Word to the Wise
Sunday, January 15, 2023 - 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
[Isa 49: 3, 5-6; 1 Cor 1:1-3; John 1:29-34]The Lord said to me: You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory... [Isaiah] Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God....to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ....[1 Corinthians] John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, 'A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.' I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel..." [John]
Isaiah, Paul and John the Baptist all have something in common. They were all called to be spokespersons for God. It was not a job they applied for. Isaiah and Paul both had rather dramatic "calls" to their respective roles as prophet and preacher that interrupted their lives. [cf. Is. 6:1-10 and Acts 9:2-9]. John the Baptist seemed destined to be dramatic from birth. [cf. Luke 1:39-45; 1:76-80]. They are familiar figures to us but also figures from a distant biblical past, heroes whom we pay tribute to but have little personal relationship to. Most of us do not expect to receive a dramatic "call" from God to be prophet or preacher. We may admire those who seem to have received such a call. For example, tomorrow we, as a nation, honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s memory and ministry on behalf of civil rights for all Americans regardless of race, creed or "previous condition of servitude."
However, by virtue of our baptism we have indeed received a call. Yes, all of us who have been baptized are "called" to become, as Pope Francis puts it, "missionary disciples." St. Paul puts it well in the second scripture for today when he addresses the Corinthians and US: "to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours."
Most of us do not recall our baptism. It took place when we were babies. We know it happened by getting a "certificate" from the church where we were baptized. This makes baptism a thing in our past rather than a power and continued CALL in our present. There are reminders like those certificates or like the holy water we touch at the door of the church. (Yep! That's why that holy water is there!) But those reminders are easily forgotten unless we become more conscious of the responsibility we have to be living examples of God's love and mercy. We don't have to be as dramatic as Isaiah, Paul or John the Baptist. We don't have to be martyrs. We DO have to be faithful to Jesus Christ in word and deed by showing love of God and neighbor in living ways. In other words, we are called to "put skin on our faith" so that others may come to know God. AMEN