A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 1:6-8, 19-28)
Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
When John answers the Pharisees by saying that there is one among them whom they do not recognize, he refers to Jesus, who would soon appear to John to be baptized. John was not the light, the evangelist tells us, “but came to testify to the light.” The religious leaders of Jesus’ time questioned the identity of John and Jesus, holding them in obscurity rather than recognizing them. Despite that, John declares Jesus’ divinity at his baptism: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” He is the light of the world; John came to testify to that light.
God, just as you sent John to call people to repentance, help me also hear John’s message and prepare my heart to behold the one who is to come, the Lamb of God. The Pharisees questioned John and could not see the truth right before their eyes. Help me see the one John pointed to, that before me in the Eucharist is the same body and blood of the Lamb, the one Isaiah speaks of in the Gospel acclamation: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.”
From the second reading: “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” God, be the joy of my soul!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.