Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.  We are to fix our gaze on him and give witness to him.

And we thank God for revealing this to John the Baptist and for sending him to give witness to it.  May God give us now the grace to take a long and loving look at his Lamb.  And to give witness to him, too.

Clearly, to give witness to Jesus means that we, in the first place, value highly that he comes to us.  That we stand in awe and wonder that he willingly comes our way so we may get to meet him.  Wouldn’t it be sad should we just acknowledge his presence in the same way we do, not rarely, in prayer?  That is to say, in a routine and perfunctory way.  To meet him so hardly helps us to know Jesus as God’s Servant, as the Anointed with the Holy Spirit.  And as God’s Son.

But those who truly get to know Jesus as God’s Servant, Messiah and Son cannot but give witness to him.  And they give witness “full of fervor, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and attraction” (see EG 261).  They rise to the challenge that is posed by the proclamation that Jesus is the Lamb of God.  That he takes the sin of the world (Jn 19, 36; Acts 8, 32; Heb 9, 13-14; 1 Pt 1, 18-19).

Their very lives, in fact, give witness to the Lamb of God, who takes the sin of the world.  That is to say, they are themselves the new way of life that they proclaim as witnesses of the Lamb.   Hence, they do their part to take away the sin of the world, the insatiable greed for power and wealth.  And they spread the grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus, grant that our lives give witness to you.  You give us your body and blood so that we may live, so may we, too, feed others that they may live.  And as we live, since you give us your body and blood, so may others live, too, as we give them of ourselves.  Call us to you, hide us in you, and fill us to the brim, so much so that we live like you till we die like you (see SV.EN I:276).

15 January 2023
2nd Sunday in O. T. (A)
Is 49, 3. 5-6; 1 Cor 1, 1-3; Jn 1, 29-34