III Sunday of the Year

A LIGHT TO THOSE IN DARKNESS

Isaiah 8:23—9:3; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17; Matthew 4:12-23

Readings for the III Sunday of the Year

Mother Teresa visited a man who lived alone. His room was dark and dirty. She started cleaning the room. The man gruffly asked her to leave it as it was. She kept cleaning and found a dirty oil lamp. She asked: “How come you never light this lamp?” He replied: “Why should I light it? No one ever comes to see me.” “Will you light it if one of my sisters comes to see you?” “If I hear a human voice, I’ll light the lamp.”

Two sisters began visiting him. His situation and he gradually improved. Then one day he told them: “Sisters, I’ll manage on my own from now. But do me a favour. Tell that first sister who came to see me that the light she lit in my life is still burning.”

What Mother Teresa did for that poor man (and countless others) was to continue the mission of Jesus: to bring light to “the people who sit in darkness”.

The gospel announces the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. It is significant that Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee. For Matthew, this is the fulfilment of Isaiah’s oracle (First Reading) concerning the Messiah: the darkness of Galilee’s Assyrian captivity will end and the “great light” of their deliverance will appear.

Further, Galilee was home to Jewish immigrants who, for centuries, were surrounded and influenced by Gentiles. The people of Judah looked down on them. Jesus, himself an immigrant, begins his ministry among these outcasts, the “lost sheep of the house of Israel”.

Jesus’ mission is to proclaim and establish the kingdom of God: a state of love, justice, and peace; a reversal of darkness and oppression of every kind. He does this by teaching and healing, by calling people to “repent”, and to follow him. 

The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light. But our reality is that we still live in darkness; we still face isolation and oppression. The Lord, who called Simon and Andrew, James and John, calls us to follow him to continue his mission to bring light to “the people who sit in darkness”.

Who are the people who sit in darkness in my life? And how will I bring light to them? Will I leave my “boat” and “nets” (my securities, my old value system) to follow him?

May we who “have seen a great light” allow this light to remove all darkness from our lives.

II Sunday of the Year

GO!

Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34

Readings for the II Sunday of the Year

Someone asked a missionary whether he liked what he was doing. His response was shocking: “Do I like this work? No! I do not like dirt. I have reasonable refined sensibilities. I do not like crawling into dirty huts.” He listed all the difficulties he endured. 

He continued: “But is a person to do nothing for Christ he/she does not like? Liking or disliking has nothing to do with it. I have orders to ‘go’ and I go. Love impels me.”

Today’s liturgy emphasises that love impels every missionary… beyond their dislikes and feelings.

In the first reading, God says that he forms his servant to bring back Jacob and Israel to himself. The mission “is too light a thing” and so the servant has “to be a light to the nations.”

In the second reading, Paul affirms that he is “called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.” The Acts of the Apostles and Paul’s Letters make it clear that Paul feels impelled to be an apostle. He has orders to “go” and he does… despite the hardships and tribulation he faces.

In the gospel, John the Baptist spells out his mission: to reveal Jesus to Israel and to testify that he is the son of God. The fact that he did not know Jesus is irrelevant; he “had” to witness to him. 

The mission of the servant, of Paul, of John the Baptist – and it is one mission – is our mission too. You and I are called to be a light to the nations, to be apostles, to lead others to Jesus.

Do I allow love to impel me to be an apostle and a missionary? Or do my likes/ dislikes and fears prevent me from witnessing to God’s love? How will I be a light to “the nations”? How will I reveal Jesus to people around me?

May you and I “go”. May his love impel you and me!

The Baptism of the Lord

A NEW WAY OF LIVING

Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17

Readings for the Baptism of the Lord

A 10-year-old boy, Cameron, walked into the pastor’s office with a request: “We were learning about Jesus’ baptism. The teacher asked the class who was baptized and all the other kids raised their hands. I want to be baptized too.”

The pastor gently asked: “Cameron, do you want to be baptized only because everyone else is?” The boy replied, “No. I want to be baptized because it means I belong to God.”

The pastor was moved by his understanding and suggested that Sunday for his baptism. Cameron asked: “Do I have to be baptized in front of people in the church? Can’t I just have a friend baptize me in the river?” The pastor asked where he came up with that idea. “Well, Jesus was baptized by his cousin John in a river, wasn’t he?”

The pastor conceded: “You have a point. But, if a friend baptized you in the river, how would the church recognize it?” Realizing this was a teachable moment, the pastor reached for the Ritual Book. But before he could pick the book, Cameron responded: “I guess by my new way of living.” The Book stayed on the shelf! Cameron’s understanding of baptism was profound in its simplicity. 

Baptism does signify that we belong to God, a belonging seen in a new way of living.

It was thus with Jesus’ baptism. The Father affirmed his sonship: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Empowered by the Spirit, who descended on him at his baptism, Jesus started proclaiming the kingdom of God, began teaching and healing, and restored broken lives instead of broken furniture. 

He, thus, fulfilled the mission of the Servant of Yahweh, which we heard in the First Reading. This text gives us both the method and the content of Jesus’ mission: not by loud and violent means but by going about doing good and healing all who are bruised and broken.

It is the same with us. Our baptism is not simply a one-off ceremony or a ritual recorded in some dusty parish register. It must pervade our entire life. Through baptism we become sons and daughters of God; we belong to him. The Spirit empowers us to live this new life as God’s children. 

Is my baptism seen in my way of living? Can people recognise that I belong to God?

May we live our baptism so that the Father may be able to say of us: “This is my beloved son/ daughter, with whom I am well pleased.”

The Epiphany of the Lord

ONE GOD – ONE FAMILY

Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12

Readings for the Epiphany of the Lord

Growing up as a “fauji” kid was an amazing experience of a life of communion! Each campus was a mini-India. We hailed from different places and spoke different languages, professed different faiths, and had different customs. Despite our numerous differences, we shared a common bond. In sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, in mourning and in celebration, we were one people: members of one fauji family.

We are members of one family—one human family which the One God has created. This is the thrust of the readings on the Feast of the Epiphany. 

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes that the manifestation (or epiphany) of God’s glory in Jesus reveals God’s plan to make all people “members of the same body”. 

In the first reading, Isaiah invites Jerusalem to “rise up in splendour” because the exile is over. Her sons and daughters return to Jerusalem; and so will the Gentiles bearing “the wealth of nations” to praise God who has done wonders for all his people.

What Isaiah proclaims in verse, Matthew narrates in word! Bethlehem is the destination of the pilgrimage of the Magi bearing gifts to honour the King of the Jews. Jews and Gentiles are one in praising and adoring the one God. And God, in the person of Jesus, is reaching out to one people, to the whole world.

In a world which increasingly emphasizes division based on gender, race, religion, nationality, class… the Feast of the Epiphany is a powerful reminder that for God there are no foreigners, no outsiders; all are his beloved children. 

Do I see myself as a member of the one human family? How will I manifest and celebrate my oneness with all people in the week ahead?