Taking it Home: Many may recall that when we began the new liturgical year witht the season of Advent we said that this year is year "A" in our three-year cycle of years. Year A of course features the gospel of Matthew; and so many expect to hear a gospel from Matthew. But this is not the case. This coming week, and in fact in all three cycles, the gospel for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time always features a gospel from John. So the gospel comes from John and not only that, it speaks of something remotely similar to the gospel from last Sunday from Matthew. It speaks of the baptism of the Lord.
   Interestingly, the gospel speaks of the baptism, but unlike the other gospels it never actually describes the baptism. Reference is made of the baptism, but John never goes into detail. John simply has the Baptist testify that at the time of the baptism, the Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove and it remained on him.
   From the other gospels, we know that the baptism of Jesus is a significant moment when God speaks directly about Jesus as God's Son and it is from this moment that Jesus discerns his call, goes into the desert to identify with the Son of God identification and then begins his public ministry. So if the baptism of Jesus is significant, why does John not describe it in more detail, like the other gospels?
    The purpose of this scene in John's account is not to have Jesus understand who he is. In John's account Jesus is the Son of God, the Word made flesh from the very begiining of creation. Instead the purpose of John's gospel is to reveal this identity to us and to give testimony to it so that we might be attracted to Jesus and become like him. John sees the theological truth of Jesus, witnesses to that truth and then invites others to share in this truth. John's purpose is for us to personally see and believe in Jesus, just as the Baptist did, so that we too might personally encounter Jesus, come to know him and come to believe that he is our Lord and Savior who is God incarnate. But coming to know Jesus is much more than simply having knowledge about Jesus. It is more than saying that he is the Lamb of God. Knowing Jesus means a willingness to personally abide in and engage Jesus so that we might enter into a personal relationship with the one who is the source of our very life and then live that life in our lives.
   So the question for us that follows from this gospel is what does it mean to have a personal relationship with Jesus? This is not an idle question because Jesus is not someone we are simply called to worship and admire from afar. The ultimate aim for each of us, or at least should be, is that we are called to become disciples of Jesus just like those of the gospel and to do as Jesus did in his life; to be his body, to forgive as he did, to love as he did, to console as he did and to suffer with others as he did. A disciple is one who willingly takes the time to stop, listen and follow the voice of the Master - remember in John's gospel the Master is the shepherd who knows our voice and calls us by name - so having a personal relationship means our willingness to know and be known by Jesus. First we do this by stoppng and listening; that is opening our minds and also our hearts to the one who speaks to us. Listening certainly means hearing, but it also implies acting on what we hear. But if we do not hear, then all else is self-projection; we become the center of our own thoughts. The second step is to follow this voice of Jesus, which means we are called to offer our lives as Jesus offered his in service and love to our sisters and brthers. So entering into a personal relationship and becoming disciples of Jesus is not simple stuff. It takes conscious effort on our part, but the result will be more than mere information about this Jesus; it will also bring about a transformation in our lives so that we can be the body of Christ for others. So are we ready to take this step and to begin the journey to discipleship to live and do in our lives what Jesus lived and did in his?                 

                                                                         Deacon John