Gospel:
John 1:29-34
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 testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down
like a dove from heaven and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one
who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come
down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I
have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
+ + + + +
+ +
Reflection:
When John
was asked by the priest and Levites to confirm if he is the messiah he instead
said: “I am not the messiah” (John 1:20). It never came to the thought of John
to assume and pretend that he is the messiah. From the very start John knew his
role, he knew that he was just the precursor. That’s why he said: “I must
decrease and He must increase” (John 3:30).
Let us
take a closer look at the life of John, he lived a simple life, he shunned
publicity, he was humble, he never took credit of the things that was
attributed to him. He instead always pointed to Jesus.
John is
the epitome of a self-assured humble man who is content to do the role that was
given to him by God. Fame, power even fortune was within his reach but he was
never tempted to grab it. John is so unlike with many of us who will always
take hold of every opportunity to gain credit.
By virtue
of our baptism each and everyone of us especially those who know something
about our faith are called by God to be like John. To let God shine at all times,
and never be tempted to upend God for our own personal gains.
We must
not use God for us to become popular and powerful. For true service for God and
His people is not about popularity or about power. True service for God happens
when we silently and humbly do our task. And we do it for the greater glory of
God and not for our own glory!
John
chose humility and simplicity; he chose to highlight Jesus more than
himself. Let us also choose humility and
simplicity and let us also bring to light Jesus in our lives. - Marino J.
Dasmarinas
No comments:
Post a Comment