REFLECTIONS TODAY

When religious leaders send priests and Levites to ask John the Baptist who he really is, he clearly admits that he is not the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One of God. Neither is he the personification of Elijah who would someday return to prepare the way of the Lord (Mal 3:23), nor the “Prophet” like Moses who would tell the people all that the Lord would command (Dt 18:18). John refers to another Scripture passage—from Isaiah who announces the Lord’s coming to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. A voice cries out in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord” (v 23; cf Is 40:3). For Luke, the Lord God’s visitation is now fulfilled in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus. And John is precisely “the voice” who prepares the people by calling for baptism of repentance. The evangelist John speaks of Jesus as the incarnate Logos or “Word,” and John is the “voice” in the service of the Word. John refers to himself as the servant of the One coming, the Messiah whose sandal strap he is not worthy to untie. Pope Francis refers to the threefold vocation of John the Baptist. The first was to prepare the hearts of the people for the encounter with the Lord. The second was to discern from among so many good people, who the Lord was. John declared, “This is the one! And more worthy than me!” and the disciples left him and followed Jesus. The third was to diminish, and that his “life began to descend, to diminish because the Lord would grow until he was destroyed” (Homily, June 24, 2014).

FIRST READING • 1 Jn 2:22-28 

Beloved: Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well. 

Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made us: eternal life. I write you these things about those who would deceive you. As for you, the anointing that you received from him remains in you, so that you do not need anyone to teach you. But his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not false; just as it taught you, remain in him. 
And now, children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be put to shame by him at his coming. 
 

GOSPEL • Jn 1:19-28 

This is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?” he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.” So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2023.” E-mail: [email protected].