RBWords

 

     The Gospel of John often strikes me as a series of mini-dramas that have been put together to form one larger drama.  These "mini-dramas" are not all the same in the way they are structured. Some of them have the form of a two or three character play with a narrator standing off to the side and front of the stage and supplying an interpretation of what is going on!  Today we have the narrator and John the Baptist and Jesus (who is silent but coming onto the stage).  The narrator sets the scene by saying, "John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said......"  The rest is a soliloquy by John the Baptist about his own mission and Jesus' mission in regard to the Holy Spirit.  [We'll have to wait till the end of the Gospel to learn what all this means, but this incident introduces the "Holy Spirit" into the larger drama!]

 

     How does this scene fit into the story of our own Christian life?  Perhaps we might be challenged to remember that we have been baptized and confirmed and that these events are not just one time things that took place long ago but rather have significance for the present!  In a sacrament, the church teaches that it is not the celebrant who "baptizes" or "confirms," it is Christ who does this.  It is our baptism/confirmation that enables us and challenges us to do what John the Baptist does:  to see and testify that Jesus is the Son of God.  A good drama should pull us into the "action," and touch our own experience.  As the curtain comes down on this one, what will we do with the experience?  Seeing and testifying is a good start!  AMEN