Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As we heard last week the feast of the Epiphany was the manifestation of Jesus to the world, to the Kings who represented us. Also, the Baptism of Jesus, which was this past Monday, the last day of Christmas, is part of that Epiphany. And Christ is manifested to us today through this Word of God, which helps me a lot, especially the first reading which is the calling of the prophet Samuel.
The prophet hears someone calling him three times, but it was not Eli who was calling but the Lord. He finally responds by saying something very profound: Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. It is a beautiful prayer that we can say also. Samuel whose name mean ‘heard God’ is the prophet who anoints the first kings of Israel: first Saul and then David. Am I willing to say this to the Lord, or do I want to do whatever I want to do.
In the gospel John was standing with two of his disciples and as Jesus walks by he says, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” And this Lamb is the one who takes away the sins of the world as we hear every time we attend Mass. A lamb is a very silly animal that let’s itself be killed and that is why it was the favorite animal for sacrifices. In the Jewish law for the sacrifice to be valid it was necessary for the animal not to resist being the victim. If they did, then the sacrifice was not valid. A lamb is the most humble animal in the sense that you can take it and kill it in your arms and the lamb does nothing. He neither kicks or screams but only goes to sleep and bleeds to death.
So, it is not by chance that this name was given to the Messiah for to be able to love Jesus becomes like a lamb, not a wolf, not a pig. A pig would make a huge commotion if you tried to harm him. For us we would do the same. But to love is to allow yourself to be killed. But if someone is chasing us or thinking bad of us or slandering or gossiping about us, do you allow it or do you fight back? So, who do you resemble more, the lamb or the pig?
Jesus says there will come a day when they will persecute you for being a Christian. To be a Christian means to be faithful to your wife so they will persecute you for this or for not stealing or for not killing and then we will see if you are a son or daughter of God or a son of the devil or son of the Lamb? It is wonderful to see how the testimony of John the Baptist leads the first disciples to follow Jesus, just by John saying, there is the Lamb of God, which means he is a person who will let himself be killed.
But the disciples did not understand much. John’s disciples left John and went to Jesus. Andrew was the first and then said to his brother Simon, we have found the Messiah. And then they ask him, “What are you looking for?” or what are you living for? And the response of Jesus is impressive, Jesus says, “Come and see!” They went with him and stayed with him.
Where does Jesus live? Where can we find Christ? Is he alive today in the Church, in the others, in the brother or sister in your Christian community, in the sacraments. Here he is! Come and you will see him in the community, in the brother, in the other, and you will stay. They went and saw and stayed with him.
May the Lord bring us closer to him. May this testimony of John lead us to the Lord, may it bring us into the presence of Jesus Christ. It is crazy, isn’t it? They say here is the Lamb of God and they leave everything. They leave everything, even John the Baptist, and follow Jesus Christ. This is an invitation for us to give up our past life, to give up something, above all to give up sin. Oh, how I wish that today be the day that you renounce sin as we start a new year. Let us say to the Lord today that I renounce Satan and I embrace the Lord, I embrace the Church; I leave everything to follow the Lamb and to allow myself to be killed like him.
