{"id":3094,"date":"2020-01-19T11:31:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T16:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=3094"},"modified":"2020-01-19T11:31:24","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T16:31:24","slug":"second-sunday-of-ordinary-time-year-a-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/second-sunday-of-ordinary-time-year-a-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2nd<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/a>
Isaiah 49:3, 5-6
Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10 (8a, 9a)
1 Corinthians 1:1-3
John 1:29-34
January 19, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To prepare us\nfor Christmas as the First Coming of the Lord, we first celebrated the season\nof Advent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who was the\none who prepared the way of the Lord just before Jesus started his ministry?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John the\nBaptist.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, some of\nour Advent readings told us about John the Baptist and the ministry he did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week we\nagain heard of John the Baptist as we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord.  This is fitting since John was the one who\nbaptized Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, we have\nreturned to Ordinary Time.  As we begin<\/em><\/strong>\nOrdinary Time, our gospel readings come from the beginning<\/em><\/strong>of Jesus\u2019 public ministry.  As we do this, our gospel reading again\nrefers to John the Baptist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because there\nis overlap between their ministries. \nJesus picks up where John leaves off. \nRemember John is all about pointing people to Jesus.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is why\nwhen John \u201csaw Jesus coming toward him<\/em>\u201d\nhe said, \u201cBehold the Lamb of God who\ntakes away the sin of the world<\/em>.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

John does not\ntry to keep his disciples to himself.  He\ndoesn\u2019t look to have fame and notoriety. \nHe points to Jesus as the one \u201cwho\nranks ahead of me because he existed before me.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One might\nsuppose that since John was all about pointing people to Jesus, he knew a lot\nabout Jesus and shared this with the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, while\nthe reason John came was to make Jesus \u201cknown\nto Israel<\/em>\u201d, John admits, \u201cI did not\nknow him.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t have\nto know everything about Jesus to tell others about him.  We don\u2019t have to know everything about Jesus\nto come to do his will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming to do\nthe Lord\u2019s Will is not simply a matter of having human knowledge about\nhim.  We need human knowledge of Jesus to\nknow what He has done for us.  We need\nsome human knowledge to help us know how He calls us to live but ultimately the\nknowledge leads us to the Lord\u2019s Law that is within our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, in\nfaith and love, we surrender ourselves to God\u2019s Will, saying, \u201cHere am I Lord; I come to do your will.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nsurrendering ourselves to God\u2019s Will, we recognize that there is and will be\nsuffering in this world.  Our reading from\nIsaiah today comes from what is known as the second of four passages about a \u201csuffering\nservant.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This servant\nsuffers that the God\u2019s glory may be shown through him.  Who is this \u201csuffering servant\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some say it\nis Isaiah himself.  Some say it is the\nnation of Israel.  Ultimately, for us as\nChristians, it is fulfilled in Jesus as He suffers on the Cross for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it\nis also fulfilled in each of us whom God himself has formed in the womb such\nthat He knows us better than we know ourselves. \nIt is the Lord, who \u201cby the will\nof God<\/em>\u201d called Paul to be an apostle, also calls us to be his servants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you\npick the career you choose for yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To answer\nthis people normally speak of how they pick a career that involves something\nthey enjoy.  I think this is often\ntrue.  I know I decided to study\nengineering because my favorite subjects were math and science.  Engineering let me use both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that is\nall there is to, why do some people pick careers that they do not have\nexperience with?  Could this not be the\nLord leading us to what He has planned for us since He formed us in his\nmother\u2019s womb?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John the\nBaptist knew what purpose God called him to, to lead people to Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God calls all\nof us to do the same.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often people\nrespond to the idea that they are to lead people to Jesus with answers like \u201cI\ndon\u2019t know enough about Jesus\u201d or \u201cI am not worthy.  Who am I to do this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the first,\nnot knowing enough, I point back to John\u2019s words, \u201cI did not know him<\/em>.\u201d  John\ndid not know Jesus but that didn\u2019t stop him from telling others what he did\nknow.  It starts with telling people that\nJesus loves them.  Then, we can tell them\nhow life is better with Jesus in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As to feeling\nunworthy or having what we need, I turn to the words from Isaiah, \u201cmy God is now my strength<\/em>\u201d and the\nLord\u2019s own words, \u201cI will make you a\nlight to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time to\nstop making excuses.  In the early days\nof the Church, it was a growing church. \nWe can read in the Acts of the Apostles of thousands being baptized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately,\nthe Church today is a shrinking church. \nWe need to change that.  People\ndon\u2019t know about Jesus.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?  Because we don\u2019t talk about him.  We need <\/em><\/strong>to talk about\nJesus.  Please notice that I said \u201cwe\u201d\nnot I.  It is for all of us to share our\nlove for Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not\ntalking about big theological discourses. \nI\u2019m talking about telling people that we have proof that Jesus loves us\nwhen we see him on the Cross.  Tell them\nwhy you come to church.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of you\nmight think you only come because it is what you have been taught you are\nsupposed to do.  But people today don\u2019t\nalways do something just because they are supposed to.  Even if you don\u2019t know what it is, the fact\nthat you are here says there is something in your heart that brings you here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t worry\nabout big theological words to use. \nTrust in the Lord to give you the words for we hear in the psalm \u201cAnd he put a new song into my mouth<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I\npreach, I do not want the words I preach to be my own.  I pray I preach what the Lord wants\nsaid.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord will\ngive you the words, the Lord will give you the strength to be a light to the\nnations so that his kingdom is made known to all the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year AIsaiah 49:3, 5-6Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10 (8a, 9a)1 Corinthians 1:1-3John 1:29-34January 19, 2020 To prepare us for Christmas as the First Coming of the Lord, we first celebrated the season of Advent. Who was the one who prepared the way of the Lord just before Jesus started …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[220,9,82],"tags":[676,677],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-NU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3094"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3095,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3094\/revisions\/3095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}