Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Scriptures for today's Mass
When I was a child I was always taught
that it’s “impolite to point.”
As with many things, back in the day,
no explanation was offered -
just the caution that it was impolite
to point.
It seems, then, at least in this
regard, that John the Baptist
may not be a particularly good role
model for us
since the gospel clearly indicates his pointing to Jesus and saying:
“Behold! Look!
Over there! That One! He’s the
One!
He’s the Lamb of God of God who takes
away the sin of the world!”
John does a lot of pointing here -
pointing at Jesus!
In our own times, of course,
whether pointing your finger at someone
is impolite or not,
it’s generally considered politically impolite
to point to Jesus in any social
settings
much less to offer the personal testimony, as did John, that:
“Jesus
is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
You also might want to think twice
before using that
as a pick-up line at a bar
or a conversation starter at a business
meeting or cocktail party.
But that’s just what John the Baptist did.
Right out there in public, he pointed
and said:
Look!
the Lamb of God… who takes away the
sin… of the world…
Well… if Jesus takes away the sin of
the world,
how come there’s so much sin left in
the world?
If, on the Cross, Jesus, the Lamb of
God, the sacrificial lamb
-if in his suffering and death he took
on himself and took away
the sins of all time
- how come there’s so much sin in the
world today?
I’m afraid the answer to that question
is an uncomfortable one.
Jesus did, indeed, bear on his shoulders
the sin of the world.
But, in a kind of spiritual tug-of-war
with Jesus:
we’re very good at holding on to the sin of the world;
we’re experts at holding on to our own sins.
We’re practiced in clinging, tenaciously,
to our many faults and failings --
rather than let Jesus take away the sin that burdens us,
that separates us from God, from one
another
- and even separates us from our better
selves.
On his shoulders, on his scarred back,
on his thorn-crowned head,
Jesus carried, took away, the very sins
we cling to and hold on to.
• Yet, still - nations depend on
destructive, sinful, violence
as a solution to its geo-political
disagreements.
• Still, we persist in the sinful
scandal
of the millions of people around the
world who are starving
while we waste what’s in our kitchen
cupboards
and on the plates at our tables.
• Still we cling to petty grudges,
preferring resentment to reconciliation.
• In our entertainment we embrace the
cheap, the tawdry and the lusty
as if what’s beautiful and true and
pure
were somehow beyond our reach.
• By our silence and our failure to act
we perpetuate the injustices that so
many suffer.
• We tolerate divisions among us
in favor of our pride and ego.
• Still we greedily collect and hoard
more and more
of what we already have in great store,
of so many things we really don’t even
need
while others around us (and around the
world) want
for even the most basic of human
necessities.
• Still we hang on to our own sins
for the fleeting pleasure they afford
us,
for the momentary comfort we find in
them,
for the ways they shield us from the
challenge of change and growth.
I know: I paint an unhappy picture, a
nasty scenario.
But, look! Behold!
Over there!
And here - and there, too!
There he is! he’s the One! Jesus!
The
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world
- and takes away our own sins, too.
And no matter how tenaciously we cling
to our faults and failings,
no matter in how many ways we cling to
our sins,
no matter how deep our pride,
Jesus never fails in reaching out -
from the arms of the Cross -
reaching out to take away the sins of
the world.
And perhaps that’s why we’re slow, so
very slow,
to even mention the name of Jesus in polite company.
Perhaps that’s why we’re so reticent
to offer personal testimony of our
faith in Jesus:
because we know we’re holding back
precisely
what he wants to take away from us.
John the Baptist pointed to Jesus
because he knew how much we need him.
Each of us needs, every day, every
morning,
to point to Jesus ourselves,
to recognize him as the Lamb of God
who takes away not only the sin of the
world,
but our own sins as well.
We need Jesus in our lives!
Every morning,
every day, you and I need to pray: O God: give me Jesus!
1)
In the morning when I rise…
2)
Oh, and when I am alone…
3)
Oh, and when I come to die…
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