DO I POINT OTHERS TO JESUS?

Isaiah in our first reading of today prophesies about the Lord’s Servant whom He has called and sent to bring light to Israel and to all the nations. He will accomplish this by turning the hearts of all nations back to God so that through these efforts, the Lord’s salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. Therefore, in the mission of this Servant of the Lord, we find the actualization of the universal salvation promised humanity through Israel the Lord’s first born son. And through Israel, the entire world would be saved. However, salvation shall come only to those who believe and accept the Lord’s Servant as Saviour. He was seldom known but the Holy Spirit reveals Him to all who believe in Him just as we see in the life of John today. But do you believe in Him too?

The evangelist John contrasts with the synoptics in a very dramatic manner as he points to Christ today calling Him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. For John that hitherto did not know who Christ was to suddenly realise who He is and address Him in such manner signifies two things. Firstly, that this knowledge came through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit who teaches us everything and leads us to the complete truth. And second, that Jesus’ mission in the world is as the One who redeems us from our sins. In times past the blood of the Passover lamb delivered the Israelites in Egypt from slavery and death (Cf. Exodus 12). Today Jesus Christ is introduced to us as that lamb who does this by willingly offering up His life to die for us on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins so that we may have life and have it in abundance (Cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7, John 10:10). The blood He poured out for us on the cross cleanses, heals, and frees us from our slavery to sin, from the ‘wages of sin which is death,’ and the destruction of both body and soul in hell. This is a direct reference to the Suffering Servant of the Lord prophesied about by Isaiah who would willingly sacrifice His life to win His people from the power of the devil and sin. If we stay united to Him, He will probably heal the world through us, making us into agents of Divine healing. But are we ready to do this?

For us to become true agents of Divine healing in the world, we must first of all be united with Christ. And taking a cue from Paul’s prayer in today’s second reading, God sends us His grace and peace when we become connected to Him through prayer. And when we are united to Him in this manner, God’s Holy Spirit begins to minister to us revealing to us the secrets of the kingdom. One of such secrets is the importance of humility which makes God to become glorified in our lives the more we humble ourselves before Him. John’s humility led him not only to realise but to admit that he wasn’t the Christ even though many mistook him for the Christ. Many ministers today instead take delight in playing God by projecting themselves and image rather than Christ. They gladly direct the whole attention to themselves in seeking cheap popularity with some even claiming that they are workers of miracles. Such ministers are serving themselves rather than Christ. Ask yourself today, are you serving yourself or God? Do you direct people’s attention to Christ or to yourself? The true test of God’s spirit in His ministers is to be found in their humility as evidenced in Christ. It was lack of humility that made the angels to fall from grace (Jude 5:6, 2 Peter 2:4) because pride comes before a fall. We must all guard against pride too if we are to remain true servants of God. May the Lord fill us with the power of His Holy Spirit and keep us humble enough to decrease for Him to increase in our lives. Amen.  

First Reading: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6

Psalm: 40

 Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:1-3

Gospel: John 1:29-34