Reading I Is 61

Reading I
Is 61:1-2a, 10-11

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,
to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to the prisoners,
to announce a year of favor from the LORD
and a day of vindication by our God.

I rejoice heartily in the LORD,
in my God is the joy of my soul;
for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation
and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
like a bride bedecked with her jewels.
As the earth brings forth its plants,
and a garden makes its growth spring up,
so will the Lord GOD make justice and praise
spring up before all the nations.

Responsorial Psalm
Lk 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54

R. (Is 61:10b) My soul rejoices in my God.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
R. My soul rejoices in my God.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
R. My soul rejoices in my God.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
R. My soul rejoices in my God.

Reading II
1 Thes 5:16-24

Brothers and sisters:
Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.
In all circumstances give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not quench the Spirit.
Do not despise prophetic utterances.
Test everything; retain what is good.
Refrain from every kind of evil.

May the God of peace make you perfectly holy
and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body,
be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who calls you is faithful,
and he will also accomplish it.

Gospel
Jn 1:6-8, 19-28

A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.

And this is the testimony of John.
When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him
to ask him, "Who are you?"
He admitted and did not deny it,
but admitted, "I am not the Christ."

So they asked him,

"What are you then? Are you Elijah?"
And he said, "I am not."
"Are you the Prophet?"
He answered, "No."
So they said to him,
"Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?
What do you have to say for yourself?"
He said:
"I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,
make straight the way of the Lord,
as Isaiah the prophet said."
Some Pharisees were also sent.
They asked him,
"Why then do you baptize
if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?"
John answered them,
"I baptize with water;
but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,
the one who is coming after me,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie."
This happened in Bethany across the Jordan,
where John was baptizing.

COMMENTARY
These same words from Isaiah are used in the Gospel of Luke (4:16-21) to announce that the messianic era had come. Each phrase is rich in biblical tradition. "Spirit" signals the special action of God. The spirit had been promised to the messianic king, and was assured later to all the peoples. "Anointed" in this context means preaching and hearing; it designates an interior enlightening to know God's word and a strengthening to follow it. Prisoners are led out of their darkness into the light of the one who is to come. Continuing with the theme of the Spirit, Paul addresses the weak ("fainthearted") in the community of Thessalonica, exhorting them to be vigilant. He speaks of patience, charity, and joy - all fruits of the Spirit. He asks that they all "pray incessantly" - prayer proceeds from the Spirit.

The reading from John's Gospel is the first of a series of passages on the role of John the Baptist; he is not a messianic figure but a witness. The actual term Messiah (in Hebrew Mašîah) first appears for a future anointed agent of God in the Book of Daniel (9:25). The question of weather John the Bap. is the Messiah or not is also raised in Luke (3:15). The expectation of Elijah's return was based on Malachi 3:1,23, the messenger sent to prepare the Day of the Lord; he is identified as Elijah in 3:23. The Synoptic Gospels identify Elijah with John the Baptist in order to make John the forerunner of Jesus (Mark 9:13; Matt 17:12; cf. Luke 1:17; 7:27 - the Baptist is to act in the manner of Elijah). Only in Christian sources does Elijah become the forerunner of the Messiah rather than of Yahweh's day of judgment. The "prophet" refers to the Mosaic prophet described in Deuteronomy 18:18. Seeing Jesus as the prophet formed an important element in the christological tradition of the Johannine community and may have been developed under the influence of Samaritan expectations.

REFLECTION
In today's Gospel we hear very clearly John's statement "I am not the Christ." John had the opportunity to glorify himself - to become a greater celebrity than God intended. The people were ready and willing to believe that John was the Christ, the anointed, the Messiah. All he had to do was to tell them "Yes, I am the one." But he said, "I am not He. He was also very clear that he was not Elijah, nor the "prophet" spoken of in Deuteronomy 18:18. He gave a statement that pointed not to himself, but to another. Two chapters later, when John baptizes Jesus in the Jordan River, he instructs his disciples to leave him and follow Jesus. In one simple statement John explained his whole approach. Speaking of Christ he said, "He must increase; I must decrease." He must grow greater; I must grow less. John knew the mission he had from God and he fulfilled it faithfully, pointing the way to someone other than himself, resisting all temptation to make himself the focal point of his own work. In everything he did, he pointed the way to Christ.

St. Augustine some four centuries later speaking of John the Baptist pointed out how when we speak something significant to another, for example, if we were to say to another, "I love you" the voice quickly fades but the meaning, the word, takes root deep inside the heart, inside the soul. The word remains long after the echo of the voice is gone. Christ is the Word; John is only the voice. Christ remains, rooted in our hearts long after the voice of John has become silent. He pointed the way to another and that is precisely what we are all called to do now. We need to take up where John left off, to be that voice crying out "Prepare the way of the Lord!" and to remember that our mission is to point the way to Jesus, not to ourselves. We are not the Word; we are only a voice. If we do our work faithfully, and we carry out our mission as God intends, then the same will be true of us as was true of John the Baptist, that Christ will remain long after our own voices have become silent.

Biblical Sources: New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Seitz, C. (ed.) "Reading and Preaching the Book of Isaiah"; Whybray, R.N., "Isaiah 40-66; John J. Collins, The Collegeville Bible Commentary; Carroll Stuhlmueller; Black, D.A., "The Weak in Thessalonica"; Klijn, A.F.J., "1Thessalonians 4,13-18 and Its Background in Apocalyptic Literature"; Plevnik, J., "The Parousia as Implication of Christ's Resurrection"; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., "Introduction to the New Testament"; Schnackenburg, R., "The Gospel According to St. John"; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) "The New Jerome Biblical Commentary.

Reflection: Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa