Bishop Barron's Gospel Reflection January 11, 2020

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Saturday after Epiphany

John 3:22-30

Friends, in today’s Gospel John the Baptist explains his role in God’s plan. John was baptizing by the river Jordan. We associate the Jordan with him, but people in his own time would have associated the Jordan with the Exodus and the conquest of the promised land. Calling people to pass through the Jordan, John was recapitulating the Exodus. Temple, forgiveness, purification, Exodus, liberation—all of these themes were drawn together in John’s person and preaching. He was summing up much of Israelite history, but stressing that this history was open-ended, unfinished. He was pointing toward the one who would be the definitive Temple, the definitive Exodus, the definitive Liberation. And therefore how powerful it was when, upon spying Jesus coming to be baptized, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God." Behold the sacrifice that will sum up, complete, and perfect the temple. This is why John says, "He must increase and I must decrease." In other words, the overture is complete, and now the great opera begins. The preparatory work of Israel is over, and now the Messiah will reign.  Saturday after Epiphany Lectionary: 217 Reading 1 1 Jn 5:14-21 Beloved: We have this confidence in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours. If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly. We know that anyone begotten by God does not sin; but the one begotten by God he protects, and the Evil One cannot touch him. We know that we belong to God, and the whole world is under the power of the Evil One. We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Children, be on your guard against idols. Gospel Jn 3:22-30 Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing. John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized, for John had not yet been imprisoned. Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washings. So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.” John answered and said, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Christ, but that I was sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease.”