Saturday, January 2, 2010

2nd January 2010, Weekday of the Christmas season

1 John 2 : 22-28 / John 1 : 19-28                 (2022)

John the Baptist was really a strange prophet. He had a strange wardrobe, and an even stranger diet.

We don't read about him working great miracles or wonders.

In fact, he didn't even identify himself as John the Baptist.

When asked who he was, he replied with who he was not.

Even in the last resort, he borrowed a passage from the prophet Isaiah, in order to give an answer about what he came to do.

Yet, Jesus called John the Baptist the greatest of all the prophets.

Simply because John the Baptist diverted the attention from himself to the one who is to come.

We too are called to be prophets by virtue of our baptism. We can learn a lot from John the Baptist about how we should carry out our prophetic role.

The temptation to get attention, the praise and even the glory is indeed very strong, and some have succumbed to it.

But let us remember that we are just a voice that cries out in the wilderness of our world to make a straight way for the Lord. Just that, and no more.