Gospel Reflection Jan 17 – Msgr. Hendricks
Sunday, January 17
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
John 1: 35-42
Gospel:
John was standing with two of his disciples,
and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God.”
The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.
Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them,
“What are you looking for?”
They said to him, “Rabbi” — which translated means Teacher —,
“where are you staying?”
He said to them, “Come, and you will see.”
So they went and saw where Jesus was staying,
and they stayed with him that day.
It was about four in the afternoon.
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter,
was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.
He first found his own brother Simon and told him,
“We have found the Messiah” — which is translated Christ —.
Then he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said,
“You are Simon the son of John;
you will be called Cephas” — which is translated Peter.
Gospel Reflection:
No first-century Jew and later Christian would miss the calling of Jesus as the “Lamb of God.” John was a cousin of Jesus and he was the prophet that spanned the time between the Old Testament Prophets and the new era of the Messiah. By calling Jesus the “Lamb of God,” the gospel identifies Him with the ultimate sacrifice of humankind. Jesus is the one true lamb that freely sacrifices Himself for the forgiveness of sins and the redemption for the human race.
The call of Andrew and his brother Peter allows them to see who Jesus is and later what he will demand of them, namely their sacrifice of their lives for the sake of the one true God and Messiah Jesus Christ. In this sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross as the “Lamb of God,” right and true worship comes back to the temple in Jerusalem and right worship turns from the 24/7 sacrifices that went on there to the one perfect sacrifice for sins that Jesus makes by his death on the Cross.
This passage from John will set up the path that all who give their lives over to Jesus must follow, that is the surrender of self to God in Christ. Nothing less will satisfy.
-Monsignor Hendricks