Journey with the Bible - 1/3/2012

Today’s Readings - http://usccb.org/bible/readings/010312.cfm

A Blessed New Year to each and every one of you. The day is finally getting longer; I did not know that after Jesus’ birthday, days start to become longer. Isn’t that amazing?

I love the readings today. It is as if Jesus is talking directly to me. Speaking of being adopted, I can just imagine how it feels to be adopted and be considered a son and an heir to parents I don’t even know. I thank God for blessing me and my siblings with parents. I think the closest I’ve ever felt to being adopted is through hospitality, when I visit someone else' house. It is such a warm feeling when they welcome you in their house with open arms and provide you with whatever you may need (including food). And that’s how Jesus is in my life, looking back there’s definitely the presence of God helping me through each stages.

Let’s go back to the First reading. And focus a bit on this verse: “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” (1 John 3:1). Have you ever experienced meeting an old friend or someone whom you haven’t met in a long time or even the ones you meet at work tell you “You’re a different person now, you’re not the same person I know” or “There is something different about you, something changed” or they will give you this weird look like you’re a ghost or something. And I wonder why. Maybe because we’ve matured, our face changed, our demeanor, the way we dress…etc. Or maybe it’s the Holy Spirit? Or is it your conversion? Or it’s the feeling of being free from sin? Or it’s the healing that you received from God? In any case there is an underlying transformation happening deep within that is why they see a change in you. They most likely see the light of Christ.

Some say the best way to evangelize is sometimes not through words but through actions. When they see the fruit they start asking, “What makes you do that?” or “You know you inspire me to do things” or “It amazes me that you give yourself selflessly” or “You don’t know how much healing is happening to me just because you did that”. Could it be that we have put on the new clothing in Christ that we look like a different person now than before and that the light of Christ is manifesting through us?

We all know that John the Baptist has the Holy Spirit in him and that compared to other people he looked so different. He lives in the dessert and wears animal clothing and feeds on wild honey and locusts. He does not conform to the norms of his days. But people kept flocking to him and asking to be baptized. Could it be that they see the light of Christ in him? And I love his humility because he points to the Messiah and not to him, he’s only the messenger, but apart from preaching and proclaiming the coming of the Messiah, he lived a humble and virtuous life, setting an example for others.

So now here’s the challenge for the New Year. Since we are God’s children, should we be living our lives like true children of God?

If you consider that God is righteous,
you also know that everyone who acts in righteousness
is begotten by him.

See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God's children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure,
as he is pure.

Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness,
for sin is lawlessness.
You know that he was revealed to take away sins,
and in him there is no sin.
No one who remains in him sins;
no one who sins has seen him or known him. (1 John 2:29 –3:6)

Should we be like John the Baptist, becoming a good example and pointing others to Christ?

John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one of whom I said,
'A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.' (John 1:29-30)

Jesus loves you!