02 January. Tuesday before Epiphany

Saints Basil the Great, and Gregory Nazianzen

1st Reading: 1 John 2:22-28

Abiding in the Holy Trinity, towards eternal life

Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he has promised us, eternal life.

I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you. As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him.

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming.

Gospel: John 1:19-28

John the Baptist iss the voice of one crying out in the desert

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said.

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

John’s preaching and lifestyle

By his preaching of repentance, John the Baptist prepared the way for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. In the Greek Orthodox church, John is titled as “prodromos” and in the Latin Western church he is “precursor ” (forerunner), describing his unique role in the story of our salvation. In order to be prepared as a spiritual guide for others, he was drawn by the Holy Spirit to an austere, contemplative lifestyle, living in the desert of Judea during his early manhood, until his mission began, when he was about thirty years old.

At that stage he became a dramatic, public preacher of repentance and renewal to his Jewish people. In an austerity reminiscent of prophet Elijah, John ate sparsely and dressed in a rough penitential garb of camel-skin. On the edge of the desert, beside the banks of the river Jordan, he announced the gracious mercy of God to all who came to him in search of repentance. He also warned of divine judgment on those who persisted in their sinful ways. His converts signified their change of heart by going down into the waters of baptism for the washing away of their sins. John taught them simple ordinary ways to serve God in their daily lives, and proclaimed the imminent coming of the Messiah, who would pour out God’s Spirit more richly upon them.

Many people seeking direction, especially those regarded by the Temple authorities as marginal Jews (such as tax collectors and prostitutes) received John as the true herald of God, and heard his words as those of a true prophet. To the official leaders of Judaism, the Priests and the Pharisees, John seemed more a threat than a blessing. Their resistance to a message requiring moral and spiritual renewal made them unable to hear the divine guidance latent in his words. Today’s Gospel is a sober reminder to all of us, but especially to church leaders, to listen to what the Holy Spirit says through the voices of awkward prophecy.

Who are you, really?

The question put to John the Baptist, “Who are you?” is one of the great questions of life. We can struggle to answer honestly or fully, “Who am I?” It’s easy to reply at a certain level by telling people what we do, “I am an accountant” or “I am a carpenter.” However, going below our job description (what we do) to who we are in inmost our core is much more difficult. And our answer to that deeper question can change as we go through life. How we answer it at this present moment in our lives is not how we would have answered it earlier in our lives.

For people of faith, the answer to that question will be deeply influenced by our relationship with Jesus, because that relationship touches us at a very deep level, at our core. Saint Paul is the great example of that truth. If he were asked, “Who are you?” he might answer in the words of his letter to the Galatians, “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” His identity had become a Christ-stamped identity. When John the Baptist was asked that key question in today’s gospel, he cals himself a voice that cries in the wilderness. His identity was shaped by his relationship with Jesus. He is the voice who witnesses to the Word, the Word that has become flesh. Our own baptismal calling is to keep on growing into Christ so that our personal identity is more and more shaped by our relationship with him.