is for the whole world. Everyone, Jews and Gentiles.
This is a beautiful hymn from David. His heart really did long for God, even though he was definitely a flawed man.
Verses 6-8 are especially noteworthy, and are quoted in Hebrews 10:5-7. The sacrificial system was a tool to change hearts, not a magic spell to transform us into perfect people. A lot of dead animals was never God’s goal. His goal was and remains a law of love.
And God Himself is the deliverer.
New Testament: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
We are in the first part of Corinthians for a few weeks. Let’s talk about the city of Corinth, to get an idea of where we’ll be.
Corinth lies at the narrow part of an isthmus in Greece, one that separates a gulf on the Adriatic Sea from the Aegean. It’s actually on the Peloponessian Peninsula and the land route between Athens and Sparta as well. This was a huge crossroads. In fact, the isthmus is only about four miles wide, and at the time of Paul’s writing there was already a track built so that boats and cargo could be transported by wagon over the land.
There was a lot of religion, but more than that, this was a busy commercial center filled with people from all corners of the known world.
Much like Romans a few weeks ago, this reading is Paul’s greeting to the Corinthians. It is standard in its structure: the writer; the intended recipient; a benediction and a prayer of thanksgiving.
And, just like we saw in Romans, Paul crams a LOT into a few verses. Verses 4-8 are actually just one sentence! It would be a good exercise to diagram this sentence in a way that we did a few weeks ago, but I’ll leave that one to you.
Prayer
Father, Jesus’ question is so huge. What are we looking for? Turn our hearts to You. Help us to hear Your calling. Show us how to ground our identity in You. Thank You for the grace that was given us in Christ Jesus, that we are enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge. Thank You for being faithful. Amen.
