Gospel Reflection for the 2nd Sunday of the Ordinary Time – January 15th

By Fr Brian Maher OMI

John’s Gospel, as we discovered when we read his ‘Christmas story’ at the start of his Gospel, was the last one written and it approaches the life and mission of Jesus in a highly reflective way. His account of Jesus’ baptism by John does not disappoint in this regard.

What we have in today’s Gospel is more a theological summary of all the stories he heard about Jesus’ baptism than any statement John might have ever uttered. Memories of the events as told by Mark, Matthew and Luke are all present and easily recognisable, but it is John’s focus on the deeper meaning of his baptism that really matters.

In his account of Jesus’ baptism, John introduces some central themes which he will return to again and again in his Gospel. In the very first sentence he talks of Jesus being the ‘Lamb of God’, a title for Jesus that will attain its full meaning only at the Crucifixion.

Likewise, it is the same ‘Spirit’ which “hovered over the waters” at the moment of Creation that comes down on Jesus at his baptism. Indeed, his reference to Jesus, “… ranking before me because he existed before me”, is a direct reference to Chapter 1, where we are told that, “… without him nothing was made that has been made”, referring to the ‘Word of God’ (Jesus).

A small but interesting comment is made by John when he says of Jesus, “… I did not know him myself…” Before his birth, it was John’s mother, Elizabeth, who Mary chose as her confidant. Surely, growing up, even if almost one hundred miles apart, the two boys would have met one another on several occasions; and anyway, the other three Gospels are fairly clear that John and Jesus were friends at the time of his baptism. Why would John, therefore, make a point of saying that “I did not know him myself…”?

While we are told that Mary and Elizabeth were ‘related’, the Gospels do not say in what way they were related. If, as tradition tells us, Mary and Elizabeth were cousins, it means that, at best, John and Jesus were second cousins, which is not a close relationship. It is possible that John (the Evangelist) was unaware of this tradition when he wrote his Gospel, though a more likely explanation is that John was sent by God to ‘reveal’ the Messiah to Israel. This ‘revelation’ is so much more dramatic and powerful if the two men did not know one another and John’s recognition of Jesus as the ‘Lamb of God’ is instantaneous.

Is any of the above important or relevant to our understanding of today’s Gospel? The answer is a very definite, ‘No, it is not.’ I mention it only because we are often stung by the criticism of ‘religious fundamentalists’ that we somehow contradict the Bible being the ‘true’ word of God by not taking every word and story in a literal way. It is an argument which, if we let ourselves get into it, is self-defeating. It is simply enough to say that ‘truth’ is always in the understanding of context and language, and not in a literal translation of any word or phrase. Common sense tells us this. A hungry person might say, he or she could “eat a horse”, but nobody is going to suggest that all nearby horses need beware! A mum might tell her naughty child that, “I’ll murder you if you do that again…” without the police being called by family members or the child fearing for his or her very life! Surely, God who created us and gave us the gifts of language, intelligence and common sense intended us to use all of them when communicating truth to one another? When Jesus himself said to Pilate, “What is truth?…” he was making a statement rather than asking a question. It would be idiotic, I think, to suggest that because Jesus said these words ‘in the Bible’, that he didn’t understand what the word ‘truth’ actually meant!

All of this might seem obvious and not even needing comment, but we are all only too aware of ‘religious cult’ leaders who have used a literal meaning of the Bible to justify murder, mass suicide, and the most awful of physical and psychological abuses.

To a lesser – but no less silly – extent, intelligent people still try to argue that the Earth is only six thousand years old based on a Bible genealogy, or that the world was created in six literal days (or even periods), based on the beautiful Creation stories in Genesis.

Those who fall into this trap, it always seems to me, miss the incredible, awesome ‘truth’ of what God is revealing to us, by denying the very gifts God has given us.

It stems, I think, from ‘fear’ and ‘insecurity’ and allows us to fashion for ourselves a ‘false God’ which is no less dangerous than the ‘golden bull’ the People of Israel had fashioned when Moses returned from Mount Sinai.

We do not need to imagine John the Baptist actually using the words of today’s Gospel in a conversation with Jesus or the crowd by the River Jordan, to hear for ourselves the ‘truth’ of John’s prophecy about Jesus, or the amazing and eternal message of hope, love and salvation it offers us.

The Gospel concludes with the words, “Yes, I have seen and I am the witness that he is the Chosen One of God.” This is the truth of John the Baptist’s message.

It is also our ‘truth’. “Yes, we have seen and we are the witnesses that Jesus rose from the Dead and lives with us and in our world forever – until the end of time”.

In this, and not in semantic and narrow arguments about words and their meaning, will we find the real person of Jesus, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Many thanks,  

Brian.

If you have any comments, questions or thoughts on this scripture reflection, please feel welcome to email me at b.maher@oblates.ie

‘Look: there is the Lamb of God’

Tags: sunday reflection, weekly reflection