TUESDAY JANUARY 2, 2024
CHRISTMAS TIME YEAR B
I John 2:22-28
John 1: 19-28
CONFESSING JESUS TO THE WORLD.
In the world, our greatest task is to continue witnessing to the goodness of God in Christ Jesus. This is our daily struggle and which God calls us to undertake. Living the Christian life means making Christ known, accepted and loved. And there is no specially assigned time to do this than doing it every time of our lives and in every circumstances.
John the baptist teaches us this lesson and more. His life was a great testimony of God’s love and mercy. He kept the tradition of baptizing people and teaching the word. And his actions and teachings brought great insight and attention to the Pharisees who came to inquire who he actually was and what and why he was doing.
John had the opportunity, a greater one for that matter to openly make a great impart of making Christ known, loved and accepted. This, he did by announcing to these inquirers that he was not the messiah but the voice of one calling in the desert. John extolled the powers and virtues of Jesus. He pointed the people to the immense greatness of Jesus, debasing himself as one who is not even fit to untie the sandals in the feet of Jesus.
By this, John bore great witness to the person of Jesus, declaring his Godhead, asserting Jesus’ divine and human natures and his supremacy in the world.
In doing this, John was humble and simple, determined and resolute. Here we see the character of one who confesses or witnesses to the Christ. Such character is displayed by John. The character is one of humility, total submission of oneself and accepting one’s personal identity as only a messenger and nothing more. This, John did.
This declaration of John stating the obvious in Christ is telling the truth of our existence as the evangelist John stated it in the first reading. Declaring and witnessing to the person of Christ, his nature as man and God, his supreme power over the world and his unalloyed control over human affairs is the real witnessing and confession of Jesus to the world.
The first letter of Saint John, our first reading, teaches us the content of our witnessing. It is truth that we must proclaim to the world. That Jesus is the way to the Father. That Jesus is both God and man as stated in the creed of the Church. And we must hold this sacred and keep it dear to our hearts and project it to the world. That is our Lord and Saviour and we have no apologies to anyone. And that is living the truth and showing it to the world.
And this we must also show in our daily life and actions. Our livestyle must portray it and speak same to our world. This is our most important task of confessing and witnessing to Christ.
Heavenly Father, you Son Jesus Christ came into the world to redeem us. We thank you for sending us a Saviour. Help us to proclaim him, our Lord and our Saviour in all we do. May our proclamation and witnessing to his name bring us closer to his power, lift us above our human weaknesses and show his powers and love over our lives even as we step into the new year 2024 through Christ our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
