John's testimony and our mission

We have entered Ordinary Time, and today's Gospel reading is a fitting continuation of the Baptism story. Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of the Baptism of Jesus-the first Sunday in Ordinary Time. Today we contemplate John the Baptist's witness to that event.

The liturgical year, with its carefully ordered readings, progressively introduces us to the mysteries of Christ. Each cycle of the year is accompanied by a particular synoptic Gospel: Matthew for Year A, Mark for Year B, and Luke for Year C. Interestingly, although we are beginning Cycle A, today's reading comes from John. Although the four Gospels differ in their emphasis, were written for different audiences and reflect each sacred author's own personality, they all have one thing in common: Jesus is their center.

In today's Gospel, John the Baptist declares twice that he bears witness. He testifies, first, that “behind me comes a man who is ahead of me, because he existed before me”, and further on: “I beheld the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and alighting on him.”. The amazing thing about these testimonies is that John repeatedly states later: “I didn't know him.”.

But what does John mean? Could he, who leaped in the womb at Mary's greeting, really say that he did not know Christ? Could he have lived more than thirty years without knowing his own cousin? John understood his mission; he knew that someone greater than himself was coming, someone who existed before him. He knew that he had been sent to baptize with water. However, Jesus“ full identity remained ”encrypted," so to speak, until the Spirit revealed it to him. John received the key to decipher this mystery and clearly point to Jesus: the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and ultimately, the Son of God.

Like John, we too are called to bear witness to Jesus by our lives and actions. For many around us, Jesus remains a “cryptic message”, not yet fully understood. John picks up on Isaiah's prophecy -“I make you the light of the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”and brings it to its fullness by pointing directly to the Son of God. Witnessing to Christ requires deepening our own knowledge of Him, moving from the “I didn't know him” to a deeper confession of who He is.

This becomes our mission at the beginning of the calendar year and the beginning of Ordinary Time: to be apostles. Today's second reading is simply the introduction to St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, where the apostle presents his identity and vocation. Curiously, we do not enter into the content of the letter, but only into its introduction. The Church invites us to do the same: to take Paul's model and insert our own name: “[Your Name], called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God”.”. We are encouraged to be like John: to deepen our knowledge of Christ and then bear witness, so that others may better recognize and understand who Christ is.